…

  It was strange, really strange, this interaction. Vistilia had never truly talked to someone like this before. The boy in front of her had tears pooling in the corners of his eyes, his back was brought a bit forward. In all essence, he was saddened by her leaving. Yet, she didn’t feel as much attachment.

  She had known this boy for the whole of her new life, yet she wasn’t sad at all. A bit glum at the thought of leaving him, to be honest. Yet, she wasn’t really sad. Maybe it was just the fact that she had lived already, already lost a lot of people.

  There they sat, on the steps of her own home, simply talking as her own parents talked with those of Aivan. Her mother had already grabbed all of her own things, and now she was putting away all of Leris’s things. Vistilia had put away her own things about an hour before.

  “So, you’re just moving away?” he asked, and Vistilia nodded her head, “why?” he asked again.

  “My father is moving away because of work. He was offered a job that paid a lot more, so he’s taking it. That’s why we’re moving away,” she expined.

  The boy looked at her for a solid minute, and then smiled. His face turned from that of a kicked puppy, to a cheshire cat in the span of a second. It was slightly unnerving, how fast a child could switch from happy to sad, then back to happy again.

  “I know now know what I want to be when I grow up! A guard in the capital so I can see you!” he excimed, and jumped up on his feet, “I’ll learn how to fight, I’ll learn how to march and stuff. It’ll be so nice to see you then!” he said, running off to his house to tell the singur chicken that they had about his pns.

  Vistilia simply shook her head, and moved herself back to her home. She opened the door, and went inside to grab all her things. This day was a turning point in both her and her friend’s life, whether she knew it or not.

  …

  It had been about two days since he had sold his ancestral home, and he wasn’t looking back. Sure, his wife may have been a bit fast on the draw there with her pns. Yet, Leris couldn’t help but smile with pride at the thought of living I the center of the big city.

  The road was ahead of them, the sky was bright, Holy Soulika was shining above his head. There couldn’t be a better day ahead of him and his family. It may be a bit quick to say, yet he was happy saying it, it would be a good day to move on out as any.

  They had packed up all that they could carry. Then, Leris had realized that they needed a carriage, so he bought one. Then they had packed everything else. After that, they had shipped out and started their trek down the road. He had bought a mule for this endeavor. It was a stubborn thing, yet the animal bonded with his family, especially his daughter rather well.

  He was actually rather shocked to see this transformation in the mule. After all, it had kicked and bucked when it had met him, yet now it was fine. All that had changed was his daughter stroking its fur.

  They had left the wood line a while ago, about two hours, and it showed. The road was ft, with ft pins all around, as far as the eye could see. The green grass was mixed with dead grass, giving the area a strange and earthy look.

  He was at the reigns, With his child and wife behind him. The carriage was a simple thing, with the dark and slightly greenish wood typical of the forest that he had lived in making up its body. Boxes covered the floor, his family sitting on the boxes themselves.

  He could tell though, it was going to be a long day. After all, while he could see a city in front of him as he drove, it wasn’t the capital. If his map was right, then it was to be the city of, “Ern.” A strange city, from what he had heard. The people there had temples to all three of the goddesses.

  Faericka, Soulika, and Heiricka; his own home city had only one temple, and that one was to Faericka. It was then that Leris shook his head of his thoughts. If he got too distracted, then he might direct the mule somewhere strange.

  He thought back to his school days now, the ft pins remaindering him of his history lessons and why the pins were here in the first pce. From what he had learned, the pins used to be forest, then the military of old had come in, and cleared out all the trees for miles on end.

  While he didn’t really believe it, for there were miles upon miles of uncovered ftnd. His daughter did believe it though. After all, he had heard her mumble some things about acidic wood, and the breaking down of hills because of rain and acid.

  The nd beyond the city in front of the carriage was made up of rolling hills. The grass was greener than you could possibly imagine. The difference was truly strange and staggering. At least, that was what Leris had been told. They would stay in the city for a day or two, then move on out.

  …

  Vistilia looked ahead of the carriage. They had passed by the city of Ern, and made it the rolling hills the surrounded the capital city of Vrael. It had been a rather quick trip, in all honesty.

  The people were fine enough. Though, they were weirdly religious. The kinds of religious that call you a heretic and a bsphemer if you don’t go to the temple each day. It was actually slightly annoying. Though, the city had been beautiful.

  The buildings were made of stone, with the oldest of them all being deep grey, almost bck as that was the type of stone that the people had used when the city was first made. The streets, while dirty, were still cleaned regurly. The smell of feces was actually cleared away with the aid of the water from the river that ran through the city all the way through it.

  The very same river that ran from the ke that Vistilia had lived by, and the very same river that ran all the way to the capital city. The river, by this point, was rather wide and slightly dirty. Though, as it ran through the city itself, the people actually cleaned it. The city of Ern, that is. How did they do it? Vistilia hadn’t a clue at all. Because of the cleaning of the river, the smell of the people and the dirt they lived in was pulled away.

  Vistilia opened her eyes and pulled her mind away from the city itself. The sun was high in the sky. If one were to guess the time, it would be about 11:00 in the morning; nearly noon, it was. The clouds, while thick, weren’t clogging up the sky.

  Vistilia looked ahead of the carriage. It had been about a week since they had left her home. She was rather happy that they were close to Vrael by now. Though, she was slightly confused, as she knew it, the time it took people to get from one pce to another in the times before the car was astronomical. She decided to ask her father.

  “Father, I thought it would take longer to get to the capital from our old home, why did it only take a week?” she asked, and her father gnced behind himself to look at her, then turned back to the front as he spoke.

  “For one thing, we’ve had straight up perfect weather, there had been no bad rains, no bad winds, the Goddesses have smiled on us this week. Second off, the roads are really well made, at least the ones that go to the capital city. Third off, there have been no, and will be no, bandits,” he expined.

  “Ok father, thanks for telling me,” she thanked him.

  “You’re welcome, little one,” he said.

  …

  The city was massive. One could not properly expin the shear size of it, in words that belonged to the era she lived in. For ck of a better word, the city was that of the modern day. Not in terms of buildings, but in terms of size. The walls that surrounded the city were tall, slightly over thirty stories.

  The river that they had been riding along, it could not keep up with the demands of the people. So, they had built aqueducts from the tallest of the mountains, near the north of the forest that Vistilia used to live in, all the way to the city properly.

  The gate guards wore iron armor, their spears tipped with iron as well. There were maybe twenty of them, simply standing or sitting there. Raised above all the comers and goers of the city, on two small structures of what could be called scaffolding.

  The gate itself was tall, maybe even fifty feet tall. How such things were possible, she would never know. The walls themselves were also painted white, the stone underneath being near bck in color. It was awe inspiring. It made one beam with pride thinking of this as their nation’s capital.

  She looked back down, and around the carriage itself. It had taken the rest of the day to get to the capital gates, it was most definitely worth the wait. The people coming from the western gate were all rather loud, with some people even setting up shop by the sides of the road not near the water.

  It was only after the course and wait of a few hours that they had made their way to the front of the line. The sky had even darkened and started to brighten by thew time they made it to the front of the line. Her father grumbled the whole way. mumbling about poor manners or whatnot. Her father, in the now, turned to look at the man next to the front gate, fishing in his pockets for a copper pass that he had purchased back in forest city that they hailed from.

  “Greetings my fellow, I’m here seeking employment. I’ve come along with my family. This pass should be enough to show that I’ve already paid the fee for entering the city itself,” her father expined, and the guard looked at the tag, and at the carriage itself.

  “Well, everything seems to be in order, may I ask what work you’ll be searching for in out grand city of Vrael?” the guard asked with a raised brow.

  “Oh,” her father said, “Overseer of the western guard, I can show you all the letter of recommendation if you want?” her father said, and the guard turned to him with a smile.

  “Alright then, we’ve been needing a new boss on this side of the city itself for the longest time. The overseer for the northern guard has been managing us for the longest time, and he’s been worked harder than butter. So I would be happy to see the letter that you’ve mentioned.”

  It was then that he showed the man the letter, and his eyes went wide. He gave the letter back to her father, and nodded his head in understanding. It seemed that, while he truly didn’t believe him before, after seeing the hand writing he believed him now.

  “Righto, you can go on through. All the paperwork is fine alright. That is the old man’s handwriting. If you’re wondering where a good pce to stay is, the overseer’s office is actually a whole building where the overseer is supposed to live in the center of the city itself. That’s were you should go my fellow,” the guard expined with his eyes still wide.

  “Many thanks, young man,” her father thanked him with a handshake, and urged the mule forward.

  It was then that Vistilia finally felt the pull of Faericka as the sounds of the city melded together. Her eyes lulled closed, and she felt her mother catch her then after she nearly fell asleep and fell off of the carriage. That sleep was the best she had had in a while.

  …