And so they left.

The shock of the arrest, the strain of having stayed in the same place for so long, and her general fear of the foreign warriors had left Lavinia in state of mental unrest that made it hard for her to focus on anything, and even though she tried to pay attention to where they were going, and what people around her were doing her thoughts kept wandering, and the uncomfortable ride on the soldiers shoulder, with armor digging into her hipbones, did not help. She must have passed out along the way, because when she woke up the trampling footsteps were gone and she was lying on some sort of thin mat. White and red stripes of fabric filled her vision, and she stared at them for minutes and minutes, without really taking them in. They looked soft, sort of. Only when she sat up to touch them did her brain connect the dots. This was a tent. A tent in the colors of the fourth kingdom. They must have brought her to their camp. Her head started aching, and for a short moment she considered just laying back down and looking at stripes for a few more hours. Then she pulled herself together, took a deep breath and stood up completely. Her legs felt shaky, and her mouth was dry, but other than that she seemed unharmed, which she took as a good sign. Maybe they were not going to hurt her.

Right next to her some cuts in the fabric hinted at an entrance, so she gingerly pushed them aside, to step out. The sunlight hit her with full force and she had to close her eyes for a moment. When she opened them again, the entire enemy camp was spread out before her.

They were situated in a small valley, hugged by rolling hills, that was just stuffed completely, with rows after rows of tents, warriors walking, running or training in between them and even some weird, cow-like animals. It was bustling with energy. Everyone here was busy, and tall, and armed to the teeth and she felt like she could have just stood there and watched the proceedings forever.

She was interrupted, however, by a subtle cough right next to her. She almost jumped out of her skin. The translator was standing right next to her, smiling slightly. Her posture and expression seemed friendly enough, but Lavinia could not avoid noticing the huge spear in her left hand. It had some decorations, right before the tip, that included what looked like real teeth, and a miniature skull made from iron.

She was so caught up in the details, that she only noticed the translator‘s extended hand when she coughed anew, a bit louder this time.

„Oh. Apologies.“ She shook her hand hastily, her ears burning with the heat of embarrassment.

„No worries.“ The translator assured her softly. „We do not usually shake hands anyway. I was simply trying to imitate your customs.“

„Oh. I see. Then what…I mean, what do you usually do?“

„We embrace each other, most of the time.“

„Ah. I see.“

An awkward silence followed, and for some reason her brain decided to fill it, with what was probably the silliest question she had posed in her entire life.

„But what do you do when you dislike someone? It would be quite unpleasant to embrace them, wouldn‘t it?“

The other woman‘s smile turned slightly mischievous.

„Ah, you see, in that case we don‘t greet them at all. We simply pretend to not have seem them, and hope that they will pass on.“

„Pass on? You mean that they will ignore you too?“

„Oh no, I meant pass on to the afterlife.“

Her face must have been terrified, because the translator started laughing immediately.

„Oh no, it was just a joke. Don‘t take anything I say too seriously. By the way, have I introduced myself yet?“

Lavinia opened her mouth to answer, but she was already continuing.

„My name is Zoya. I‘m a foot soldier, serving under Commander Akosua. I do not have any special skills, or position, and frankly, the only reason I am allowed such an important task, as guarding you, is because I happen to come from the borderlands, and therefore have grown up speaking your language as well as ours.“

That explained her simple armor, and why she wasn‘t as freakishly tall as the others.

„That must be practical.“, she remarked and Zoya bobbed her head enthusiastically. „Yes, I guess. I mean, I‘m standing here, so…lucky me.“

„Are you really glad to do this job?“ That seemed wrong, somehow, since it was probably very boring and uneventful.

„Oh yes, very.“ At least Zoya seemed convinced of what she was saying. „I mean, the Queen ordered you to be here personally. She might even come by at some point. I don‘t really know why, but I know that you are a top priority right now. Guarding you is an honor.“

„And by guarding, I assume you mean ‚Make sure I don‘t flee‘…“

A sheepish look passed her face. „Yes, well, that too. But I also tend to your wishes!“, she added quickly. „So if you need anything, just ask me, and I‘ll get someone else to take care of it.“

That not only made Lavinia chuckle, but it also reminded her of her body‘s signals. „A glass of water would be lovely.“

„Oh, right. You must be thirsty.“ With these words Zoya turned and shouted, in a voice so loud that Lavinia flinched. „Hey, Lana! She needs a drink. Get to it, fast!“

She clearly enjoyed her position, grinning wildly when another soldier, probably Lana, actually stopped sharpening her sword and walked across the grass towards a big dark red tent.

„She‘ll be back in a few minutes. So why don‘t you tell me something about you, while we wait?“

That was the last thing Lavinia felt like doing. Then again, having an ally would be useful. She should do her best, to gain Zoya’s trust.

So she tried to relax, and give the best impression of a smile she could muster at the moment. „I‘m Lavinia. I was born somewhere around here, and until this morning I was working for the Farante family as a chef.“

„Well, better than a maid, I suppose.“ Zoya shrugged. „Nothing against maids, obviously. I worked as a maid before. It‘s just a terrible job.“

„You worked as a maid?“ Maybe fourth kingdom households were looking for different qualities in their maids, because Lavinia did not think anyone around her would employ someone like Zoya as their maid. Their carpenter, maybe, but a maid? No, certainly not.

„Yeah“, Zoya confirmed, unaware of her ugly thoughts. „I did not like it, but I needed money. That was honestly my main reason for joining the army as well. Not that I don‘t love the kingdom or anything, but I would not risk my life, if they were paying any less.“

„That makes sense“, Lavinia agreed, not mentioning hat she would not risk her life for any country, or any sum of money if she had the choice not to.

„Anyways, we were talking about you. Do you know why the Queen wants you to come? Because we have quite a few bets running, and if you tell me before it‘s officially announced, I could win a nice amount of coins. I‘d share, obviously.“

„Oh. That.“ Lavinias entrails felt cramped all of a sudden. „Well…“ She felt the nervous break-outs on her arms without having to look at them, so she just raised the up wordlessly to show them to Zoya, who seemed at a lack of words.

„That‘s…what in the…are those plants?“

„Yeah.“She checked her wrist to confirm. „Rosemary right now, I think.“

The look she received was more incredulous than disgusted, and she allowed herself a moment of relief.

„So let me get this right: You can let plants, different ones, grow from your arms. Just like that.“

„Not exactly“, Lavinia mumbled. „They can grow from all over my body, but most of the times it‘s from my hands. But I can‘t control it, not really. They sort of react to my emotions though.“

She looked up shyly, just to find Zoya beaming at her. „Honestly? That is amazing. You have plant powers! No wonder the Queen wants to see you. I have never heard of that before, it‘s so unique. You might even be…“ At this point she stopped, as if catching herself. „Oh, never mind.“

Lavinia was curious about what she had wanted to say, but the compliment, the only one she had ever received for her weirdness, if you did not count the Queens scary monologue, distracted her enough to drop the subject.

„Do you really think it‘s a good thing? Most people from my town thought it was creepy, maybe even dark witchcraft.“

„Nonsense.“, Zoya scoffed. „That‘s not how witchcraft works. I would know, my mother was a witch.“

Lavinia was not sure, if she meant that sincerely, or if she was joking again. She would soon find out, that that uncertainty would be a constant in their relationship.

They spent the rest of the afternoon chatting and occasionally drinking bitter tea in front of her tent, and Zoya even managed to procure some clothes that were not seamed with any enemy body parts and fit Lavinia well enough. The sun was shining down on them while they laughed, and Zoya informed Lavinia about all of the gossip around their cohort, ranging from the mystery of the Commander always having breakfast alone, in her tent and people wondering if she consumed human flesh, to the less mysterious affair between one of the animal trainers and a lower ranking officer.

The question what would happen to her still weighed heavily on Lavinias mind, but for the moment, even though it should not last, she was able to forget all of the impending business with the Queen and the fact that her previous home and most of her beliefs had been destroyed earlier on this day, and just enjoy the conversation.

And since there was nothing she could do anyways, she pushed away her guilt and decided she would deal with any further problems when they arose.