Morning came, and with it, responsibility. She was awakened by Zoya bringing her some sort of sweet paste for breakfast, which she ate with an appetite that astounded both of them. After she finished her meal a servant appeared, carrying clothes for her to wear, since her ones had gotten quite dirty the day before. They dressed her in the way of the Fourth Kingdom: Soft pants, in a light cream color, leather shoes with robust soles, and a silk tunic, quite similar to the one the Queen wore yesterday, only in a dark brown, rather than red. When she first put it on, she could hardly believe the luxurious fall of the fabric, and she kept feeling it, running her hands over the fine seams even while Zoya was explaining where they were going to go first. She did not believe that she was a Queen, but while she was sitting there she entertained the thought of just playing along with it, for the chance to get to laze around in clothes like these for the rest of her life. How bad could it be? And besides, did she even have another choice?

By the time Zoya stood up and lead her outside she had almost convinced herself that it would be the best course of action, to take the royal role that was offered to her. But stepping out of her tent was like being thrown into cold water all over again. The tunic that had been such a temptation a few seconds ago now seemed thin against the heavy metal all around her, leaving her unprotected and helpless. She clutched it with her hands, trying to find reassurance in it‘s softness and stuck close to Zoya, her only friend, only protection in a sea full of enemies. No one spoke to them as they walked across the camp, only eyes were following them, drilling into her back and and making her break into cold sweat. If she had turned, she was sure that none of the faces would have been friendly.

She was shown the various supply tents first, learning where to go for armor, weapons or food, where the healers resided and where the huge meal tents the other soldiers ate in were. „You can go everywhere, obviously, but you don‘t have to.“, Zoya reminded her. „You can always eat alone, or with me, in your tent.“ She nodded, grateful, but the words did nothing to help her calm down in the moment. Of course she could eat alone in her tent later, but what about right now, when she was surrounded by giants?

After seeing all this she was shown the spot, where you could safely enter the river that made its way through the landscape surrounding the camp.

„You can bath and wash yourself here. For relieving yourself, just take to the woods. We do the same. But don‘t pee into the water! We need to drink that later. That‘s why you‘re supposed to bath here, not further up, because that is were we take the water for drinking and cooking. Don‘t break these rules, the others won‘t like it.“

There was a group of warriors in the water, and one of them chose this moment to whip her head around, staring directly at them with a frown on her face. Zoya waved at her, and she reluctantly returned the gesture, still frowning. It made Lavinia want to disappear. How was she ever going to find the courage to actually undress and get into the water alongside these people?

She thought this was going to be the worst part of their little tour. It turned out she was wrong. Immediately afterwards, Zoya proudly navigated her over to the Officers’ tent, where everyone with a higher rank than a soldier met, to discuss tactics and have a drink. Alcohol, she explained, was reserved for the higher-ups. Soldiers were prohibited from drinking it, to keep quarrels and accidents at a minimum, and discipline high. As soon as they entered the tent Lavinias eyes wandered to the woman who had first captured her: Commander Akosua. And she seemed to notice her, too. Her lips, painted a pretty blood red, even though she was not wearing her face paint, pulled into a scoff and she abandoned her conversation to walk towards them, raising her voice as she did, to address their audience. Even though the meaning of the words was unknown to Lavinia, the contempt in her voice was a clear enough sign. She was mocking them. Next to her, Zoya stood her ground with clenched fists, knuckles turning whiter the longer she listened. But when the Commander ended her little speech, and it was her turn to speak, her voice was controlled and free from emotion. She talked to the Officers in their language, eliciting a mixed response of awe and the kind of incredulity that was bound to turn into hostility sooner or later. Lavinia was not an expert on body language, or rhetorics, but even she could see that the first impression had not gone well. They left the tent, and the moment they were out Zoya‘s mask slipped and she was fuming. The only thing she said, however, was: „I informed them that you were here on the Queen‘s orders, and that she believes you have a lot of potential.“

„Thank you.“, Lavinia replied, making herself sound as earnest as she could. „And what did the Commander say?“

Zoya‘s shoulders slumped and she let out a little groan. „Well, she was basically calling you an imposter and…some other things. Don‘t worry about her. She‘s charismatic, but not really popular. In fact, her disliking you will probably put General Isu on your side by default. That‘s how their dynamic usually works“ Her features brightened at that thought, and she kept skipping along the rest of the way back to Lavinias tent. „You don‘t really need to introduce yourself to anyone else, the Officers will inform their units.“

„That‘s a relief.“, Lavinia admitted. In her head, she had already seen herself being hugged, and possibly crushed, or, of course, ignored by the most intimidating soldiers they had passed on their way.

„We are really just waiting for the General to return, and announce how the treaty went, then we‘ll break camp.“, Zoya informed her. „Everyone will be busy until then, even me, so you might have more time to yourself than you want.“

„Oh, I doubt that.“, Lavinia disagreed. Time to herself sounded lovely. She had never had much of that in her life, and for now, hiding away in her tent seemed a lot more relaxing that any possible interaction.

She stayed true to that, spending her time mainly inside, or sitting somewhere in the grass right in front of her tent. Zoya came by every now and then, with warm meals, fresh gossip and more energy that Lavinia had ever had in her entire life. From her she learned when the General returned two days later, and she was the one who told her when, and what to pack. After that, it was only a matter of hours. She watched in astonishment, as the camp that had been so enormous that even the hills had seemed small next to it vanished, by the hands of many hard-working warriors, in no time at all.

She was summoned to the Queen, who informed her that she would be riding one of the strange animals with her, rather than walking with the others. She objected at first, arguing that she did not know how to ride, but the Queen waved her arguments aside, saying that she would sit in the front, secured between the animal and the Queen herself, and she could not find another reason to disagree. She could hardly reveal that she just wanted to be somewhere else than with the Queen and her leading squad, after all. So she obediently climbed into the saddle, waiting for the Queen to join her, while she tried to understand anything at all from the talks around her, to maybe learn what would become of her hometown now. She did not gather any information, but she did witness a heated exchange between who she assumed must be General Isu- a bald, large woman with very little armor, but lots of heavy jewels around her neck- and Commander Akosua. Evidently Zoya had been right about them not getting along. Before he could sink into deeper contemplation someone slid into the saddle behind her, and the Queens voice was suddenly right next to her ear. „Ready to leave?“ She forced herself to give an affirmative nod, and felt the animal making a huge jump beneath her. She screamed, and scrambled to find something her hands could hold onto, but only discovered slippery fur.

Then rough leather gloves touched her hands and guided them to a small hook on the saddle she could grasp, as she felt rumbling laughter shaking the Queens chest, that she had been leaning into instinctively. „Try to calm yourself. You are not going to fall off, Lavinia. I‘ve got you.“ She felt stupid immediately , especially since she now, that her panic had faded, heard the barely concealed snickers all around her. And even more embarrassingly, the reminder of Kebé‘s closeness had actually made her relax the second she was reminded of it.

This was going to be a long ride.