“Wake up.”

“Sopherael?” Ghruz asked sleepily as their eyes blinked open. Silviana knelt on the bed as she looked directly at them with worry in her piercing blue eyes. She frowned in confusion, her hand gently resting on the orc’s shoulder.

“Who’s Sopherael?” she asked.

Ghruz snapped back into reality and shook their head. “Uh, no one. Nevermind.” They rolled on to their back, soft moonlight illuminating the room.

Silviana nodded uneasily, then laid back down. “Are you okay?” she asked softly.

Ghruz reached up to their eyes, feeling dampness on their cheek. “Yeah, I’ll be fine. Just some old wounds,” they said dismissively.

“You cry in your sleep.”

“How long till the sun comes up?” said Ghruz, ignoring her.

“About two hours. Are you sure you are okay? I’ll listen if you need—”

“I said I’ll be fine,” Ghruz snapped. Silviana flinched backwards, her eyes filled with fright. The orc gave her an apologetic look. “I didn’t mean to snap. I’ll be okay, don’t worry about me, yeah?”

Silviana nodded slowly, the concern in her eyes unabating.

Ghruz got out of the bed, and stretched their arms up. “I’m going to do my morning routine. I’ll try to be quiet. Or I can go outside, if you would want.”

Silviana ran her fingers through her disheveled blond hair, and sighed. “No, it’s quite okay. I don’t think I was going to sleep much anyway.”

By the time the sun was peeking over the horizon, they were both dressed and stood waiting outside of the tavern. They hadn’t spoken to each other since they woke up, anxiety gnawing at Silviana’s mind. She had tried to keep herself busy with sorting the budget for their trip, but in the end, she had gotten very little done.

Titania burst out of the front door suddenly, singing into the air. “Tavern beds are so hard and lumpy. It was so much fun! Did you two sleep well?” she asked, giving Ghruz and Silviana a look of pure joy. The pair gave each other a weird look.

“Yeah, sure.” Ghruz said with a yawn, rings under their eyes.

“Fantastic. Let’s go get the carriage and horses.” She beamed. The three guard’s followed out, each groaning as they shambled out of the tavern.

“Ugh, she’s too loud and cheery. It’s morning for Xyxia’s sake.” grumbled Tannyl.

“What’s that, Ghruz?” Silviana practically shouted, “I didn’t quite hear him properly.”

Ghruz smirked. “He said it was too early. We’ve been up for hours.” Ghruz matched her volume, then the guards groaned harder as they each blocked their ears.

“Serves you three for drinking so much, so late.” Silviana said with a smug grin. She turned and started off the road after the overly optimistic queen, Ghruz in tow.

The group wove through the city streets as people left their homes to carry on with their lives. The citizens barely paid much attention as they passed the well-equipped group.

Waiting for them at the stables, Titania was laying on the top of the carriage, swinging her feet lazily. Altered to their presence, she sat up, sheer boredom written all over her face.

“I do not want to do this. Envoys are so boring. Let’s go home,” she said, jumping off the roof and gliding down slowly, landing on her foot gracefully.

Silviana pinched her brow and frowned at the queen. “My lady, we must smooth out relations, or the raids on our borders could escalate into full blown war,” she said as the stable hands worked at setting the carriage around them.

Titania groaned with disgust, stomping her foot on the ground. “Fine. Fine. Okay, Fine. It. Is. Fine.” She repeated as she got into the carriage. Ghruz shot Silviana a look, and she just shook her head.

Silviana rolled her eyes. “She always gets like this with diplomatic missions. She could send a delegate, but always insists on going herself.” she said, very clearly annoyed. She took a deep breath to calm herself, and smiled as if nothing was wrong. “Anyway, we need to go. We should be there by the end of the week.”

Ghruz nodded, taking post in front of the carriage as they left from the north of the great city. They traversed the plains for hours, green grass and low rolling hills dotting the landscape as far as the eye could see.

The orc found themselves thinking of their dream from last night; dreams of the past shifted to questions of the future.

Ghruz would have kept walking, distracted by a whirlwind of thought, if Silviana hadn’t called out to them. They stopped to see everyone a small distance away, the men beginning to unpack the tents from the carriage.

“Ghruz! Where are you going?” Silviana called. Ghruz waved and walked back to the group. “You were in front of us all day, but you seemed to be elsewhere.”

“Yeah sorry, just thinking. It’s nothing important.” Ghruz said dismissively. They went to help set camp up, going back to deep thought, working in complete silence.

Ghruz ate alone that evening while everyone else sat around the fire watching Titania with concern as she was talking enthusiastically about mundane things. No one noticed Ghruz slip off into the darkness — except Silviana. She excused herself and carefully followed Ghruz in the dark, making sure to keep as much of a distance as she could.

After several minutes, Ghruz stopped, and sat on the ground, staring up into the gleaming stars. They began to sob suddenly, crying out into the night sky, hitting the ground in frustration.

“I hope Phaelir is treating you well.”

Silviana jumped, clamping a hand over her mouth. She realised she was seeing something she shouldn’t have.

“Your dear Lailah misses you. I don’t know how to live without the clan, and without you.” Ghruz choked through tears, then broke down sobbing into their hands.

Silviana crept backwards, silently making her way back to camp. By the time she got back, everyone else was turning in for the night. the men headed for their tents, and Titania disappeared in her carriage. Silviana entered her tent, and slept uneasily that night.