Lyssa kept the reigns tight as they crossed the bridge, but Bouda avoided the unconscious body laying on the stones, instead of trying to trample him. The warrior gave her a pat on the neck to congratulate her for not giving in to her violent instincts.

She thought Abi might give him a kick, but she was too busy between chatting away and trying to contain her hair, as she also tried to keep up with the pace of the horse.

They made good time because Bouda was still excited from the run through the forest, and then the fight she’d only been able to watch. If Lyssa let her she’d run for miles now to burn off the energy.

Eventually she took pity on Abi and rummaged through her saddlebags to find something the girl could use to tie her hair back. The warrior handed over a strip of cloth she’d been saving to use as a bandage.

“Thanks.” Abi made a loop and gathered as much hair as she could before tying it. Lyssa had to smile at the few wisps of hair that remained unbound, defying their owner to fly free.

“You’ve never wanted to cut it all off?” Lyssa had cut her own hair short as soon as she’d taken up the sword. It got in the way more than it had helped to keep her warm.

“No, well yes but I like it long. Usually my mother helps me braid it when summer comes, but she’s been a bit busy this year.” Abi trailed off, a contemplative look on her face that didn’t last long as she was once again staring up at Lyssa in wonder. “Where you come from, do women keep their hair short because they’re all warriors?”

“No.”

“No to they all have short hair or no to they’re all warriors?”

“Both.” Despite herself Lyssa couldn’t keep the amusement out of her voice. “Where I come from it’s cold so everyone tends to keep their hair long. It’s only when I left home that I cut it.” The amusement was gone, replaced by a longing that never got any better. There was no going home now.

“I thought you were from somewhere cold. I’ve heard stories about the great warriors that come from the north. They all have names like yours. Tassa, Xenssa, Virssa…”

“Those are all warrior names.” Lyssa interrupted to stop Abi listing every northern warrior name she knew. “We earn them through battle and great deeds.” That wasn’t strictly true. It used to be true back when her culture revered warriors, but now being given a warrior name was another way of casting you out.

“What was your name before?”

“I don’t go by that name anymore.” Lyssa’s shoulders hunched and a scowl returned to her face. She prepared herself for all the questions that would surely come like they had in the past.

Abi accepted this answer without question, her busy mind moving on to other curiosities that wouldn’t stay in her head and seemed to force their way out of her mouth.

Lyssa relaxed as Abi chatted away and she found some comfort in the ride. Instead of her mind slipping away to other places as it usually did, she stayed in the present listening to Abi talk about everything that popped into her head. The warrior only interjected a few times to correct her assumptions about a far away place, or answer a question that Abi paused long enough for the warrior to answer.

Lyssa stopped to make camp before the hour was up because Abi was starting to flag. Her body obviously tired as her feet dragged and her gestures became less wild. The one thing that showed no sign of stopping though, was her mouth.

She still had a lot to say and Lyssa smiled at the girl’s perseverance, even though she knew what Abi was aiming for with this conversation. If you could call it a conversation when one person answered her own questions most of the time, and the other responded with one word answers when required.

The less information Abi knew about her the better. She didn’t want anyone finding out who she was and she wanted to get through Ghanda causing as little disturbance as possible. Talking about her history as a warrior and what her plans were was just going to cause more trouble.