“Wouldn’t you like to stretch your legs, Gyla?” Queen Farida tapped her neat fingernails against the carriage wall. 

“I am fine, thank you.” Gyla smoothed her dark green skirt and turned her attention to her little glimpse of the passing forest. 

“Captain!” The queen shouted, the carriage stopping almost immediately. 

Gyla could hear the captain disembark from his steed and press close to the carriage door. 

“Yes, Your Majesty?” 

“Lady Gyla would like to stretch her legs and walk alongside the carriage.” The queen winked Gyla’s way. 

She straightened up, instinctively reaching back to smooth her wild strands. 

“If the lady might wait, we are close to Blackvern.” The city planted amongst the Blackvern forest and where Dominis spent the majority of his time. 

Queen Farida ripped open the curtain that separated them, hiding her face from Gyla. She said nothing, the look on her face had been enough for the captain to yield. 

The good captain opened the door, clear amusement on his face as he bowed his head towards his queen before offering a hand to Lady Gyla. She stepped from the carriage and blinked at the bright sun. 

“Thank you, captain,” she spoke softly, unsure of his mood given the interruption. 

“Of course, my lady.” He smiled her way, in good temperament. 

Duke Dominis also disembarked from his horse and nodded his head as she came into view. She granted him a short curtsey before walking to where the coachmen waited. 

They continued at a slower pace so that Gyla could stretch her legs. Both the duke and captain remained on foot and led their horses. After some time, she heard one of them approach her from behind, horse still in hand, and walk beside her.

“Is the weather to your liking, my lady?” 

The duke walked beside her!

A happy jolt shot her heart into a race. She breathed the fresh air to calm her nerves and turned her head to smile at him. 

“Very much so, Your Grace.” Gyla let her eyes wander to the sky and the endless blue there. A cloud floated in the distance. “It feels a bit like home.”

“Oh?” A reaction. One with emotion she could detect. The surprise in his tone. The subtle raise of an eyebrow. Pretty blue eyes on her own. 

“We have thick forests, as well. I grew up wandering in them and exploring.” Her smile widened as she remembered those good memories. “I’d see the elk running through the groves and hares hiding in the meadows. A fox curled up in the trunk of a tree.” 

“Sounds almost magical.” This time she couldn’t discern his tone. Interested, she assumed, because he added to the discussion. 

“Until the discus creches come strolling through and you have to hide,” she laughed.

“The discus is your family symbol,” he recalled. 

“Indeed. For their protectiveness of the creche.” Five feet of temper and ferocity bonded closely to others of its kind made the discus so dangerous. 

Farmers taught their livestock to lay down when the discus patrolled too close. An alarm bell would ring and cows would lower themselves to the ground as the people ran for shelter. The discus often found things smaller as non-threatening and so, they would pass the pasture without much fuss. So long as everyone gathered inside a home, the inn, the stable, or even the little safe houses scattered in the forest, the discus would pass. Out of sight, out of mind. 

Thankfully, the only meat they preferred happened to be the streams of fish. They, otherwise, forged in the forest for berries and shrubbery. 

“Are you warm enough?” A wind swept through and disturbed the trees.

“Thank you, Your Grace,” Gyla said with the utmost sincerity, “but I am perfectly content. The sun is warm enough for me.” 

Duke Dominis nodded and fell silent. 

Happy with the exchange, Gyla determined her legs stretched enough and thanked the fine captain for his patience once more. She returned to the carriage and they picked up the pace. 

“Very good, my lady.” Farida winked her way. “There is no need to rush.” 

“Patience is not one of my strongest virtues, Your Majesty, but I am endeavoring to try it.” Gyla bit her lip to stop her smile with little success.

Queen Farida laughed loud and heartedly at the quip.