Anaya hadn’t slept so deeply in a very long time, even back in Illion in the comfort of her bed. When Rue was done with her, Anaya had felt more exhausted than from any of the travelling or fighting they’d done. But at the same time, she wouldn’t have traded that blissful exhaustion for anything. Her ‘frustrations’ had certainly been assuaged to quite a significant degree – at least for now.
As had been the case for morning so far, Rue was already up and about by the
time Anaya awoke, her side of their shared blanket bed empty. The bed was something
they’d wordlessly agreed on ever since that first night, even now that they had
enough blankets to sleep separately - it was for a different reason, after all. Despite not having her companion right
next to her, she couldn’t help smiling as she stretched herself out, feeling
perhaps more alive than ever.
Rue glanced at her, smiling faintly but not saying anything. The witch was preparing a morning meal. Once they’d gained some proper ingredients and cooking equipment from the bandit camp, it had turned out that the witch was quite the fantastic cook. Anaya could cook just fine, but even so, this was another thing in which she had to admit defeat against her new companion.
Once Anaya was dressed, Rue left the food to stew and pointed at something.
“Take a look.” Anaya did as asked. It was a bow and a number of arrows. But these were not the basic implements recovered from the bandits. As she picked up the bow, it felt exquisite. It was smooth and elegant, the recurving limbs perfectly symmetrical. The shafts of the arrows were almost impossibly straight.
“It’s no wonder you called the bandit bow crude,” she said with more than a hint of awe in her voice. “I imagine you could make a lot of money just selling these in towns and cities.” She looked at the witch thoughtfully. “But I think… that is not something you would do.”
“No. It is not,” Rue replied with another faint smile. “I am glad you realize as much about me.” Her smile turned into a sigh. “I have nothing against honest hunters making a living, of course, but inevitably some of them would end up in more nefarious uses.”
“That does tend to be the way of things,” Anaya agreed with a sad smile.
“Besides, I don’t normally have that much use for money.”
Anaya suspected that even bows aside, Rue could easily cause any and all carpenters to wail in despair with that magic of hers if she wanted to, so they would’ve likely been glad to hear of her restraint. She then looked at her companion thoughtfully.
“I recall my father telling me that you travel a lot. Have you had much trouble with bandits before?” Merrel was a rather sparsely populated kingdom, which made it fairly easy for bandits to both hide as well as stalk the relatively few major roadways. It wasn’t uncommon for bandits even from neighbouring kingdoms to sneak across the border and cause havoc.
“Hmm. Occasionally. It is not inaccurate to say I travel, but it is mostly so far in the wilderness that even running into bandits is unlikely. But it still happens, just like it did to us. And travelling alone, it certainly makes them think me an easy target.”
“Well, at least there’s two of us now.”
For the next several days nothing unexpected happened. They fell into a comfortable travel routine, making good progress. Even after their looted food started running low, Anaya managed to hunt the occasional animal to make up for it. The bow made it surprisingly easy; she’d never shot one that was so accurate with so little effort. They’d had a little playful archery contest to find out who should do the hunting, and Anaya had managed to come out on top, even if only barely. She was glad – Rue was already doing most of the cooking as well as foraging, given she was so much better at the latter due to her obvious affinity with nature. However, that was also a big part of her cooking prowess since she knew herbs in and out and could make even simple ingredients into something new and exciting.
While that was all well and good, if Rue had also ended up doing the hunting… that would’ve been a bit much for Anaya’s self-esteem. She could’ve of course insisted, but despite not being timid by nature she found it surprisingly hard to go against her companion. Perhaps that was in part due to their now almost nightly frolicking proving just how indomitable the smaller woman could be. But on that account, Anaya was more than happy to oblige her.
The routine finally came to an end when they spotted what looked like a small town in the distance. It was still partially obscured by the rolling hills, so they couldn’t get an exact sense of its size. Since neither of them was familiar with this exact area nor did they have a map – even the bandits hadn’t had one, or at least they hadn’t found it – they had no idea what town it might be. Since they’d travelled without any precise means of navigation, it was difficult to tell where they were even in the broader sense. It was certain, however, that they were still well within Merrel’s borders. They hadn’t travelled long enough to arrive in Ysseria yet, but also the style of the buildings was Merrelian with the characteristic pyramid-shaped roofs on most buildings, and from what they could see the town seemed to use the common Merrelian layout – two main roads, one east to west, one north to south, intersecting in the middle.
“Should we visit?” Anaya asked, looking at her companion, who shrugged.
“I don’t mind either way. I’m used to being in the wilderness, and we have the basic supplies we need.”
“Could be nice to sleep in a real bed and get more variety in food. But it is a risk,” Anaya mused. “Though now that we’re this far, I’d be surprised if they’re still following us.”
“They could’ve just sent word. Put up bounties.”
“I guess that’s true.” She glanced at the witch, and down at her own armoured attire. “We’re not necessarily the most inconspicuous pair, are we?” Rue grinned but said nothing. “Well, there are risks in either choice. Finding out where we are would be good, though. Maybe we can buy a map.”
“Very well. Let’s give it a try. We can always run for it again.”
“Yes… perhaps both of us, this time,” Anaya muttered, causing Rue to chuckle. “Let’s go.”
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