Carter had prepared herself as best as she could. She'd gathered the supplies given to her by Sephia, and the clothes and knife she'd retrieved with Atrocia, and placed them all in a rectangular leather bag. She placed the bag on her back and wore her bow and quiver over it.

After one more look around her room, Carter left the palace through the same side door from which she had entered.

She was late. Or, maybe everyone else was early. Either way, the other members of her party were already gathered around Sephia's motorcar. Advisor Thornwillow was there as well.

Thornwillow, who'd been deep in discussion with Astrid and the prince, turned to glare at Carter through his microscopic spectacles. “Finally turned up. Come over here.”

Prince Jacob was wearing a neat white outfit that stood out against his earthy skin. It was similar to what he'd been wearing yesterday, with the customary high-necked tunic and trousers of Hathorsha. But he'd swapped his waist cape for a short shoulder one, and was wearing traveling boots with a thick sole. 

“Morning, Noelle," he said as he gestured to Thornwillow. "The advisor is trained in the magic arts to some degree. He’s going to make the car temporarily invisible so we can leave Cleftis discreetly.”

"Okay." Carter shifted her feet and looked back at the car. 

Sephia was carrying three bags, all of which she carefully placed in the trunk. The prince had only one small black bag over his shoulder, so Carter assumed he was too good to hold his own stuff. Astrid had one moderately-sized bag.

Carter watched with interest when Thornwillow pulled a simple wooden wand from his sleeve. “Alright,” he said. “Farewell. Best of luck to you all.”

Astrid gave a thoughtful reply, and Sephia nodded and climbed into the driver’s seat. Carter realized Thornwillow was going to do the magic once they were all actually in the car, so she climbed into the backseat next to Astrid and watched through the window. Thornwillow raised the wand gently and flicked it in a few quick motions, creating a bit of shimmering light around the car which partially obscured Carter's view of the scene for a moment.

The prince exchanged a few more words with Thornwillow before jumping into shotgun.

“Let’s go already!” the prince said, his facade dropping almost before the door even closed. Carter watched Astrid's reaction to this, which turned out to be a completely neutral expression.

"Next stop: Mavar Town!" Astrid announced as they pulled away from the palace. 

"Not like there's anywhere else to stop," Carter mumbled. She paused. "Wait, is there?"

"No," Sephia said. "Actually, I need you to string your bow before we reach the border of Cleftis."

"Why?" Carter asked.

"You know why," Jacob said. "We're going to be driving through dangerous territory."

"Okay," Carter said, unhooking her bow. "Anyway, now that I'm here, you have to own up to your promise. Tell me everything you know about Yun'ha."

"Chill out, Noelle. We're all stuck together for a few days, right? Plenty of time to talk about everything."

Carter curled one hand into a fist. "If you don't tell me right now then…"

Astrid interrupted. "Why don't you tell Carter what her mom said about her for now, Your Highness? And maybe then we can give her more details on the Zitaflora. I'm sure she'd be interested in that."

"Alright..." Jacob said, and then he suddenly turned around to face Carter and Astrid, gripping the edge of Sephia's seat. "But I'm just going to tell you this. When she worked for us, Yun'ha had the same job as you: bodyguard and survivalist. And she had it for twenty years." He paused.

"That's it?!" Carter said. "When did she quit?"

"That's it. Ponder that for a while." Jacob glared meaningfully at Astrid before opening his bag, taking out a book, and handing it to Carter. 

She flipped it open. "What's this, your diary?"

"No, I left that in the palace."

Carter turned a few pages, Astrid looking on casually, as though she'd seen the book before. "Holy crap," Carter said. "You didn't do this."

Jacob grinned. "I did."

The pages were filled with handwritten descriptions and diagrams of various myths and legends. The paragraphs were neat and detailed, and as Carter scanned them she recognized a few common tales, like the foreboding mist of Tempera, or the death spirit from some far Western lands. 

"Compiled all the information in here from books and verbal accounts," Jacob said, before reaching over and flipping the page to his entry on the Zitaflora. The diagram was a careful sketch of a flower which Carter recognized as being similar to a daffodil. It had been colored a bright yellow. "I'll summarize. There's not as much to go off of for the Zitaflora. Almost everyone who set off to find it didn't live to tell the tale. Probably because only mortals would be interested in it, and none of them had the right magical skillset to make up for their weakness."

Astrid chipped in. "Not to mention the harsh weather conditions, and threats of violence from others."

"But now that my mother has grasped control of the North, and we've forged this team, I have no doubt that I'll be able to set my eyes on the Zitaflora!" Jacob's smile widened for a moment. "But yes. Although we only really have secondhand accounts to rely on, the most important thing for you to remember is that the flower is an immortal object. It'll never die."

Carter swallowed hard. "Oh. Okay, that makes sense." 

Jacob turned to Sephia and held the book in front of her. "Have I shown you this page yet?"

She glanced at it quickly. "Yes, my liege."

"Right, but I think you really need to appreciate this part…"

Their conversation faded into the background of Carter's mind, and they drove on. After a while, she noticed that Astrid had fallen asleep, and her head was hovering dangerously close to Carter's shoulder. Carter jerked away slightly. But she needn't have worried, because just then Astrid tilted the opposite direction and rested her head on the window.

"Here comes the gate," Sephia said after a few minutes, pointing out the front windshield. 

"So it does," said Jacob. He snapped his fingers. "Faizah, pass a cloak."

Apparently, the invisibility spell had worn off. Astrid blinked awake, then turned and rummaged around in the trunk before removing a greenish-gray cloak. Jacob put it on and pulled the hood over his face.

This done, they rolled into the northern gate of Cleftis. Carter gritted her teeth as they sandwiched themselves between two tall stone walls, with two iron fences in front of them. The window embedded in one of the walls opened, and a guard in a high-collared black tunic leaned out and waved.

Sephia lowered the tinted windshield and passed her ID. 

The guard made small talk as she studied Sephia's card. "Where are you heading?"

"Mavar Town."

A low whistle escaped the guard's lips. "Have fun. I hear they upped security again. Doing a full search of every vehicle and item of luggage."

"Really," said Sephia, non-committedly. She accepted her ID back, and the guard bid her farewell as she opened both gates. They left Cleftis and drove onto the forest's rugged, tree-lined path. 

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Jacob uncovered his face.

"That was terrible," Astrid said, a note of panic touching her voice. "We'll be searched at Mavar Town? Then they'll know His Highness and I are here. And who knows what would happen to Carter?"

"Why does it matter for you?" Carter asked with an edge of contempt, twisting the edge of her jacket. Did Jacob sense some contempt? "It's not like they're regular citizens guarding the gates. They're your guys, right?"

Jacob pursed his lip. Ordinarily Carter would be right, and the local government would be trustworthy and guard his location. But with the stronghold situation… he felt like he couldn't let anyone know where he was. 

"You're the ambassador," he said to Astrid.

Astrid paused. "Right," she said softly. "It's natural for me to be going between cities, especially right now. We could take that casualty. But what about you?"

"I'll go around."

"Around the gate?" Sephia asked.

"Sure. Usually it would be impossible, but today I have a feeling. It should be simple with the right magic specialization— good thing I have that!"

Sephia raised an eyebrow. "Do you mean that seriously?"

"I can pull it off. But sure, the alternative is publicly announcing where I am and why. I don't care which one we do."

Astrid leaned forward. "I trust that you know what you're doing here, Your Highness. And we can always try to save face later if it doesn't work out. I think you should go for it."

A crackling noise came from above them.

"It's settled," said Jacob.

Sephia glanced at him. "But—" A loud thud rang off the roof of the car.

"What is that?" said Astrid.

"Some immortal deadbeat, I think," Sephia said, rolling down Carter's window with one hand and swerving with the other. "Noelle, handle it."