Chapter 2

Lyndis sighed as she put the medium-sized sack over her shoulder, holding it by the leather strip and keeping it in place. Her grip tightened as she eyed her surroundings. Heat crawled behind her eyes as she moved from her own ger, the only one still intact, to the ones with only frames, to the ones now lying under black, dusty ashes. She closed her eyes as the wind blew gently at her, bringing along the smell of ripened wheat.

She focused her thought to the days when the smell would brought her so much joy, when this particular piece of land was filled with familiar faces, when she was half her height now, running amongst the golden 'sea', with Florina giggling behind her. They'd ran into Old Hubba, directing the men and the women, and the children to their tasks, and her mother would scold them for it, which would convince them to stop if not for the smile on her face. Then Florina's mother would call to them from behind and gave them the sweets she brought from the city. And they would eat them side-by-side while watching their fathers and her people tend the field…

Ever since that day, this was another thing she added to her dailies. When she went to work on her small garden, fishing for something in the nearby river, on her lonely journey to the town for supplies, she would close her eyes and think of the memories from back then. When everyday was like a warm summer's day, bright and full of life.

The images playing in front of her vanished in and instant when she felt a gentle tug on her shoulder. Lyndis opened her eyes to see Mark smiling beside her.

"We could postpone for a few more days," he said.

"No, it's fine. I've… been putting this off for far too long now. It's been too long I can't believe I'm finally doing this." Lyndis flashed him a sad smile and started walking. She stopped after a few steps and turned around to face her brunette friend. "Do you think… I'll come back here again?"

"Who knows? The world is a vast place. After you've seen what you want to see, ate whatever won't kill you outright, done what you need to do, then maybe. When you can think of this place as just more than a memory, maybe you'd want to come back."

"I… see." Lyndis blinked the tears out of her eyes and beamed a smile at hearing Mark's words. "I guess there's no use wasting our time then. The world is a vast place after all."

.

.

The pair reached their first destination three days after starting their journey. For Lyndis, who had only set foot in the nearby village only when she had ran out of supplies, Bulgar was interesting, or rather, intimidating to say the least.

Unlike Greentree, the residents would not even take a look at two strangers entering their gates. Their paces were fast, and carriages hogged the streets practically all the time. One almost ran her over when they were about to cross the street to get to a different part of the city. If the streets of Bulgar were intimidating, then this part was downright frightening to the Sacaen woman. Shops and stalls lined on her left and right, continuing towards the back for as long as she could see. People were shouting, arguing, bargaining(?) with each other in front of each stores. Some were singing and dancing in the middle of the street, pouring out the liquid from their mugs onto the stone pavement. Lyndis went slackjawed and her eyes opened wide at the sights. She closed her mouth immediately when the scent of foods and spices, she assumed, as they made her mouth water for no apparent reason.

The woman turned her head to her companion when a growl made its way to her ears. She chuckled as Mark let out a loud sigh beside her.

"I guess we know where we'll be heading next." He gestured his right hand at her.

Lyndis flashed him a smile and reached for her friend. They only managed to take one step when an unfamiliar voice called to them from behind.

"Oh lovely maiden, where art thou my entire life?"

Mark and Lyndis looked at each other with a frown on their faces. They turned around to see the face that could even think of the words in this day and age.


I needed a break from CoM.

As you can probably tell, this fic was not planned. I'm just writing it when the mood strike, and I don't know if there'll be anymore update, so I'll just keep its oneshot status.