Tam
It had been a long day, and Tam was equal parts relieved and dismayed when he and Marella arrived at Wildwood.
Relieved, because he was glad that they were one step closer to saving Linh. Dismayed because Wildwood was almost completely destroyed. There were just a few old tree trunks left. A couple of gnomes were walking around, taking care of the trees and doing whatever gnomen stuff that they did.
"Did everyone make it out okay?" Tam blurted out. That wasn't the question he had wanted to ask, but he knew it was important nonetheless.
"Yes, thankfully. A few of us were injured, but not that badly. We were able to escape, and we apologize for not having time to warn you." One of the gnomes said. Tam remembered him, his name was Beech, and he made the best stew.
"It's fine. I'm just glad no one died." He replied bluntly. Marella raised an eyebrow at him, and Tam blushed. He hadn't meant it like that.
Marella smiled at the gnomes. "Hi. I'm Marella, and Tam and I were wondering if we could stay with you for the day and get some rest? We'd really appreciate it."
Another one of the gnomes nodded. Tam recognised her as Cerise, who was secretly in love with Yael, and often spied on him. "You are welcome to stay wherever you can find room."
Tam thanked her, and he and Marella set up their blankets under one of the few remaining trees.
"What did it look like before?" Marella asked, talking, of course, about Wildwood.
"It was beautiful." Tam replied, sighing. "There was a giant fire pit in the center, where we all got together and ate dinner and told stories. Linh and I stayed in a small grove. It was really nice, and pretty big."
Marella smiled. "It's going to be hard to fall asleep, with the sun right on top of us like that, even with the tree there."
Tam nodded, then realised that she probably wasn't looking at him, so he said, "Yeah."
The two were silent, and Tam could hear Marella's breathing slowly evening out. He let the darkness take over, and fell into a deep, dreamless slumber.
That night, Tam and Marella began walking again.
Linh
Linh woke up the next morning to discover that Leila was gone. Linh glanced at the clock, noticing that it was only eight.
She went downstairs, expecting to see Leila eating breakfast with Lady Cadence, like she always did. But instead, Lady Cadence was sitting alone at the dining table.
"Lady Cadence? Where's Leila?" Linh asked, sitting down beside her.
Lady Cadence passed her a plate of blitzenberry muffins. "She grabbed some breakfast and left."
"Like left left?"
Lady Cadence chuckled. "That was bad wording on my part. No, she just said she was going to get started on her training."
"Oh." Linh took a bite of her muffin. It fizzed and popped on her tongue, even though it had a cake-like texture.
"Why, would she have some reason to leave?" Lady Cadence questioned.
"No. You just worried me for a second, that's all."
"Ah." They ate the rest of their breakfast in silence before Linh got up.
"I'm going to go work on my Hydrokinesis now. Bye, Lady Cadence! Thanks for the breakfast!"
As Linh bolted out the door, Lady Cadence called after her. "Goodbye, Linh!"
Tam
Tam hated walking, but he was glad that he wasn't stuck riding his dumb bike.
"Are we there yet?" Marella groaned for the seven hundredth time that day.
"Does this look like Ravagog to you?" Tam snapped back, then felt bad. She was helping him out, so he didn't need to be so rude to her.
"I wouldn't know, I've never been there." Marella replied stiffly.
"Sorry Marella. It's just…" His voice trailed off.
"Yeah. I get it." Marella replied, giving him a small smile.
You really don't. Tam thought, but didn't dare say it out loud.
Later
It was getting brighter and brighter out, but Tam and Marella had only just gotten to the pass.
"Are we there yet?" Marella asked again.
"We still have a few hours to go." Tam remarked.
"Well? Do we keep walking, or do we stop and get a few hours of rest?" Marella turned to him.
Tam sighed. He wanted to keep going, but he was exhausted, and a couple of hours of rest couldn't hurt. "Let's take a break."
Later (Again)
"Are we there yet?" Marella asked.
They had woken up about an hour ago, and were on the road again.
Tam didn't even bother to reply.
Even Later
"Are we there yet?" Marella asked.
Tam smiled. "Almost."
Much, Much Later
"Are we there yet?"
"We're close."
Not Long Later
"Are we there yet?"
Tam stared at the giant bridge, and the dozens of guards surrounding it. "Yes. Yes we are."
Linh
"Leila?" Linh walked into the training room. It was deep inside Ravagog, so she'd had to ask for directions several times, but she finally made it there. Linh slowly opened the door, and peeked inside.
The room was surprisingly large, and packed full of ogres. Some were fighting in the areas, some were polishing and cleaning their weapons, and some of them were just sitting around talking. Linh glanced around, automatically averting her eyes from the fighting.
Leila was with a group of ogres talking. Linh spotted her quickly, noticing that Ro was standing beside her, cleaning her sword.
Linh quickly walked over to her, ignoring the stares. "Leila?"
Leila turned around. Linh stared in shock at Leila's face. "Yeah?"
"What happened?" Linh asked, pointing at the fresh cut going down Leila's face.
"What? Oh." Leila's hand instinctively went to her cut. "I finally got to start sparring! Like, for real!"
"Oh. I'm assuming that's a good thing? You should probably put an elixir on that, though."
Leila made a face, then quickly covered it up with a smile. "I will. Later."
Linh frowned. What was up with her? "If you say so."
"So, what brings you here?" Ro interrupted.
"Right." Linh turned to Leila. "Well, you weren't at breakfast today." A few of the ogres snickered.
"Yeah, I figured I might as well get some extra training in." Leila replied smoothly.
"I was wondering if I could watch you train for a bit? I mean, since you've seen me training and-"
Leila cut her off. "Sure, you can watch if you want."
Ro nodded. "It might get a bit violent, though, but it's up to you."
"Okay, thanks!" Linh smiled.
The coversation then turned to weapons, and Linh stopped paying attention. It wasn't any of her business, and she didn't want to interrupt.
Linh noticed that Leila was jumping in constantly, and making sarcastic comments which had the whole group laughing. She really seemed to be enjoying herself, and she definitely fit in.
It was strange to watch, honestly, seeing her best friend fitting in so well with people that she didn't even know.
Linh leaned over to Ro. "How much training do you actually do?" She immediately regretted asking, it made her sound so rude!
Ro cracked up. "A lot, actually. We're usually here from sunup til sundown, sometimes even longer than that."
"Yeah, but it seems like you spend a lot of time just talking." Linh pointed out, unable to help herself.
Ro chuckled again. "We do, but we also spend a lot of time training."
"Doesn't look like it to me." Linh said, gesturing at the talking ogres. Why did she say that?
"Hey, Leila!" Ro interrupted. "I like your new friend."
Leila smiled. "I'm glad. Now, how about we show her what we do all day?"
Tam
After quite a bit of arguing, Tam and Marella were allowed into Ravagog. They were lucky one of the ogres had seen Linh before and could confirm that he looked enough like her to be her twin. There was still a lot of debate, and each of them ended up with two ogre guards on either side of them, but it was better than nothing.
The guards led them to Riverdrift, where Linh and Leila were staying.
One of the guards knocked on the door. A woman with raven black hair and a sharp scowl opened the door. Her scowl softened when she saw them. "Tam?"
"How do you know who I am?" Tam snapped.
"Come with me." She led them into her house. The guards stayed outside, but eyed them suspiciously.
"Who are you?" Tam asked, following her. She led them into a small bedroom, and handed Tam a picture of him and Linh. They had taken the photo a year ago.
"My name is Lady Cadence. Leila and Linh have been staying with me." She replied. "Who's she?"
"I'm Marella." Marella explained. "Tam's friend."
"Linh didn't mention a Marella."
"I just met her a while ago." Tam answered. "Where are they?"
"Who, Linh and Leila?" Lady Cadence asked.
"Yes." Tam snapped impatiently.
"Follow me." Lady Cadence walked out of Riverdrift, and into the palace.
Tam and Marella looked at each other and shrugged. Then they turned after her.
Linh
Linh watched Ro and Leila's fight, fascinated. Their blades spun and twisted in a beautiful dance. Ro was clearly going easy on Leila, but even Linh knew that the latter was talented.
She watched, transfixed. Since they weren't actually hurting each other, Linh could watch.
"Linh?" A voice called out.
Linh turned, seeing a boy with black hair and silver bangs. His silver- blue eyes met hers.
"Tam?"
A/N
I decided to make another short chapter, since you guys seem to be liking those better, and since they're way easier for me to write.
Shoutout to Mavirella647 for favoriting and following this story! This chapter is for you!
Also, for those of you who don't know, I have a Keeper Of The Lost Cities Fan Club on quotev! You can go check it out if you want. We have a group and a story, the latter you can view without an account. My Quotev account is the same as my Fanfiction one, if you want to check it out.
I also have a bunch of polls and quizzes for Kotlc, if you're interested in that kind of thing.