Kurthnaga moved about his chambers quickly, packing all he would need for his journey. Food, water, and other necessities were placed very efficiently and carefully into his bag, slowly yet surely filling the space. He had finally decided to leave Goldoa. His sister needed to be found; he would not allow his family to remain like this. The end of his trip would result in him being one of the few dragons to set foot outside of Goldoa in many centuries.

When he had first planned to leave his intent had been to simply fly to Daein and locate his sister immediately, but after putting some thought into it he had decided against that course of action. Meaning that his only way of making it to Daein would be to walk on his own two legs. What had prompted his change in plans had been a talk with his should-be-sister-in-law, Ena, the fiancée of his late brother, Rajaion. She told him many stories of the outside world from her years as Daein's tactician, and one of those had prompted his change in plans.

The story in question was about her witnessing one of the Daein army's Laguz hunts; a horrible affair, really, and one that almost made Kurth vomit the first time he heard about one. Said tale reminded him that the Daeins—and not many of the other countries, now that he thought about it—would take kindly to a Black Dragon flying into their territory.

Kurth settled the final item in his bag, a rather large dagger he had received as a gift a few centuries ago, before pulling it up and rising to his feet. Taking one last look at his room, he opened his door and stepped out; the first step of his long journey.

The halls of castle Goldoa were dark as he moved through them, the lights having been long since put out for the night. The lights of a few candles cast deep shadows along the walls as he neared their places. He knew his father would never let him go, even to bring his sister back home, so he had decided to leave the castle in the dead of night. Always a good time to do so if books were of any indication.

Turning the corner he ran face first into a slim figure, sending them both sprawling to the floor, a very uncomfortable place to knew stone could be so hard?

"My apologies," Kurth whispered quickly, rising to his feet and offering a hand to the other.

She, because the figure was very obviously female from his perspective, took his hand, practically flying to her feet. "Oh, no, it's clearly my fault," Ena denied.

"Ena?" Kurth gasped, taken aback. "What are you doing up at this hour?"

"I could ask you the same." she crossed her arms, "But I think I know exactly what you are doing. You're leaving, aren't you?"

Kurth was shocked. He thought he'd covered his tracks on his pursuit of knowledge leading up to that point, but apparently not. "How do you know that?" he questioned.

"You think I didn't notice that you were spending so much time in the sections of the library about the other states? And that many of the questions you asked me about my time in Daein were about traveling?" She chuckled softly. "You are just as predictable as your brother."

"But I normally spend a lot of time in the library," Kurth protested, not denying the other two points. He had a nearly limitless curiosity, it was true, and had spent many years reading books in his life. His favorite books were ones about how the other countries were run, but unfortunately, not many Goldoan libraries had many of those due to their extended isolation from the rest of the continent.

"Don't give me that." Ena rolled her eyes, "While that might be correct, I also noticed you were collecting a lot of food."

Kurth sighed, accepting defeat. Ena had always had a good read on him, even when they'd first met by way of her grandfather being one of his father's closest advisors. One thing had led to another and, many years later, Rajaion had ended up proposing to her. That had been one of the best days of Kurth's life; he loved Ena and could not have been happier to have her as a sister. Not that she would have beaten objectively the best sister ever, Almedha, but that was neither here nor there.

"You are correct," he conceded. "I am leaving Goldoa to search for Almedha."

Ena nodded. "You know the king will not let you go easily."

"He does not need to know." Hopefully his father would think he was simply traveling throughout Goldoa, not leaving it. But even if the king tried to stop him he would continue his mission. His sister needed to be found.

"Good luck, my prince," Ena bowed.

"Stop that," Kurth interrupted her motion, "You know I don't like it when you do that."

"I-" Ena began before Kurth cut her off with an almost bone-crushing hug.

They parted after a moment and, with a nod, both went their separate ways. Kurth quietly slipped out the castle gate like a wraith, utilizing the guard patterns he had memorized over the past couple of months. It surprised him how easy it was to escape the castle, but then again, the guards were mostly ceremonial since no one had wandered this far into Goldoa in many years.

Kurth moved down the worn dirt path, down onto the plains below as he pulled his bag further up on his shoulder. He had done it, he had left the castle to search for his sister. His father would only be slightly worried and angry that he hadn't brought Gareth with him when he left, but that would probably not last very long. Probably.


It had taken him several days of walking to come close to the border with Gallia. Several long, hard days. He had learned after the first day that, even though he thought he was in relatively good shape, he did not like walking. The boots he had brought were not the best for either, as evidenced by the constant soreness of his feet. But he pressed on.

As he neared the border, Kurth found one of the many villages that were located near it. He hoped this one had an inn. Sleeping on the ground for multiple days in a row was not a pleasant experience for the prince.

The village was a modest size, with neat rows of houses lining the well-trodden dirt path. Most of them were made of the Cedar trees that grew sparsely among the plains of Goldoa; conversely, the smithy's shop was made of brick, a soft plume of smoke flowing from its chimney.

There was also his destination, sitting slightly off of the main road; the inn, which also appeared to serve as a combined Inn and Tavern from the look of it. It was a large two story building, with the second story being slightly larger than the first, hence the overhang above the door, supported by several large wooden beams. Hanging above the door was a little sign with the name of the place written on it, "The Green Dragon," with a small carving of the titular dragon above it.

Then would probably be a good time to don his cloak, Kurth decided, since he did not want to be recognized by anyone. That would be a rather unfortunate occurrence with him only being mere hours away from the castle by wing. That was a sobering thought; it had taken him days to get this far, and he still knew any dragon worth his salt could fly the distance in hours.

Throwing his cloak on quickly, he pulled the hood up to cover his face; he was now incognito. With that in mind he approached the Inn and, pulling the door open gently, stepped in.

He was greeted by a chorus of voices, singing a folk song and led by a traveling minstrel that was playing some form of stringed instrument. What kind of instrument it was eluded Kurth. It was not one he had heard before.

The taproom took up the entirety of the room, with many tables spread out through the room. Each was surrounded by at least four chairs and a main path for access to the other side of the room. The wall to the left of the door was dominated by a large mantled fireplace, most likely used at nighttime, when Goldoa would rapidly lower in temperature, akin to that of a desert. Adjacent to the fireplace was a flight of stairs, most likely leading to the Inn section of the building.

To the right was a circle of tables, arranged in such a way as to give the horde of people a clear and unimpeded view of the bard. Each table had multitudes seated at them, a great number of them even perched on the tabletops due to a lack of seating. Kurth estimated there were close to thirty dragons sitting in the room, simply listening to man play his instrument.

The bar itself was across the way from the door, the innkeeper standing behind said bar, watching the musician while cleaning several mugs with a rag. It had the standard long table that bars normally included, as well as a section hanging above it, probably for storage, he decided.

Kurth walked towards the bar and took a seat on one of the stools, groaning slightly as he left his feet for the first time in many hours.

It was then that the innkeeper took notice of him and moved down the length of the long table, throwing his rag off to the side as he did so.

"Welcome! What can I do for you, my friend?" The man asked with a large smile on his face.

"I would be keen on a room for the night, if you have one available," Kurth said. "A warm meal would also not be amiss."

The innkeeper nodded quickly, the smile still on his face. "One room and one meal coming right up," he said, scrawling it down on a small piece of paper procured from Ashera knows where. "Might I inquire your name, friend?" He asked as he pulled a mug out from the overhang and placed it down on the bar, proving Kurth correct with the storage assessment.

Kurth thought quickly, throwing out the first name that came to mind. "I am called Bantu."

Luckily the other did not question him, and simply poured some form of liquid into the mug, filling it to the brim. Kurth gave an internal sigh of relief. He hadn't thought of an alias to give while still in his own land; it would not do to have him be recognized as the prince on the first leg of his journey. Fortunately that would not be an issue anywhere else in Tellius, since no one outside Goldoa that wasn't another Laguz royal would know his name.

"Tell me, Bantu," the innkeeper began, "What drew you to our town?"

"I am simply passing through," Kurth replied, taking a sip from his mug. He did not know what it contained, but it was good; some form of cider, perhaps?

The other man nodded knowingly and turned to watch the performance taking place in his taproom. Everyone was obviously enjoying what they were doing, as evidenced by the grinning faces that they were wearing.

The stool he was seated on squeaked and groaned as Kurth followed the older man's lead, rotating himself so that he had a good view of the musician. Shortly after he'd turned, a young couple hopped up and began dancing, being cheered on by their fellows.

"Ah, young love," the Innkeeper sighed happily from behind him. "Those two'd been dancing around their feelings for awhile now; it's good to see them together at last."

Kurth smiled sadly. Not too long ago those two had been his brother and Ena, in love without a care in the world. But Ashnard had ruined that for them. Now it was up to him to pick up the pieces. He sighed almost inaudibly, taking a long drink. His thoughts were interrupted by a serving girl coming by and placing a small platter down on the table. He smiled his thanks at her before inspecting his meal.

The warm meal he'd requested before had been delivered to him in the form of a piping hot bowl of stew. Beef stew by the look of it. An interesting occurrence due to the lack of cows in Goldoa; either he had not ever noticed them, or the meat was imported. It was a dark stew, with hunks of potato and carrot floating in it. The two of them combined together with meat of almost any kind had made many good stews in the past, and would continue in the future.

The meal was exactly the one that Kurth needed after many days of walking; the meat was tender and falling apart, the potato chunks were soft, and the carrots were the same.

"This is excellent," he told the innkeeper after he had swallowed his first bite.

The other man nodded wisely. "We are renowned for our stews; my wife makes the best in Goldoa."

Kurth could definitely see why. It was delicious.

The other man moved away after a few minutes, presumably off to do some form of innkeeper job, and left Kurth alone at the bar. he had no complaints about that, personally. He frequently had issues talking to people that weren't his immediate family—or Ena, since she was basically family—and was surprised he had been fine talking to the innkeeper for as long as he had.

He shifted his gaze down to his bowl; he had apparently finished his stew shortly after the innkeeper had left. Unfortunate. It had been an exceptional meal for a weary traveler such as him.

Some time later the innkeeper returned and Kurth paid for his food, as well as the room he had requested, with some gold he had saved for a number of years. After that he collected his bag and climbed the stairs to the second floor.

Upon reaching his room, unlocking it with a key that he had received after he'd paid for his food, he pulled the door open and stepped inside. The room itself was not very large, containing enough space for a bed, a wardrobe, and a small table next to a stool. But it was a reasonable size for the amount he had paid for it.

He set his bag down on the bed and moved back to the door, locking it from the inside. It took him a few minutes to prepare for bed, only needing to remove his cloak and boots, before settling down on the stool with his map.

Tomorrow I will be out of Goldoa, he thought, tracing his finger north across the border to Gallia. One step closer to my goal.

Folding the map back down, and placing it in his bag, he climbed into bed and closed his eyes.

Tonight: sleep. Tomorrow: Gallia.


Hello! As one might guess based off of the name of the person uploading this, I am Darth_Darthius. This is my first story posted, well, anywhere. A little fact about this; I had it done about three weeks ago, but it took forever for my beta to read through it and send me his notes. And then it took me a couple of days from there to actually read said notes and make the changes that needed to me made. I might continue this story, but I haven't really decided yet. Anyway, I am a newer writer and would really appreciate some constructive criticism so I can improve as a writer. I have big plans for the future of my Fanfiction career—they will be enacted once I have become a better writer—and I hope some people will be there with me!

Hope you enjoyed!

- Darth_Darthius.