"So you're travelling to the Tailian Mountains to find your true love?"
"Yes I am. My cousin told me I'd find her at the base of the mountains."
Katerina stirred the pot of stew while Ivan spoke with their fellow traveller. The siblings had travelled eastward all day, as they had since they left Quvell a couple days ago. At sunset they crossed the path of this young man, Alfred, who was setting up camp for the night and was willing to accept their company. They were currently settled on a small hill at the edge of the forest, with the start of the mountains now very close by to the north, and all three horses were already settled a short distance from their campfire.
"And how do you know your true love is there?" Ivan grilled, "Do you know who she is?"
"I've never met her, no," Alfred conceded, "My cousin used soothsaying to determine her whereabouts."
"Soothsaying?" Katerina pinpointed, "Is your cousin blessed with magic?"
"Blessed with magic?" Alfred chuckled, "That's not a term I've heard before."
"Ivan and I were raised by a witch," Katerina divulged, "In our travels, we have found that asking outright if someone is a witch or warlock does not always turn out well. It gets treated like we are accusing them of causing harm simply for having magic, which we are genuinely not. To praise it as a positive aspect, as being blessed with magic, conveys that we are allies and have peaceful intentions."
"I see, that makes sense," Alfred remarked, "And no, my cousin is not a witch or a warlock, he's actually a Seelie fae."
"A Seelie cousin?" Ivan checked, "Are you fae-blessed yourself then?"
"Yes, several generations removed," Alfred confirmed, "Our families have kept in close contact over the centuries."
"We are also familiar with a Seelie fae," Katerina declared, "Erzsébet's cousin is a Seelie fae, he's helping us on our mission."
"Who is Erzsébet?" Alfred requested.
"The daughter of the witch that raised us," Ivan identified.
"Also Ivan's sweetheart," Katerina amended.
"Katya," Ivan moaned, rolling his eyes at her.
"She is probably fae-blessed as well, though it might never be proven," Katerina continued, "I'm sure you've heard all the fables about the fae seducing young human ladies, and leaving them knocked up with fae-blessed daughters who easily learn magic."
"Yes I have heard of that," Alfred took over, "Over the generations, daughters will become stronger with magic than their mothers. Eventually, they may in turn be seduced by the fae, and lured to Yuvalon to join them permanently, providing their fae offspring with more magic."
"That last part is what happened to Erzsébet's great-aunt," Ivan explained, "She fell in love with a fae, and chose to move to Yuvalon and marry him. Their son, Tolys, is the Seelie fae who is helping us now."
"And what exactly is Tolys helping you do?" Alfred pried, "If I may ask?"
Katerina looked at her brother, who in turn looked at her, both as if to ask each other whether it was safe to speak. Katerina shrugged and rolled her eyes skyward, it wasn't the end of the world if they spoke.
"We're looking for our little sister," Katerina revealed as she gently laid the spoon on the edge of the simmering pot of stew, "Our birth parents gave her to a witch the day she was born, we never saw her again after that. Erzsébet and Tolys procured us this compass, which is enchanted to point in the direction we need to find."
Katerina removed the compass from her pocket and held it out in her hand, allowing Alfred to lean over and look at it.
"We've used it twice now to plot out on our map where our sister should be," Ivan explained, "First we measured from Erzsébet's cottage near Quvell, which pointed us east to the mountains. Then, when we recently went north to track down our birth parents in Hawyth, we measured from there as well to pinpoint where to look at the base of these mountains."
"So you're also looking for someone at the base of the Tailian Mountains?" Alfred realized as he leaned back, "Someone you've never met?"
"Exactly," Katerina verified.
"Then does that mean we're looking for the same woman?" Alfred put forward, "Or could there be two young ladies to find, and they're just in a very similar location?"
"That would be quite the coincidence," Ivan noted.
While they spoke, Katerina reached over to her bag, and pulled out the sheet of parchment that showed a map of Solyra and the nearby territories. She unfurled it and quickly located where they should be on the map, placing her finger on the spot before holding out the compass.
"Where is my sister?" Katerina demanded the compass.
The arrow spun around very quickly, a faint aura of Erzsébet's enchantment controlling it, before settling on a direction.
Katerina frowned, that couldn't be right.
"Where is my sister?" she repeated.
The arrow wobbled briefly, but remained pointing in the same direction.
"Where is it pointing?" Ivan asked, "Is it not east?"
"No, it's not," Katerina answered, "It's pointing straight south."
"Is that trouble?" Alfred inquired, "You said the base of the mountains, right?"
"Perhaps not trouble, but still very strange," Ivan judged, "We're not far enough north anymore for it to be pointing south."
"Let alone so sharply like this," Katerina wondered, "Why did it suddenly change direction so drastically?"
"Is it possible your sister moved to a new location?" Alfred suggested, "If it's been several days since you drew those measurements, then perhaps she's travelled south in that time. I should know, I've made it this far north from Niba in only four days on horseback."
"That is quite possible," Ivan assessed, "So do we continue to our original intended destination, or do we veer straight south?"
"I think we should continue as planned," Katerina determined, "If we reach the original destination and she's not there, we may still find clues to why she left."
"If you're still heading straight east, perhaps I could join you," Alfred proposed, "If you don't mind my company, that is. The woman I'm trying to find is locked in a tower, which should also be somewhere to the east of here."
"I don't see any reason you couldn't," Ivan considered, "Until we find the marked place from our map at least. If your lady is further east, you'll have to continue without us."
"Oh yes, of course," Alfred elaborated, "If you need to turn south before me, you are free to do so. Better yet, if we find my lady first, we can both travel south with you as we return to Niba."
"That sounds like a plan," Katerina accepted.