Chapter 85

We had been travelling for about six bells now and my legs were starting to get sore and restless. The uunas were a nicer ride than horses but if you sit in one place for too long your butt starts to fall asleep and your legs get sore holding you in place. I don't have any memories of horses but I can distinctly compare them to uunas. I'm not sure if it's a memory thing or a skill thing though, I just know some things about horses compared to uunas.

I looked over the horizon. The plains had gotten quite a bit more boring since the forest had receded completely. They were just hills of grass with the occasional rock or tree to break up the view. There was absolutely nothing to look at but the clouds. I had been lucky I had found people so quickly after coming to this world because I could not imagine walking along this road on foot.

The roads were very high quality though, much better than I would have expected. I didn't realize it at first but the 'dirt trail' that we were following was actually packed and reinforced earth magic. Other than the loose dust at the top, the path was perfectly smooth almost the entire way, clearly the result of magic because I wouldn't know how something like this would have been possible otherwise. Despite being an old styled wagon with no shock absorption the carriage caravan travelled down the road with minimal problems.

Tarklin led his own uuna over to mine, matching the speed of the uuna I was riding. "How is Nikka treating you?" he asked nodding to the uuna I was riding.

I patted the uuna's neck. "She's a good girl. Very well trained."

"I'm glad to hear it, it really is a relief that you know how to ride. We're going to be stopping soon for a quick lunch and to rotate our riders. Go ahead and join Bella on the wagon she's riding for the rest of the day after we stop. I'll be handing Nikka off to someone else for the rest of the day."

"Sounds good," I said with a smile.

Nearly everyone got off and stretched their limbs once we stopped. Several people took the opportunity to run off and pee behind the solitary tree we stopped near. I had to wait a little bit to hand Nikka off to the next rider before I could join my friends. Bella, Morrigan, and Torien were all chatting by one of the wagons when I finally got to meet up with them.

"Hey everyone, how are you guys holding up?"

"Pretty good!" Morrigan said with a bright smile.

Torien was stretching and seemed to be in bright spirits as well. "It's funny how tiring it can be to just sit still and watch the world go by."

"You two seem to be in a good mood. Do you really enjoy travelling this much?" I asked.

Morrigan looked a little sheepish. "Well... this is the first time the two of us have ever traveled like this outside of a locked wagon. I know it probably doesn't seem like it would make much difference but being able to sit up with the coachman, being tasked with protecting the caravan from monsters and bandits, wearing a servant's collar band..." She gingerly touched the decorated band that was covering most of her slave collar. "It's a really different experience, we're not just more cargo, we're here for a reason."

It often tugged at my heart when the twins took pleasure from being allowed to do normal things like free people. I at least took comfort that as long as I got my way they would never have to reduced to cargo again. It was interesting to note how different a change of perspective could be. Their experience traveling was so completely different from the norm that they were excited about a trip others would complain about.

I began stretching my legs again. "Riding the uuna has been nice, a lot more comfortable of a ride than I would expect. My legs are pretty sore from staying in the same position for so long though."

Morrigan leaned in, "Did they have uunas where you come from? Do you have a riding skill?"

I shook my head and whispered a reply. "Never seen an uuna before I came here, they are a bit similar to horses though. I do have a riding skill, it's a bit complicated talking about how I got it but I'll tell you when we have some more privacy."

Morrigan nodded and stepped away.

I put my hand on Bella's shoulder and gently squeezed. "How are you doing Bella?"

She gave me a bit of a forced smile. "I'm doing okay. Kiana was pretty nice. I was chatting with her until the break. She's going to take over riding one of the uunas till we stop for the night."

I frowned a bit and glanced around, making sure no one was around to eavesdrop. "Do you want to talk about... her?"

She stared at the ground for a second before shaking her head and looking back at me. "There's not much more to talk about. She already chose to abandon me once. She sent a letter when she joined the church and made it pretty clear then that she no longer had a son. She was breaking all ties with me and that I shouldn't come looking for her. That's even more true now, Bruno is gone forever. I wouldn't want to Bruno again even if I got my mother back for it. Any last hesitation I had was wiped away when she... insulted who Bruno was." She took a deep breath and gave me another forced smile. "I know you're just trying to make sure I'm okay. I appreciate it but... I don't want to talk about my mo- that woman anymore. Maybe we can talk about it more once I've come to terms with it better."

I hesitated before finally nodding. "Okay, just remember you can talk to me about anything. I'll always listen when you need it."

Her tight smile finally faded into a more natural one, "I know. Thank you Lilith." She leaned her shoulder against mine. Enough to transmit her feelings without standing out to onlookers. I didn't have the same reservations and gave her a quick kiss while no one was looking.

After another fifteen minutes or so one of the adventurers we came with told us that hey had lunch prepared for everyone. We followed them to a table with freshly cut and individually portioned salads prepared for everyone. It felt a bit odd to be eating salad on a trip like this but what did I know? Looking around there were a fair number of beastkin that were presumably vegetarian so maybe it was just a thing that was safe for everyone to eat. Maybe someone had like food preservation magic or something on this trip, it felt a bit odd to me that salad of all things would be the caravan's go to food staple.

After a quick lunch we were back on track. I briefly met Kiana, the half-elf woman Bella had been talking to this morning. She was taking over uuna riding duty so she just quickly stopped by to say hello and thank me for covering for her. There weren't quite enough people in the group who could ride them so they had this complicated system of rotating people so no one had to do more than two full shifts in a row. Apparently all of it was made a bit easier by adding one more person to the pool of riders. I was honestly not super interested in the logistics of it all so I kinda tuned out the explanation. I told her I would ride any time they needed me, just tell me when. She seemed happy enough with that.

I sat between Bella and the coachman. He was a somewhat scruffy looking guy who had been working with the small trading company this caravan was part of for a long time. Apparently they were one of the main food providers for Traehall and would load their wagons up with lumber and different kinds of stone for the return trip. The trip was dangerous enough to require monster protection but not dangerous enough to need a lot of protection, hence being stingy when hiring adventures as guards. The conversation more or less stalled after that so I just let him be.

Bella had been pretty quiet since I joined her on the wagon. She had been so talkative to Kiara this morning but now that it was just us she seemed more interested in watching the clouds. Her distance made me feel a bit anxious but I didn't really know what to do. I didn't think I did anything wrong... perhaps I shouldn't have brought up her mother again? Could I just be overthinking this?

I sighed. I felt more comfortable riding the uuna earlier today. Something that should have been so foreign and new felt well practiced and comfortable. Instead a situation that should have been comfortable and relaxed made me feel anxious and on edge. I wasn't sure if she was mad at me or just tired or something.

"Bella... are you mad at me?" I asked hesitantly.

She turned to me and looked confused. "No? What would I be mad about... oh. No, I'm not mad at you, I just have a lot on my mind right now."

I felt relieved. "Oh good, you just looked so talkative with Kiara this morning and I thought maybe I had... that you were upset about the thing we talked about earlier."

She smiled gently. "It's alright, I'm not mad about that. Like I said, I just have a lot on my mind. The only reason I was talking so much to Kiara this morning was because we only just met. Why? Are you jealous?" she asked with a teasing remark.

"Jealous?" I thought about it for a second. Was I jealous? I don't think so, I'm just concerned about Bella right?

She laughed. "Don't take it so seriously. I was just teasing." She stared at the clouds and was quiet for a few moments before speaking again. "It was a nice distraction... getting to know her a bit. A lot has been going on the last couple weeks. It was just kind of hitting me how different my life is now. Running into... that woman just brought to my attention how different I am now. Not just on the outside, everything is completely different now."

I placed my hand gently on her leg and she leaned against me slightly. I glanced at the coachman who was clearly making a conscious effort to stay out of whatever the two of us were talking about. I could tell he was the type who didn't care about what we were doing as long as it didn't affect him.

We didn't talk much over the next few bells, even as the sun set. Traveling like this was pretty exhausting. Even if the carriage and the uuna had been smoother rides than I was anticipating it was still a bit long and boring. It wasn't until a few bells after sun down that we were finally signaled to pull over and stop.

The coachman lead the two uunas into what looked like a small castle. The building was some kind of outpost that had been created using terra magic. Now that I had seen it a few times, it had a bit of a characteristic look to it. The walls were often in large singular shapes, as if concrete had been poured through giant unwieldly molds and formed all at once. Magic made the stone flow into new shapes like it was liquid and you got a few interesting artifacts in their construction as a result.

The outpost looked empty, left alone for anyone traveling through. But the small team that was sent in to clear the rooms actually came out with a pair of new people. A large and muscular rabbit demi-human woman wearing a steel slave collar stood next to a young woman who looked like a noble wearing a torn and dirty dress. Something strange was going on.

Before I could ask my party members what they thought about the situation Tarklin called me over. I sighed. I should have expected this. I started to walk over, wondering what crazy thing I was getting involved in now.