Before they rode on the next day, Faolan studied the maps for a while. He knew round about where they were and which road his father was most likely to have taken. Therefore he concluded that they had only one chance to find him. The only possible path was the one that lead across a river flowing north to south, crossing their father's way. They had to ride back the way they came, following the road over the Great Plateau to the distant mountains in the deep south. Somehow they'd have to cross these to reach the path leading across the river, where their father would have to come by at some point, if he hadn't already.

Now that they knew where they had to go and that there was no time to waste, they trotted forwards. The horses could keep that speed up all day, but they needed water every once in a while, so they stopped whenever they came by a small stream.

Within the first morning, they reached Sembar's fields again and while they were riding through group 14's area, they kept their heads down and didn't say a word. Faolan saw some men working on the fields, but nobody was close enough to recognize them.

'We should give them names,' said Moira when they'd left group 14 behind.

'What?' asked Faolan. Who could she possibly mean? The members of group 14 certainly had names already.

'The horses, they're carrying us all the way. We should at least give them names. Since we've already taken them away from their home.' Something in her voice made Faolan wonder whether she blamed him for that, but it had been her idea, so it didn't make much sense to him.

'Well, I don't think they'll come when we call, so what would names change?' he said after a while.

'That's not what names are good for!' Moira shouted indignantly. Now Faolan was even more confused. 'Names represent who you are. They have meaning and should not be random.'

'But our names are random. Our parents gave them to us even before we were what we have now become.'

'You can always change your name if you think it doesn't fit you,' she said trying to sound wise. It didn't suit her.

'I'll stick with mine. If you want to name the horses then go ahead, I won't stop you.'

'I'll name mine, you'll name yours. But first we have to get to know them a little better,' she said before she started talking to her horse. After a while, Faolan wondered whether her voice would never fail her, since she just kept going. Not much later, they finally saw a big farm in the distance. It was much bigger than the one they had stolen the horses from, consisting of about ten buildings. From afar, it looked like an anthill with all the little figures quickly moving around.

When they got closer, they passed an impressive gate and Moira stopped talking. The road led through the centre of the farm. The crested main building looked huge and on its right side stood a chapel made of black stones. Although the little building had a creepy vibe to it, it looked majestic and seemed as if time had never laid a finger on it. When Faolan realized he'd been staring open-mounded, he cleared his throat and looked at the people working around them. Only now he noticed Reglan, who was standing nearby, staring at them just like Faolan had stared at the chapel.

'Moira,' Faolan whispered. 'I think we might have a problem.' Could Reglan possibly know that they'd stolen the horses? Would he believe if they said they'd bought them? To Faolan's surprise, Reglan went back to work and pretended he'd not seen them in the first place.

'Good morning, strangers,' a low voice said on the other side of the road. 'Did you come to buy something, ask for a job or are you possibly just passing by?' The man who spoke to them was tall and muscular, but the authority in his appearance was not to be found solely in his voice.

'We're just passing by,' replied Faolan, giving the man a polite smile. They rode on slowly, some people looked at them with interest, but when the man who'd spoken to the twins before shouted a few orders, everybody went back to work.

They'd nearly left the farm when they heard a young voice call out for them. A girl came running after them. She was a few years younger than the twins.

'You there!' she called once she'd caught her breath. 'You can't just leave without offering a prayer to the gods.'

The twins just looked at each other with raised eyebrows. Their father had told them about the religious beliefs in the kingdom, but he'd never really believed himself, so neither did the twins.

'Please, come with me, daddy told me to make all wanderers enter the chapel. We don't want to be responsible for the horrible things that await you out there, he says.' The girl looked up to Faolan, who'd dismounted his horse. 'Why do you ride without saddles? Never mind. Who are you and what are you doing here?'

She just went on and on. Whenever one of the twins answered a question, she gave them a beaming smile and many new questions. The twins exchanged looks as they tied the horses to a pole next to the chapel.

Within the walls of the little building, Faolan nearly shivered with cold. A few candles were lit at the other end of the chapel and their shine sufficed to light up the whole room.

'What gods is this chapel for?' asked Moira.

'All of them. Can't you read the symbols?' the girl said. Then she started naming all the seven gods she seemed to doubtlessly believe in. '... and, of course, there's Moira, Mother of all the others,' she finished.

'Moira?' asked Faolan in surprise. The girl looked at him, as if he were stupid.

'Yes, didn't you listen? There's no way you don't know her. She's the most important goddess of them all,' the girl explained quickly. 'You're not infidels, are you?' she then asked in a somewhat threatening tone.

'No, no, of course not,' lied Moira.

'Certainly not,' agreed Faolan. 'I just thought you'd said Murya or something, that's why I asked.' Moira gave him a look that sufficed to call him a liar.

'Yes, that's probably because I mumble sometimes. At least that's what mummy says. I don't think I do. But daddy said what mummy says is always right.' The stream of words coming out of her mouth seemed never-ending. Great, now that Moira stopped talking to a horse, I've got to listen to another little girl who doesn't know when there's nothing to be said, Faolan thought to himself.

'Would you mind giving us a moment of silence for our prayer?' said Moira to the little girl.

'Okay. May I join you? Please.'

'Of course, you may even speak the prayer for us, we'll listen and take your words to our hearts,' said Faolan. Moira looked at him as if he'd suggested to push the two of them off a clifftop, but it was already too late, the girl smiled and started rambling on again. When she'd finally finished, Moira sighed quietly.

'Thank you very much,' said Faolan to the girl. Her smile grew even brighter. Then she run out of the chapel and the twins followed her slowly. The bright light outside hurt Faolan's eyes but he didn't get to protect them because he was too distracted by what he heard.

'There you are! I've been looking for you,' said a fat man who stood in front of the main house. He held a walking stick in his hand but didn't seem to need it.

'I've been in the chapel with these strangers, they even allowed me to speak a prayer for them...' the girl began. The man lifted her up on his arm and came walking towards the twins.

'Welcome, strangers. I see you've met my daughter Tosa. I'm Sembar, owner of this little farm you see here,' he said and reached out for Faolan's hand. When Faolan shook Sembar's hand, a tear was pushing into his eye because Sembar nearly broke his fingers, but Faolan smiled anyway. 'And what's your name, if I may ask?'

'I'm Faolan and that's my sister M...'

'Mela,' lied Moira. She smiled at the man and made a curtsey. Faolan's eyes opened wide in surprise.

Sembar nodded to her. 'Nice to meet you,' he said.

'They said that they've come a long way,' started Tosa. 'And they ride without saddles and did you see their horses, daddy? You have to look at them, they are beautiful!'

'Without saddles?' Sembar said without waiting for his daughter to stop talking on her own. 'Is that true? Why would anyone do that?'

'That's how we learned to ride,' improvised Faolan.

'Oh, but trust me, saddles are much more comfortable. Come with me, I might still have some left for you to buy, if you want.' Although it was an offer, it sounded more like an order.

'Thanks, but we really don't need any,' said Faolan.

'Don't be silly, of course, you do. At least give them a try, will you?'

'But we really have to go on now,' tried Faolan once more. Sembar's look turned sombre when he heard that.

'I assume that means you can't afford any saddles. No other reason would allow such rudeness, I'm sure,' the man said while putting his daughter back on the ground.

'Well...' said Faolan.

'You're absolutely right. My brother has a little problem when it comes to talking about money. We've indeed spent most of ours on supplies in the last town and what's left is needed for the next town we'll find,' elucidated Moira. Faolan just nodded affirmatively.

'I see. Then there's nothing I can do for you, but still, I wish you a safe journey,' said Sembar.

'Daddy, daddy, can I ride with them for a bit? Just to the end of that field there. I'll run, so I'm back in time for supper!' said Tosa excitedly now.

'But I've been looking for you, Mother needs you inside.'

'Oh, please, I'll help her later,' she begged. 'Please?' she added with a broad smile when she saw that he'd already given up his opposition.

'Alright, off you go. I'm sure the two of you don't mind, do you?' he said to the twins then. They just smiled politely and wished him a nice day.

Tosa's stream of words accompanied them while they were untying and mounting the horses. She climbed up in front of Faolan and kept talking until she had to get down and go back home.

'Goodbye! Come back soon! And don't forget to bring the horses with you,' she called after a long tirade about how beautiful the horses were. Then she ran away, looking back occasionally as if to check whether their horses had already turned into unicorns.

// Hi guys, here's a poem for you, it's by @Tschike

Into the blue

what crazy view.

Vote and go on

till all blue is gone.

Some of you may remember her poems from The Tribes of K'haren, if you like it, be sure to leave a comment and check out her collection of those poems using the external link below :)