Wren could scarcely get the thought of weddings out of her mind. That morning, another girl who lived a little ways down the caravan. And now her. Or at least that's what her mother expected. Wren wished she would drop the issue. The last few days had been nothing but talk about how she needed to be responsible and think of her future. It made Wren want to jump off a cliff. 

"Don't even think about it," her mother said as she stared wistfully out the tent flap, as if she were reading Wren's mind. She wanted to run as far as her legs would carry her.

"Why are you making me do this?" she asked as she turned and shot a pointed glare at her mother. Meria examined her nails and pretended not to notice the look. Instead she leaned back on a cushion and flipped through a small, leather bound notebook.

"Because I care about you," Meria answered. "You'll meet with Elyn, you'll go off wherever you feel the most comfortable, and you will make this work. It's not an option anymore, Wren. I'm not going to let you throw your life away."

Wren stared directly at her mother and pointedly rolled her eyes. She folded her arms across her chest and huffed. She wouldn't do this. She couldn't do this. She knew exactly what would happen. Elyn would take her somewhere, he'd kiss her, and they'd be engaged. The thought of it made her want to throw up into her lap.

He walked around the corner with his head hung low and his feet shuffling in the dirt. Wren's stomach opened up and dropped down into her shoes. Couldn't just ten more minutes have gone by? She cursed the fact that time existed and prayed that it would just freeze right now so this wouldn't need to happen.

Elyn said not a word as he walked up to their tent, shaggy hair hanging in front of her eyes. Wren's mother looked up as he approached and her face split into a huge smile. Wren wanted more than anything to peel it off.

"Hello Elyn," Meria said. She turned to Wren and glanced quickly to her, then to Elyn, then back again, then jerked her head in Elyn's direction.

"Hi," he muttered, still staring at his feet. He was tall and gangly, stuck in that awkward phase between a growth spurt and further weight gain. There were dark circles under her eyes nearly as deep as the ones she was sure were under hers. 

"Well I might as well get this over with," Wren huffed, and she stood up and followed him out. He took her hand and started walking purposefully toward the marketplace. Wren's face grew hot. She looked around, desperate for a place she could use to turn around but there was nothing. A few people popped their heads out of their tents and eyed them as they passed. Wren thought she might die.

They'd almost made it to the main market when Elyn stopped. He looked around them for what seemed like an eternity. Wren's eyes followed. What was he even looking at? All she saw was boxes.

"Follow me," he hissed. He tugged her hard to the right and she stumbled after him. Where were they going? The only thing there was in this part of the caravan was--

No. She dug her feet into the dirt. He stopped and let go of her hand. They weren't going to the guard tents. Not if she had anything to say about it.

"Please," Elyn begged as he reached to take her hand again. Wren pulled it away and glared at him. His eyes beseeched her to listen and his face wasn't so red anymore. He looked wild-eyed and panicked, like an animal caught in a steel hunting trap.

"Anywhere else," Wren said. Tears pricked at her eyes and she swallowed hard. Her heart thudded in her chest and her hands shook. She wiped quickly at her face with her hand.

"I don't want to do this either!" Elyn replied. He looked around them. "I never did. I don't like you." His face turned red and his eyes returned to their customary place in the dirt. "I mean...I don't not like you. It's just--"

Wren's breath started coming in short and ragged. Her hands closed and she took a step back from him. All this trouble for what? Nothing? What was the point in even talking about it?

"Just shut up," Wren snapped. "You're the only one that's had a choice so far."

Elyn sighed deeply and shook his head.

"I don't--" He paused for a second and opened and closed his mouth in a way that made him look remarkably like a baby bird gasping for air. "I don't know how to explain it. I don't do--"

"Can we just get this over with?" Wren asked miserably. The lump in her throat came back so large it felt like there was a boulder there. She turned her shoulders away from him and slumped. There was nothing she could do. All of that effort and putting off and she'd be stuck exactly where she'd always been.

"I'm trying to help you!" Elyn said in an exasperated tone. 

"Yeah? How could you help? There's nothing we can do," Wren said, and as she said it the world constricted around her. All the travel she wanted to do. The places she wanted to see and the people she wanted to meet. All of it gone like a puff of air on the desert wind.

There was a cavernous silence between them. Neither moved. The wind seemed to howl around them as she cried.

"You could hide," Elyn said quietly. She looked up at him and wiped her eyes. 

"How? Everyone knows us here."

Elyn shook his head.

"Not everyone," he said. "Have you ever been to the other side of the caravan?"

Wren shook her head 'no'. There would certainly be enough people, as long as she kept her head low. But she'd always been warned to stay away from places where travelers passed through unless they were filled with families. That was where men fought and died and took advantage of whatever gold and women they could find.  

"If you go there, and stay quiet, maybe no one will find you and you can leave at the next city."

"But how will I live?" she asked, voice small as a mouse. Elyn stared at her without saying anything and her heart sank. He didn't know. It would be just like coming to the caravan, except this time there would be no mother or father or friends to dull the pain. She'd be alone. The thought of it threatened to swallow her.

"I don't know. Could it be any worse than this?"

He gave her a shy smile and in spite of herself she laughed. Not much could be worse than this. At least she'd be free to do what she wanted. No one would question her or tell her not to leave. She turned to look at the guard tents and her stomach twisted into a knot, but she pushed down the sensation and turned back to Elyn.

"How will I get there?" she asked, and as if on cue, a wagon, crates stacked high upon it, came into view. Its driver pulled up the camel next to them. She looked at Elyn as if to demand an explanation. He beamed back at her.

"You ordered cargo?" a man on board shouted, and he pulled the wagon to a stop. His eyes twinkled and a scruff of a beard grew across his chin. He winked at Elyn, who smiled widely back and Wren glanced back and forth between the two.

"How do you know this guy?" Wren asked. A shadow of doubt made her step back from the wagon and glance back toward the caravan. 

"We're..." Elyn paused for a second and his face got that red, splotchy look again. "Friends. Don't worry about it. Get on board. He'll take you to the other end of the caravan."

Wren's stomach did a flip and she glanced at her parents' tent, then back to the wagon. The doubt nearly overpowered her and caused her to run back toward her parents' tent, but it would just get them both in trouble.

"Will you tell--" She glanced in the general direction of her parents. They would worry, probably so much they'd be consumed by it. But how much worse could it be than having an embarrassment of a daughter and a ruined business?

Armand would almost certainly come looking too if he found out she was missing. Then again, three days had gone by with neither hide nor hair of Armand. Chances are he wouldn't notice. She wondered whether he actually cared. It would be better for all involved if she disappeared for a while.

"Get on!" Elyn hissed. "You're going to get caught!"

Wren swallowed hard and climbed aboard the wagon, hiding herself behind the canvas flap that hid the inside from the outer world.

"Thank you, Elyn," she said sincerely.

 She hugged her hands around her knees as the man driving gave a whoop and the wagon groaned into motion. She'd never been away from her parents before. Her head swam. It was going to be a long trip, even if it were to take only an hour. Wren rested against the wall of the wagon and tried to ignore her pounding heart.

    ---

Ooh, a stranger! Why do you think Elyn is so reluctant to marry Wren, and how do you think he knows the man with the wagon? Put your thoughts in the comments!