The warm sun stirred me

The rays blanketed the sand in it's fiery heat. Even with the shade we constructed with poles and tarps to sleep under, it was a warm day. I yawned, rolling over to see if I was the first one awake.

I was not.

Schula sat on her mat, knees drawn to her chest and her arms wrapped around them as she watched something to the north of us. I turned to see Spaulder standing on a dune, overlooking Sulls.

Schula's head turned to me as I moved and she gave me a smile. She pointed toward Spaulder. I nodded, yes. Let's go see him.

I got up as quietly as I could. Even Puko managed to remain asleep, perched on a pack next to Nassir's head. The two of us tiptoed over to where Spaulder was standing a good distance away.

"How are you doing, Spaulder?" Schula asked. "Couldn't you sleep?"

Our great dragon turned, his arms crossed over his chest as he had been standing and observing the distant city. He gave us a smile, and turned back to his view of Sulls.

"It would seem I need little sleep in this form. I anticipate my strength will return to me much more quickly if I can stay in such a small shape for a few weeks."

"It sounds like two solutions from one spell," Schula beamed over at me. "Let him remain hidden as long as he wants, and he also reserves much of his energy while he recovers from a long..."

Schula's face fell. She didn't want to say the word 'imprisonment' but we all understood.

"You are right, snowy one," Spaulder said. "It is a most efficient way to adjust to the changes of the world around me in my absence."

I heaved an inward sigh of relief. Spaulder was taking to his newfound freedom easier than Nassir had. Then again, a dragon is a different sort of being entirely, and it's hard to say if he's just hiding it better than Nassir.

GLancing over my shoulder to the camp, I briefly pondered the fact that Nassir hadn't really spend much time bonding with Spaulder.

"It is because I remind him of a dark time," Spaulder said out loud. "As he will likely remind me of the same."

I turned my eyes back to Spaulder again. "How did you know what I was thinking?"

He shrugged. "Intuition, I suppose. Do not fret, I sense no ill feelings from Nassir to me, and I harbor none to him. It will simply take a little more time to see each other beyond our respective pasts."

I nodded. That made sense.

"So, I guess we go through Sulls today," Schula said. "Are you ready to be among so many people?"

"I will have to be, won't I?" Spaulder mused, a glint of mischief in his eye. "You young ones assume I have forgotten what it is to be among a brood."

"Tell us about them," I said. "The other dragons."

Spaulder sighed. He gave me a weary but warm smile. "Another time, little witch."

"When do you think we should wake the others?" Schula asked, looking toward our camp. "I hate to say goodbye to Kai again so soon, but I'm eager to return."

"I just hope we can return," I said. "I know Thain and Eberon were going to stay and help King Baeleon understand what happened, but what if he doesn't want me in the Autumn lands because of what I am?"

Schula rached over a hand and put it around my waist. "If you can't return, I won't return either. Maybe we can stay in the Summer or Spring lands. I know Caldon would help us, if we went to Dwellonmar."

"I do like Caldon," I said. "As long as he stops flirting with me."

Schula giggled. "I don't think anyone can make Caldon stop flirting."

"Maybe Krissaph could," I said. "She was not the sort of ally I expected to make in the Wyldes, but she certainly came in handy back in Icehold."

Schula grimaced. "I suppose."

I eyed her. One thing had always bothered me about her dislike of Krissaph, it didn't seem in her character to dislike someone so much.

"Schuila," I started. "Why is it you dislike Krissaph so much?"

Schula frowned, her face flushing a bright pink. "I... she was..."

I raised my eyebrows. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

Schula looked away, scratching an elbow and fidgeting. "She climbed into bed with me and Caldon once and I didn't take it well, okay?"

I clenched my throat, my mouth straining not to laugh out loud.

Schula turned to me with a glare. "There was more to it than that! But, she thought things about me, and I thought things about her, and it was never really resolved."

"Caldon and Krissaph are triquetram," I mused. "I suppose it's only right that if you are seeing one, you would spend some time with the other."

Schula pinched the bridge of her nose. "Let's just focus on Sulls, okay? Do we need any provisions?"

"I would like to aquire my own clothing, if possible," Spaulder said. "Though I have no currency."

"That's okay," I told him. "We still have money from Eberon, and we had a lot of it melted for tradeable bars back in Eidelhein."

"I would also find a pack that I could carry my own share of our supplies," he said.

"Sure, I think we can do that," Schlua said.

"Of course we can." Nassir was walking up to us from the camp. I turned around and greeted him with a smile. He was seeing small motions like that in finer detail these days.

"Sorry, did we wake you?" Schula asked.

Nassir shook his head. "Not at all. Kai did. He got up and started making breakfast."

"Now that is something I could handle right now," I said, turning back toward the campsite.

"Let us eat something then," Spaulder said. "The city can wait that long at least."

"Agreed." Schula looped her arm through mine and Spaulder's, leading us to the camp with purpose.

We ate, mostly using up what fruit and bread we had left, seeing as how we could get more in Sulls. Kai entertained us with stories of the tribes, particularly the Khusuru that he had begun living with since the last time we saw him. I particularly enjoyed a memory of some of the tribe children trying to teach him a game with a ball that he was apparently terrible at. It made me smile to see how his life had turned around since that fateful day we met in the city markets.

Cleaning up our camp, I made sure everything I had was as securely packed as possible. My clothes, the scarf the Khusuru weaver had given me, all my books. We had eaten enough of the supplies that I was able to stop carrying the tomes of the witches in my arms and instead settle them safely in the bottom of my pack. Even Puko didn't disturb us while we all gathered our things.

We gave Kai our tarps and the supplies we only needed in the desert. We wouldn't need them in the Wyldes, and if we ever did come back this way, I was confident we could find Kai again.

"Well, that's about the last of it," Kai said, tying his own pack closed. "Are you ready to go through Sulls?"

"I think so," Schula said. "Where are you leaving us?"

Kai smiled, adjusting his eyepatch more firmly on his head. "I'm coming into the city with you. I need to pick up couple things for Tali and I don't want to think about what she'll do to me if I come back empty handed."

Nassir chuckled. "Then we mustn't disappoint her. Come, Kai. Of course you are welcome to join us in the markets."

"I'll join you at least until we arrive there," Kai said. "I won't keep you after that."

"It's been so nice to see you again," I said.

Kai winked at me. "And you as well, aoyi'ka."

We began walking the last couple hours to the city. The sun was making it's downward journey, and all I could think about was the cool night air on my skin. Until I realized I needed to cover my ears.

I grumbled as I pulled the cloak from my bag and put it on. I tossed one to Spaulder as well, who was indifferent as I explained not showing his chosen ears and his stunning eyes to the humans. Particularly not right after they had just suffered an attack on their home, no matter how ineffective it was.

The gates of Sulls that could open to the desert came into clearer view just before sunset. But unlike last time, the number of guards both inside and outside the walls were much higher and more armored despite the heat.

"Was it like this when you two scouted?" I asked.

"Yes," Kai answered. "But they'll let us in with no problems. We are obviously not raiders and they know me by sight now with all the people I've taken across the sands."

I nodded. "Good. I just want to get in, get supplies, and pass through."

"As long as we can stop and get some of those buns with the cheese in them, I will be happy," Nassir said.

Schula giggled. "Agreed."

Just as Kai said, the guards let us in with a little questioning. Spaulder worried me at first with his appearance. Even if the guards looked me in the eye, with my hood up my ears were plenty hidden. But it's hard to hide shining golden eyes if someone looks directly at your face. Somehow he managed, and we were let onto the main street that veined the city.

Market stalls were still open and bustling as we walked through. People were hawking their best wares, or at least the goods they wanted to be rid of the most. The only thing that stood out from our last time in Sulls was the guards on the street corners. Otherwise, the citizens went about their lives as they always had.

"I think I see a tailor," Schula said.

"No, no, not that one." Kai pointed to a different road. "That one's a crook. The blue curtains over there, that's a good shop."

"Spaulder, would you like to go see with me?" Schula asked.

"Yes, I would," Spaulder said.

"Hold on there," Kai stopped them. "Not without a proper goodbye you won't."

Schula beamed at him, reaching out open arms to give him a hug. "Of course not. Thank you for your guidance again, Kai."

"Safe travels, Schula. Find me if you come this way again," Kai said.

"Of course!" She released him from the hug.

Kai took turns saying goodbye to the rest of us. Shaking hands with Spaulder, and hugging Nassir and I. Puko pecked at his hand, and Kai chuckled as he stroked the bird's headfeathers.

"I'll even miss you, Puko," Kai told him.

The goodbye was bittersweet, but I was glad to see him doing well. I waited in the street, watching the entire time until Kai disappeared to another part of the city wherever his shopping took him.

"We can always visit," Nassir said, gently placing a hand on my shoulder.

"I know," I sighed.

"Then come, let's finish our business here and continue our journey."

I nodded. "You're right, let's go."

Following Kai's directions to the reputable tailor, I actually had an enjoyable time helping Spaulder choose clothing. The styles of Sulls would clash with anything I'd seen in the WYldes, but Spaulder took an immediate liking to the long, loose pants and wide, colorful tunics that the shop had to offer. After trying on most of the poor tailor's stock, we managed to find two full outfits large enough to fit the dragon in disguise.

After that, a stop to gather food. Nassir insisted on buying quite a few of the cheese filled buns. Not that any of us argued with him. The baker even remembered Puko and gave him a scrap of crust from her day old bread.

As charming as Sulls was, its allure wore off quickly as the night fell over it. The food, the people, the shops, we had our fill and made our way to the gate that would lead to the plains and eventually the mountains and the Wyldes.

The gates on this side of Sulls looked much like the other. Plenty of guards, flying the Sultana's banner and wearing their blades openly. A warning to any more raiders who dare come close to the gates, and an assurance to the people they protected.

We were eyed with plenty of suspicion, but they didn't stop us from getting in the line of people and merchants leaving the city. It wasn't long, since it was already evening.

"What is the line for?" Schula asked.

"Oh, that's right," I said. "We only came in before, not out. Well, they make sure nobody leaving matches the description of anyone they're looking for. You know, reported thieves or smuggled goods."

"Hm, makes sense," Nassir said.

I watched the line ahead of us as it moved quickly. But the loud crying of a woman drew my eye to the entering line at the other side.

"My husband!" the woman wailed. "My mother! You don't understand, they killed them!"

The sobbing was loud, and distracting and... familiar.

"What is it?" Schula asked.

"Shh," I moved my hood back enough to listen better. "I think I know that girl."

"There's nothing the Sultana can do outside of Sulls," a guard snapped at her. "Now, move aside and let the others with real business here through."

"But it's gone! All of it! Where do you want us to go?" The woman didn't budge, instead she stood as tall as she could and screamed in the guard's face. "Back to the mountains to be slaughtered? Please, let us in!"

"No urchins on the streets," another guard came up to her, pushing her shoulder and making her back off from the first guard. "Don't make me turn you away again."

"Cowards! The lot of you." The woman spat, and turned away. "Just because we haven't coin to buy beds, it doesn't mean we're useless vagabonds."

I gasped.

"Shanna?" Her name slipped from my lips before I could stop myself from saying it. Shana, the daughter of a fisherman and no older than me. She lived in the village by Silver Lake. A proud thing, with a will of iron.

Her head turned to the crowd, looking for who called to her. She didn't spot me.

"Who is it?" She demanded. "Who here knows me?"

"I'll be right back," I murmured.

"Hurry," Schula said. "We're almost next in line."

I walked the few paces to where Shanna stood, the guards eyeing her wearily.

She watched as I grew closer, her eyes narrowing to better see my face under the hood.

"Who is it?" she asked.

"You know me as Bryn's daughter," I said softly.

Her expression changed little, but her eyes did dart to the general shape of me.

"What do you want with me, monster?" Shanna snapped. "I've enough problems without your cursed presence."

I pulled a coin, a sizeable one, from my pocket. "This should gain you and yours rooms for enough time that the guards would let you in."

Shanna's eyes widened, and she reached out a hand to snatch the coin away. But I moved it from her reach before she could.

She scowled. "What do you want?"

"What happened in the mountains?" I asked. "Who's killed your husband and mother?"

She glared at me, her eyes flicking to the guards and back. "Are you telling me you don't know? I would assume your kind had something to do with it."

"What do you mean my kind?" I asked.

She spat on the ground again. "Those raiders weren't like the ones last year. These are different. They can't be from the plains, at least not alone. They must have ties in the north."

The north? Did she mean...

"More north... than the village?" I asked.

She nodded. "Curse them all to the foulest hells for what they did," she whispered.

I swallowed hard. It meant something. What that something was, I didn't know.

"My condolences to you and yours," I murmured, and slipped her the coin.

Without so much as a goodbye, she snatched it up and ran back to the ragged souls outside the gates that must be other survivors.

I slipped back in line just as we were being asked our business.

"What was all that?" Schula hissed.

"Something important, I think," I replied. "I'll tell you all when we camp."

She nodded, and we moved forward to answer to the guards.

I clutched the pendant that sat on my stomach under my clothes. Stars, Mother, whoever was listening. Help us. Something big was afoot, if only I could fit together the pieces.