I would have liked to have had more time to prepare April for her tasks, but Sara was in a surprising hurry to send us on our mission, so I only had two days to discuss the most important tasks with her and make the first repairs. Since I'd complained loudly enough last time that I didn't fancy long walks and the journey to Redgate by coach would take a good two days, Cáit didn't even try to persuade me to walk the distance, but had Sara organise a way for us to get there. Originally Sara had the stupid idea that we could just ride to Redgate, but when she realised that I had never been on a horse in my life she had to change her plan and organised seats for us on a coach. Apparently there was some sort of regular service to the neighbouring towns.

The coach was a bit late that day though, so I used the time to go over everything very quickly with April.
"Please don't forget to ask the junk dealer for the pre-ordered spare parts for your wrist. I've already fixed everything else as best I can," I said and April nodded, "It's at the top of the list. I'll also make sure the wooden planks are stowed away, the glass ordered is safely stored and I'll take care of Cáit's delivery to the orphanage. Anything else?"
As I wondered if I had really discussed everything important with April, an exhausted Cáit muttered, "Thank you for your help. I'm looking forward to a long nap in the coach. And don't worry about the money - I'll settle up with Elisabeth when I get back." April nodded, while Cáit added wearily, "Could you both do me a favour and remind me to refill my potions sooner next time?"
For the last two nights she had been pulling all-nighters to finish the preparations for the orphanage and our trip. I knew this because she usually woke me up unintentionally when she crawled into bed with me early in the morning for at least a short nap. You could tell she was overworked and desperately needed some sleep. And although I hated to admit it, the last few nights had been a little lonely without her, as I had really got used to her presence by now.
"Before I forget," I muttered, "Don't go to the Adventurers' Guild alone to sign up for our guild. Even though I've already given Sara the money to reserve your seat, I've agreed with her that your registration can wait until Angus returns. But you probably wouldn't have time to work for the guild anyway."
"I know. We've been through this three times now. Don't worry so much," April smiled, who must have noticed my tension.

At some point the coachman managed to show up in front of the estate.
"I'm really sorry, but the horses have been a bit stubborn today," he apologised, "The plan is for us to stop halfway. On the one hand, I can't let the horses run for two days, and on the other hand, I don't really want to ride at night, as I don't want to risk running into bandits. So we spend the night in a small settlement called Sussex. There's a nice little cheap hostel there."
"Cheap sounds good," I muttered as I got into the carriage with Cáit.
While Cáit tried to catch up on sleep during the journey, I took the opportunity to familiarise myself with my supposed home in the north. At least I tried to, because Cáit, who was once again using my lap as a pillow, had a surprisingly restless sleep and kept pulling me out of my concentration.

In fact, this trip was the first real opportunity I'd had to study the subject in depth. The book was handwritten and therefore quite difficult to read at first. However, once I got used to the style of writing, I surprisingly enjoyed it a lot because the content of the book reminded me so much of my old world. My personal highlights were passages such as "In the North, men wear traditional skirts of chequered woollen cloth", "They organise competitions in which they throw tree trunks as far as they can" or "They worship a little goblin in a green suit".
"I'm sure we also believe there's a pot of gold at the end of every rainbow," I muttered to myself, "If I didn't know any better, the North would appear to be a cultural mishmash of Scottish and Irish traditions. My supposedly northern weapon is a shillelagh. This book talks about kilts, Highland Games and even the fucking leprechaun. Although, as far as I know, the leprechaun is a fairy, not a goblin."
Cáit mumbled sleepily, "Did you say something?" but I just stroked her hair and she went right back to sleep. Though her sleep seemed restless, she slept through most of the first day of our journey, only waking-up just before Sussex.

Sussex was not really worth mentioning as it was a small settlement in the middle of huge wheat fields. It sounds more romantic than it was. The wheat fields were also the most impressive thing about this place, which was nothing more than a turning point on the journey between Dubstep and Redgate. The conclusion was obvious as there were a couple of other coaches parked next to ours in front of a small hostel. I was actually quite glad that we only spent one night in this place, as there was nothing else to do in Sussex but get drunk or take boring walks through the wheat fields. To make matters worse, there weren't many women in the hostel, which led to some rather crude comments from some of the drunken guests - especially towards Cáit, as some of them thought I was just a little girl who needed to be put to bed soon. These stupid remarks didn't surprise me, but the fact that Cáit didn't even bother to give the boys the cold shoulder was more of a stunner, as she was usually incredibly amused by the sour faces of all the idiots. Instead, she just held my hand and looked nervously around the room.

It turned out that getting drunk was our coachman's favourite pastime. We weren't quite sure if it was the good food and drink, or if he was just attracted to the young waitress with the big tits who had been making eyes at him all evening to boost sales. Cáit and I watched the spectacle for a while and quickly realised that the girl was pulling the same stunt on all the men.
"Luckily we don't have to pay for his food," I joked at one point, but Cáit muttered surprisingly annoyed, "If he carries on like this, we won't pay him anything. It's his job to protect us. The bottom line is, we've got to take care of him now, so he can get us to Redgate tomorrow."
Cáit was right in her concern, because not long afterwards our coachman was so drunk that we had to carry him to his room with the help of two of the few sober men.

"I will be very surprised if you can continue your journey in the morning," said one of the two men, "We are former soldiers on our way back to our home village. We were asked to transport some expensive goods to Dubstep. Depending on where you are going, we can give you a lift if you are in a hurry. I wouldn't expect him to be back on his feet before noon tomorrow anyway. Don't worry about the cost - at least until the sun rises in the north..."
"...and sets in the south," Cáit replied and suddenly said something worrying to the two men, "Two guests have been watching us from the bar for a while. A third has been buying drinks for our coachman. I honestly expect a fourth to be observing the carriages."
So that's why Cáit was so tense all the time. "We really must get to Redgate as soon as possible. In fact, I would prefer it if we left right now," Cáit said suddenly, but one of the men replied, "Too dangerous. Stopping here was inevitable, as it is the only major settlement between Dubstep and Redgate."
"Besides, it would attract too much attention if you suddenly leave now," the other man added, and Cáit suggested suddenly, "If you're right and our coachman doesn't get out of bed early, we'd like to take you up on your offer - if it really is on your way."
"Since we're on the main road anyway, that's fine," one of the men nodded, "We'll just drop you off right outside the entrance and keep going. It's still a couple of hours' journey from Redgate for us."
"Perfect. Redgate isn't nearly as big as Dubstep, so walking a few steps to find a hostel won't be a problem," Cáit replied, grinning mischievously at me.

Back in the room, Cáit immediately locked the door and explained to me why she had accepted the two men's offer.
"I have a bad feeling that we've been followed for some time. So the sooner we get to Redgate, the better."
"Wouldn't it make more sense if we just cancelled our trip and went back to Dubstep?" I asked in surprise, but Cáit shook her head.
"Under normal circumstances I would agree. But did you really not smell it this morning?" she asked me and I just looked at her in confusion, "What exactly do you mean?"
"Our coachman. He reeked of alcohol and I'm starting to get the uneasy feeling that he was already bottled up last night as he obviously can't handle much," she winked, "He was just sleeping it off. The guy had a hangover, that's why he drove the coach so leisurely. I didn't think anything of it at first and didn't say anything because I wanted to get some sleep and this was the perfect opportunity. But seriously, did you really not notice?"
I just shook my head, "How could I not have noticed? I trust Sara to know what she's doing when it comes to things like this."
"I thought so," Cáit grinned, "I suggest we go to bed now and try to get some sleep. I have a hunch that the next few days could be quite tiring again."

Less surprisingly, Cáit and I didn't get a wink of sleep that night, and the next morning we went to Redgate with the two guys who had offered us a lift the day before. Our previous coachman was apparently so sound asleep that he didn't answer several hard knocks on his door, so we left some money for him at the reception and went on with the other two guys, who turned out to live near a small settlement close to Redgate.
"We need to tell Sara to check the people she hires for us more carefully," Cáit muttered in annoyance as we sat down in the back of the empty carriage - but I just shrugged and pulled out my book again, "There's nothing we can do about the situation now anyway. So relax a little."
Cáit seemed quite surprised by my reaction, because she looked at me irritated for a moment before she suddenly giggled, "You've definitely been spending too much time with Hannah. Are you becoming a bookworm too? What are you reading?"
I mumbled, "It's called 'Interesting Facts about the North'. There's a lot of nonsense in it, but it's actually quite fun to read. According to this book, it would make sense for our guild to move to the North because we could go on the ultimate treasure hunt and find the leprechaun's hidden pot of gold at the end of the rainbow."
"And why don't we just do that?" asked Cáit, to which I gave her an irritated look and then asked very calmly, "You do know that the leprechaun doesn't exist, don't you?"
"I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about," Cáit giggled, "but you did say something about a treasure hunt and a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. So - of course I'm interested."
"How did I know you were only thinking about the treasure again?" I chuckled as I took Cáit's hand and leaned my head against her shoulder.
"As if..." Cáit whispered in my ear before she said dreamily, "But searching for the end of the rainbow with you sounds like an exciting adventure.