The unknown species of a bird with three eyes chirped in the trees as it fed Its hatchlings, while a wooden caravan with white clothing over It acting as the roof, trotted through the dirt road that was littered with rocks.

The insects chittered incessantly from where they sat at the wooden branches and the green leaves - Elkend guessed that it was early summer, judging by how all the insects and birds chirped and chittered.

In a way, it helped him tone down his sedatephobia, with insects around, he will have no need for that wooden contraption his mother got him.

Hopefully, he'll be able to catch some and trap them in a glass jar, to put them in the room that he currently does not have.

Grumbling quietly as to not wake his mother from her slumber, Elkend forced himself out of his thoughts and glanced at his sleeping mother opposite him. She had spent last night on guarding duty, switching out with Botolph every few hours to maximize efficiency. He supposed that she deserved the quick nap since she didn't get enough sleep to function properly for the day, evident by how she was still sleeping at fucking 3 in the afternoon.

By reasons of boredom alone, Elkend let himself sink into his thoughts, though he was careful not to descend into a rabbit hole.

His mother had told him about the Kingdom they were going to; The Atritus Kingdom.

From what his mother told him, It was a pretty peaceful Kingdom. Minimal war history, and even then, the Kingdom only participated in four to three wars throughout history before the Peace Treaty was endorsed by the surrounding Kingdoms.

Elkend nodded to himself approvingly. This was probably the best Kingdom they could have chosen; even though he didn't know about any of the Kingdoms in this continent except this one, he trusted his mother enough to make the right choice.

While he was thinking of Kingdoms, a sudden thought slipped into his mind unannounced, and he almost choked on his spit as he realized something.

What about education? Was it decent in the Atritus Kingdom? Did only the nobles get the chance to be educated? He was decent at making friends, but that was in the past where he was raised in a society where he didn't already have his own social norm. But, now? In another different world, with different cultures and traditions and a plethora of stuff that comes into play during social events?

If he didn't learn how people his age acted in this world, he feared that he would get either A) bullied to hell and back, or B) have the term "outcast" get slapped on his back for the entirety of his education.

Neither options were appealing to Elkend.

Elkend sighed softly as he shrugged these thoughts from his head. If he was lucky, he would get option B, which was the least worse. It was better to be alone than to be with the wrong people, besides; he had his mother, and that was perfectly fine with him. Who needed friends anyway, right?

Glancing at his mother sleeping, Elkend could already feel the incoming migraine if his thought process continued. Calling out to Botolph, he informed the man that he was going to take a nap in the caravan and then he let himself drown in sleep's embrace peacefully on the floor adorned with blankets not a minute later.

[x]

Waking up to him came in bits and pieces. First, it was opening up his eyes for some moments before deciding he wanted to sleep more, then, it was stretching his legs and arms while wrapped around his blanket. Finally, after a moment of sulking lazily in his blanket, he decided it was time to wake up.

Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes with one hand and groggily sitting up, Elkend reached with his hand to the where he knew the wooden chair that he was sitting on was before he slept and used it to support himself.

Still rubbing his eyes, Elkend muttered a good morning to his mother, and this time his eyes focused for the first time since he woke up and was faced with the sight of an empty caravan.

For a second, alarm and panic rushed through his brain and he had half a brain cell to use common sense and took a peek out of the caravan and breathed a sigh of relief once he realized that no, his mother hadn't disappeared. It was night outside, and it was only then that Elkend had slept until the sun has set and the moon has risen.

His mother, Veanda, was sitting outside beside the caravan, a fire billowing out the warmth and smoke in front of her.

Putting on his leather shoes, Elkend slipped out of the caravan and greeted his mother. Instantly, his mother swerved her head and looked behind her at him with surprise.

"Elkend!? Why are you awake? You're supposed to be sleeping!"

Elkend smiled sheepishly and rubbed his head, abashed.

"I took a nap in the middle of the day and accidentally overslept; so now I can't really go back to sleep."

His mother groaned, and then shifting a little, she patted the spot next to her, gesturing him to sit.

Quickly taking the initiative, Elkend went and sat down with his mother.

They sat like that comfortably in the silence, except for Elkend's whistling. Turns out, whistling almost every day had its benefits, and now Elkend could whistle like a fucking pro. He took pride in the way he expertly whistled, sue him.

Time passed, and before Elkend knew, it was Botolph's turn to switch with his mother, and his eyes were drooping ever so slightly.

Yawning, Elkend muttered as he stretched his arms, "I think It's time for me to go to sleep."

Sluggishly walking back to the caravan, he slipped inside and slipped into his blanket, and let sleep overcome him twice in a day.

[x]

The days went by repetitively, blending in together with how similar and boring they were.

And before Elkend knew it, he woke up one day, and on a whim, he stuck his head outside the moving caravan from the front, then his eyes widened almost impossibly and it took exactly three seconds for the realization to set in.

There, on the horizon, was the faint outline of Atritus. Its walls were high and mighty as if it could brave on the strongest storms that the Earth could offer. The walls seemed to stretch on forever, and beyond the walls, from what Elkend could make out from the distance, was a castle.

The castle was grand, and even from this distance, Elkend knew instinctively that it was bigger than what he had seen of pictures and depictions in his past life of medieval Kingdoms and Empires.

Excitement surged throughout, and Elkend almost felt like a child on Christmas as he let out an embarrassing squeal of excitement, that he would later deny It came out of his mouth when his mother would inevitably tease him during dinner later.

Botolph chuckled as he saw the expression on Elkend's face.

"This your first time, kiddo?"

Elkend nodded feverishly, not that Botolph could see from where he was guiding the horses.

He couldn't wait to arrive at Atritus.