-What IS this?-

I asked with a disgusted expression as strange bulbous chunks jiggled in the pit of my spoon.

-Red beans. It’s a staple in the north. Try it, it’s tasty.-

I looked at dad with dubious eyes.

-You said the same thing about beet soup.-

-And beet soup is excellent. Your point?-

I sighed before putting down my spoon.

-See, that’s why I don’t believe you.-

-Oh don’t be dramatic, Silika. It’s beans. Kids love beans!-

-Well more for them then! I’m an adult from now on.-

I saw him start signing back to me, but I strategically looked away as I stepped down from my seat.

This was our first morning in Jillbeck’s Crossing and I was already starting to have my doubts about this whole ‘living in the north thing’. I hadn’t really built up any expectations while travelling through Lowland since I was told it was very different from our destination, but now that we were only weeks away from Clotop, I was starting to worry.

Weird trees, weird buildings, weird food… Even weird people!

Take Fiora for example.

Apparently she was the same age as I was, but then how come was she a full head taller than I was? How did that happen? Was it something in the food? Was it in those ‘red beans’ dad was just trying to feed me?

Wait…. Was THAT why he wanted me to eat them so bad? Does he think I’m too short?

Well I’m not having any of it! I’ll stay short like normal people! Like back in Evergreen!

I turned back to Lionheart.

-I’m going out to play!-

-Not so fast, Silika! Remember what we said yesterday?-

Oh no.

Why does dad have such a good memory…

-I’m not sure what you’re talking about…-

-Don’t take me for a fool, Silika. It’s written all over your face-

I instinctively tried to hide my face, but it only served to make Lionheart laugh.

-It’s not funny.-

He continued laughing despite my annoyance.

-It’s not! It’s not! It’s not!-

He waved dismissively as he tried to keep his mouth shut.

-Okay, okay. Not funny. But you still have to play with Fiora.-

I could feel the corner of my mouth pull back in discomfort.

Fiora wasn’t just strange because she was taller than me, she also acted strange. She was always looking at me weird. As though she was some kind of war general or something.

I was reluctant to play with her… But I guess she hadn’t actually been mean to me. If anything, she had been very excited to show me around, even though that ended up getting her in trouble.

I let my shoulders droop and looked up at dad.

-Alright…-

-Good. Let’s go meet young lady Fiora.-

He got up from his seat leaving the leftovers of our breakfast behind.

At least this means I won’t have to eat any of those ‘red beans’.

He took me by the hand and we walked through the sunlit wooden corridors of the castle. It was completely different from anything else I’d been used to before. Compared to the manor in Evergreen or the estate in Oblon, the walls were covered in colourful tapestry and elaborate designs were sculpted right into the wooden pillars supporting the ceiling above us.

We reached a small indoor garden where we found Fiora standing around staring intently at something on the floor. A nervous maid looked on from a corner in the room, keeping a visible distance from the girl.

What was it about this girl that even kept the maids at bay?

As we drew near, I noticed curious colourful sticks with ribbons lying on the ground before her. They looked pretty normal to me, but I remained suspicious.

Lionheart called out to her. Which seem to take her out of her contemplation. He looked at the sticks curiously before asking her a question which she answered enthusiastically. He looked visibly perturbed which elicited another question to which she categorically shook her head to.

He turned and signed to me.

-Young Lady Fiora wanted to take you on a horse-riding excursion, but it seems that after yesterday’s incident, she’s no longer allowed to take any of the ‘big’ horses on a ride. So she found replacements.-

I followed his gaze down to the ground.

-Those sticks?-

I asked as I squinted my eyes.

-She called them ‘small’ horses.-

I looked at the wood pieces, there were four of them all in different colours. I was curious how it was supposed to be made into a horse, but opted to keep my confusion to myself.

-Well, I’ll leave you girls to it. I have an appointment with Lady Isola.”

Lionheart bowed politely and excused himself, leaving me alone with Fiora and the twitchy maid who nervously approached.

Fiora bent down and looked up at me expectantly as she said something while pointing at the sticks.

I looked at her curiously. I still didn’t understand how the horse was supposed to come together with only a couple of sticks.

Seeing as she wouldn’t budge until I did something, I picked up two from the pile, but Fiora seemed taken aback.

She repeatedly signalled for me to put them down which only increased my confusion.

I obliged and she then showed me a single finger while pointing the pile of sticks with her other hand.

It was a bit confusing, but I bent down once more and picked up the yellow stick alone. She nodded approvingly and picked up a blue stick from the ground.

She said something to me and stood tall, pumping her chest and placing her hands on her hips proudly, as though she expected an answer.

I frowned in confusion and the maid whispered something to Fiora whose eyes lit up and an awkward expression drew itself on her face as she scratched her head.

Had she forgotten that I was deaf?

Now that I think back on it. I’m pretty sure she was talking to me last night while we had walked around the castle…

In an exaggerated manner, she pointed at the two of us, then at her stick and then at the door leading to the outside garden.

I guess she means for us to carry the sticks outside?

I nodded and started picking up the sticks on the ground, but again she interrupted me while shaking her arms in a cross shape.

She seemed at a loss for a moment, pondering.

She seemed to come to some sort of conclusion and simply took me by the hand and dragged me along toward the door, much to the dismay of the maid who was looking at Fiora with glassy eyes.

Once outside she released my arm and instead of her confusing finger pointing, she demonstrated. Fiora grasped the end of the piece of wood with both hands and straddled over its length. As she angled it down, I notices that the bow at the edge made it look like the tail of a horse while the ball at the tip looked like its head.

[Oh! That’s how it works!]

I exclaimed but hid my mouth just as quickly as I realised I had spoken out loud in embarrassment.

Most people outside of dad always look troubled when I do it…

But that didn’t seem to bother Fiora who simply beamed at me while motioning for me to follow her lead.

I watched her as she skipped down the garden path, on her horse and it fully came together.

I followed her as we rode our make-believe horses.

For a while we simply hopped around the garden and the inner courtyard. She would point at things and say a few words, but I didn’t really care seeing as I was more focused on jumping from rock slab to rock slab without touching any grass the same way she did.

After a little while, the novelty of simply hopping around visibly started wearing off for Fiora and she signalled for me as she headed out of the garden toward the west side of the castle. We followed the tall wooden wall until we finally reached the stables, which looked much more impressive during the day.

The large gates were left open as the stablehands and different people came in and out, sometimes even with horses with them.

From the way she was longingly looking at the horses, I got the feeling that Fiora was quite the rider… Or at least she wished she were. Even her choice of games seemed to circle around the idea.

We tried to head for the inside, but the maid decidedly stopped us, nervously saying a few stern word at Fiora’s attention. It seemed to take some convincing, but my playmate relented. Instead we rounded the stable and headed toward a small fenced field where we could see a few horses grazing.

She pointed at a grey spotted horse and said something to me.

She put down her stick and pulled me by the hand through the wooden fence. I hesitated, but seeing as the maid wasn’t stopping her, I followed her into the long grasses.

We walked right up to the horse and much to my surprise it didn’t run away. I looked at it curiously as Fiora reached out.

The large beast lowered its long neck down to her height. She patted it for a bit before turning to me and motioning for me to come closer.

Although I’d been around horses many time during our trip and even before, I never really interacted with them. I didn’t even know how to ride beyond sitting and letting someone lead them. I always figured they would try to bite me if I tried to approach them, so it hadn’t occurred to me that was something you could do…

With some hesitation I reached out and was surprised whe my hand touched its skin. It was strangely rough and grainy as though the sleek fur was covered in sand. I patted below its head and I watched as it lowered its head further allowing me a better reach. I couldn’t help but enjoy myself a little.

After a bit, the horse raised its head and walked away leaving only a heavy smell behind. Curious, I brought my hand to my nose.

[Ugh… Stink!… Good thing I didn’t bring Darkie with me.]

Fiora, seeing my disgusted face, started laughing.

Annoyed, I tried touching her with my hand which she dodged as she continued laughing.

I eventually managed to rub it all over her face, but she was too busy laughing to care.

After straightening ourselves out, we made our way back to the fence where the maid was waiting for us holding our own ‘horses’.

Instead of heading back the way we came, Fiora turned toward a wooded area north beyond the garden. It wasn’t quite a forest since it was obviously well-maintained, but it gave off the same feeling. Small animals like squirrels and rabbits were even walking around without a care in the world.

The trail eventually led to a hut surrounded by trees. It looked extremely out of place, yet Fiora rushed inside, while the maid waited for me at the entrance. I felt wary at first, but seeing as Fiora simply strode in, I guess it must be fine…

I entered the wooden building and was surprised to find a well lit but foggy room with a pit of ember at the centre surrounded by benches.

Strangely though, I could see Fiora’s discarded clothes and horse on a bench. I stared at it blankly for a moment, trying to understand what I had missed. Seeing my confusion, the maid following us took the horse from my hand before helping me out of my clothes. She wrapped a warm towel around me and led me through the room by the hand to the opposite side of the room.

She lifted the curtains aside, revealing a large pool of steaming water in which Fiora was swimming energetically.

It looked a lot like those lakes I saw along the way through lowlands, but much cleaner… How had dad called it? Tʰrml water?

The maid swiftly scrubbed me down with a warm washcloth before leading me to the pool. I carefully dipped my toe in the water and was surprised by how warm the water was. Almost as hot as a bath. The air surrounding it had been quite warm, but I hadn’t realise that it came from the water itself.

I slowly lowered myself into the water and felt warm bubbles tickle my side as I did.

This felt completely different from a normal bath! It felt so big, so free.

Fiora swam back toward me and started saying something excitedly.

As usual, I didn’t understand a peep, but she took me by the hand regardless and started swimming further into the shallow bath. I struggled to keep up as I walked behind her. I tripped and went head first into the water.

I instinctively tried to inhale from my nose, but instead of air, water filled my nostrils. I panicked and started pullin on her and kicking my feet as I searched for the ground.

It felt like forever before she eventually stopped pulling me along, allowing me to grab on to her. I pulled myself up and was finally able to breath. I coughed as my throat seized up over and over again as I tried breathing in fresh air.

With an expression filled with guilt, Fiora carefully pulled me to the side of the pool where I was finally able to let go of her and hold on to the stone floor. She looked at me with worried eyes, but I was just confused about what just happened.

One moment I was fine, the other I couldn’t breath. It was a terrible feeling. I felt tears well up in my eyes.

I was so scared. I felt so powerless. Unable to even find the floor…

Fiora patted my back until I calmed down. She tried to pull me back toward the water, but I resisted; worried I’d really drown this time. She released her grip on my arm and smiled. She made a flat area with her left palm, and used her right hand to show two legs walking on it.

Does she mean we can just walk across the bottom? She won’t throw me off my feet again, will she?

I hesitantly let go of the side of the wall and held on to Fiora as we walked across the warm water, we walked like this until we reached the other side of the misty pool where the pool once more turned shallow. We could easily sit down and I was finally able to just enjoy the warm water washing over me. I leaned against a rock and simply relaxed my body as I looked up at the open sky where I could see trees peek out from above the walls of the pool.

I wonder how they filled up such a large bath in the first place… And even more so, how do they heat up so much water? Even filling up and heating enough for a tub had taken Milie enough time to have a meal. But this was no small tub, it would have taken days to heat up the whole thing, and I can’t imagine how long it would take to fill it up from a well…

But then again, if it was the same as those ‘thermal source’ we had seen across our travels, wouldn’t the water already be warm….?

Mmmh… I’ll ask dad later.

We enjoyed ourselves in the bath for a while before the maid eventually told us to come out. We dried ourselves with the blanket and the maid helped us to wrap it around our hair. We then sat around the ember pit at the center of the hut.

I closed my eyes as the embers flickered. The contrast between the warmth of the bath and this dry heat was strangely soothing.

After a bit, I looked around curiously. From the amount of benches, this place could hold a lot of people. I wonder where they are right now?

The heat of the ember quickly dried our skin and before long, I started feeling sweaty and walked away from the ember. The maid helped me put my clothes back on as Fiora came and did the same.

As we left the hut, the feeling of the cool wind on my skin took on new intonations. As though it was breathing for the first time.

We took it slow as we explored the forest some more on our horses, but before long we were jumping over fallen trees and stone creeks, looking for some more excitement.

She led the way out of the forest back toward the other side of the castle. The place we reached was far different from the other. For one, it was packed with people, which was in sharp contrast to the rest of the garden and forest that had been relatively empty. But they weren’t any type of people either. Men and women, clad in leather uniforms and holding weapons. Some were practising movements in groups, while others spar against targets, dummies or even each other.

It was a strange sight. I’d heard of this type of place, a training ground, and I’d seen knights sparring during our journey north, but never had I seen so many at once. It felt strange to see so much movement, there was a pattern to their movement, a sort of rhythm, almost as though they were dancing.

I felt mesmerised by their grace, but at the same time, somewhat confused. Why were there so many of them? Were there even enough bad people for these knights to fight?

Fiora tapped me on the shoulder and when I turned to her she started asking me something while gesticulating.

I guess she forgot that I can’t hear her again…

She tilted her head as though waiting for a response. Not wanting to be bothered with having her ask me again in some other way, I simply nodded at the question which resulted in a wide smile drawing itself across her face.

She took me by the hand and dragged me back to the inner courtyard.

She pointed at a spot some distance from her. I walked to it, but once I turned back, I was surprised to find her holding the horse stick up, as though it was a sword.

I was taken aback for a moment.

Oh! I guess she wants to play knights now! I never played that type of game, but I saw kids at the orphanage do it before.

I raised my horse-now-sword and received an approving nod from Fiona.

She looked serious as she readjusted her position. She closed her eyes and said something out loud.

I couldn’t hear what she said obviously, but almost as soon as she finished the last syllable; I felt a strange pressure work its way up from the bottom of my spine. my jaw tensed up followed by my arms and legs. A strange warmth came up my throat and slowly my field of vision narrowed until I could only Fiona before me.

My mind became blank, all the laughter and excitement of the day erased.

There was only one thing left.

The urge to fight.