Leaving town was slow, with the wagon's speed limited by the morning traffic and bustle of the crowds that moved up and down the main road. Elaina sat up front with Azade while Anisha sat in the wagon's back to keep an eye out behind them. As they passed the Frog Song on the way out of town, Elaina caught sight of the barman sweeping the front stoop. He looked up before she passed out of view and gave her a brief wave, which she returned solemnly. Despite how things had gone, she still felt somehow like the upheaval there had been her fault.

After they finally crossed the bridge out of Hallowell, they could pick up their pace a bit. The roads that connected the towns to one another were old from the days that Zelmesca had been an Imperial province, but the stone used to pave them still held firm and helped them make good time as they headed south. Eventually, they had to leave the road, taking a much less traveled path that brought them west toward where Azade assured her Mossglade was located.

The weather was fair with a distant building of clouds on the horizon. The settled farmland outside of Hallowell didn't stretch far west, so it didn't take long before they were in the country. The giant mountains of the Western Range towered over the landscape; before them were rolling hills and a vast dense forest. There was a fair deal of open ground before the woods, though, which allowed Elaina to relax a little. With how clear it was and how far she could see in almost every direction, she didn't anticipate anyone actually getting the drop on them, her thoughts still fixed firmly on the Orbonne Company and the axe they had to grind for Azade and Anisha's mistress at Mossglade.

Elaina allowed herself to enjoy the ride. She'd spent most of her time walking since losing her own steed, so it was nice to be able to take in her surroundings. Zelmesca was an excellent country to look at for most of the year with mild weather, thanks to being just one large valley shielded from the worst weather from either the east or west. That is, it was nice to look at when one wasn't concerned with having to defend one's self.

"Did you cut your hair?" Azade asked, breaking the silence and pulling Elaina from her wandering thoughts of the countryside.

Elaina reached up to her hair, confused as to what she was talking about, only when her fingers ran through a concise portion of hair did she remember she'd had to cut it in the fight last night, "Oh, yeah. During the fight, he got a hold of my hair, and I cut it to get free."

Azade nodded, examining the hair closely, "Are you going to leave it like that, or are you going to cut the rest short to match?"

The redhead shook her head, "I'll just leave it; my hair grows back very quickly," she assured her, "Does it look bad?"

Azade's smile was warm, "No, I probably wouldn't have noticed if I hadn't been looking at you for so long."

"You were looking at me?" Elaina felt a little warmer.

"Yes, you're quite pleasing to look at. What were you thinking about just now?"

"Oh, I was just...looking around," Elaina motioned to the landscape, "It'd be nice to sketch. I might try to find a good spot if I come back this way instead of going south after escorting you."

"After," Azade repeated, her red eyes coming off of Elaina for a moment and looking out at the landscape, "It is pretty, isn't it? I didn't know you were artistic."

"Sometimes, when I have the supplies. They weren't always easy to come by."

Azade adjusted her hold on the reins before relaxing back against the bench, "What *are* your plans after, anyway?"

Elaina hadn't given a great deal of thought, but she had a few ideas. She shrugged a little, "I'm not sure. I want to head south, I think, go to Tenebre Dontae. I might be able to train there, learn to more seamlessly use my magic through my sword."

"There's nowhere around here you could do that?"

Elaina pursed her lips, "There might be, but everything here is so chaotic and...I sort of need to put some space between me and here. Between my sister and myself."

Azade remained quiet for a moment, clearly choosing her words before she spoke again, "You and your sister, there's more there, isn't there?"

Elaina hesitated before nodding, "Yes. It's complicated. She's been very kind to me, quite the opposite of my actual sister."

The dark-haired woman pursed her lips a bit, "She's a vampire. Has she fed upon you?"

Elaina nodded, not looking back over at Azade, keeping her attention on the horses plodding along in front of her and the sound of the cart rattling and the wheels creaking, "She has."

"I've heard that people who get fed upon like that, in a consensual way, can develop other kinds of feelings. Other urges. Anisha also mentioned how you enter that sort of stupor for self-fulfillment, so..."

Elaina let out a breath as if she'd been holding it all along, and Azade nodded, "I see," she said, "So it's *very* complicated with her."

"She's not really my sister," Elaina assured her, "She looks like her, but they're not alike, and they're different people."

Azade waved a hand gently, "Calm down, I'm not judging you. It's alright. I don't know enough about this multiple world thing or duplicates, but it doesn't really make a difference to me."

Elaina calmed a little bit, looking over to meet the beautiful woman's gaze once more, "Sorry, it's not something I talk about for obvious reasons."

Azade placed a hand on Elaina's, which helped to soothe her, "What about your actual sister. Back on your world?"

The redhead shifted where she sat, shaking her head, "It wasn't the same," Azade squeezed her hand a little, "She just took what she wanted. And she wanted what she did more and more often. If I didn't let her, she'd beat me, or worse."

Azade's eyes grew softer, "But they have the same face."

"The same face," Elaina repeated with a nod, "Very confusing and very unhealthy no matter which way you look at it. I need her too much, I've become dependent on her, and I often think about her. I need distance to sort it all out and get my head-on right. I have to be my own person, live my own life."

"I understand," Azade said as she took Elaina's hand and squeezed it gently, "I didn't mean to pry on the matter or bring up bad memories."

Elaina couldn't help but smile a little, "No, it's alright. It's good to talk about with someone even if it's just the broad strokes, you know?" She gave a gentle squeeze to Azade's hand, which was returned along with the smile.

They settled back into silence once again for a time, letting the wagon rattle along and keeping their eyes open. They paused to water the horses and let them graze while they took lunch and were back on the road. As the day progressed, though, Elaina took notice of the clouds on the horizon beginning to build, and as they got into the afternoon, she was confident that a storm was going to hit them long before they reached their destination.

"We should stop and get ready for the storm," Elaina cautioned as she turned to look in the back of the cart for the packs the three women had stored there, taking stock of what they might have for a rainy night.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Anisha objected, closing her book and looking back over at Elaina, "We're behind enough as it is. We really ought to try and push a little more until we get to the forest at least."

Elaina motioned up toward the sky, "Once this storm starts, it's going to be bad. It'll soak us clean through, I'm sure. And traveling while everything is turned to mud is just likely to cause more setbacks."

Anisha stared back at her doubtfully, adjusting her glasses before looking up at the sky. She seemed to consider what Elaina was saying before glancing over at Azade, who also seemed uncertain. Both of them were clearly eager to get back to Mossglade, but Elaina was convinced that they would be caught in a bad situation if they pushed on. They were heading toward the mountains, which meant they were, overall, on lower ground than where they were going. They could make camp on a small hill, but the fact was that the water flow would still be in their general direction.

"Do we have any shovels?" Elaina asked as she moved the packs aside and began to rifle through what she could reach of the supplies.

"There's one toward the back," Azade answered, "Why?"