Elwen awoke to a sharp rapping on her door. Well, she was already mostly awake, shifting between awake and asleep for the past few hours. Although she couldn’t tell who was at the door, she assumed that it was Mary, as she had woken her up in the same way the past few days.

Elwen yawned as she sat up, still tired, even though she felt like she had slept in for hours. The boisterous laughing she could hear coming from the direction of the mess hall told her it was long past early morning.

She heard a click as the door unlocked and saw Mary peek through the door.

“Good morning!” She brightly called.

“Good morning, Mary!” Elwen returned her greeting, although she wasn’t quite able to muster the same energy behind it as Mary had.

“How are you feeling?” Mary asked.

“Uh… fine? A little tired, I guess.” Elwen replied.

“Oh good. There’s a little bit of a stomach bug going through. Although, that might just be the couriers trying to get out of work again. I swear, those guys will do anything to laze about.” Mary complained.

“Well anyways,” Mary clapped her hands together, “Are you excited for the big day?”

“Huh? Big day?” Elwen had no idea what she was talking about.

“Didn’t someone tell you? Darrix is done with his business here, so we’re moving on to Westport…” Mary’s explanation trailed off.

“Um… You’re the only one who talks to me…” Elwen quietly responded.

“Oh, right.” An awkward silence filled the room as Mary realized her mistake.

“Well anyways,” Mary explained, “We’re going to Westport. One of our ships will meet us there and take us to Blackport. The rest of the caravan is about to leave, but we have a couple of hours before we have to leave. Darrix is busy on some last-minute errands. Come on, let’s get you some breakfast!”

“Ok! What’s on the menu today?” Elwen asked as she got up.

“Oh, I think it’s plain oatmeal,” Mary said, holding a near-perfect poker face.

Elwen gave her a grumpy look.

“I got you!” Mary laughed, “I think the chefs were doing scrambled eggs today. I think the sides were hashbrowns, sausage, and toast. Oh! And they got some fresh apples from the market today, too!”

“Sounds good!” Elwen was much happier with that meal.

They sat down at a small table near the wall in the middle of the room. Elwen was confused, as when she had come here previously, they stood in line at the counter for their food.

“Because today is a special day, we came a little later. The chefs usually do table service during the later hours.” Mary explained.

Soon enough, one of the chefs came to take their order. Mary ordered for both of them, asking for extra eggs. Their food came quickly, and they dug in.

“That was delicious!” Elwen exclaimed.

“Yeah, the chefs really did a good job this time,” Mary replied. “Well, I think it’s time to start getting ready. Let’s go back to your room.”

The two took a short walk back to the room Elwen had been staying in.

“What here for a minute. I’ll be right back!” Mary said as she closed the door behind Elwen. A few minutes later, she came back, carrying a bucket of water and some handcloths.

“Alright, let’s get you cleaned up!” Mary happily sang.

 “Ugh.” Elwen groaned, “Can’t we go to the bath?” It was much better than using a towel to wipe oneself off with.

“We could,” Mary explained, “But everyone in the caravan also took a bath this morning. They haven’t had time to change the water yet, and because there were so many of them, they ended up using both of the baths.” The baths were similar to the eastern bathhouse style, where people would share one giant bath. However, they typically didn’t wash themselves off first like she remembered those bathhouses were supposed to work, so the water got dirty.

“Eh, Ok.” Even if the water was cold, it was better than soaking in other people’s filth.

A few minutes of scrubbing and washing later, they were finally finished and Elwen changed into her other set of clothes.

“Alright, I’m going to go take care of this,” Mary said, picking up the bucket and washcloths, “I’ll be right back!”

Mary came back shortly after carrying a small box.

“We just have a couple more things and we can set off.” She declared, sitting down on the bed. “Darrix seems to be taking forever at the mayor’s house, but his aide just came back, so he should be coming back soon, too.” She took out a piece of paper and pressed a few buttons on a little lock on the box while reading something from the price of paper. “Come on, it’s nothing scary. Sit.” She said, patting the bed next to her.

Elwen did so, curious about what was in the box. After Mary finished entering the code to unlock the box, the top popped open. Mary took the entire cover off, revealing several bracelets on the inside.

“It’s a good thing we had these in the storeroom,” Mary explained, “Company policy dictates that we have to minimize risks, and there are special requirements for transportation. Now, we have a lot of strong people going with us, so we can get around some of that, but your magic is too strong for us to just ignore. These bracelets will suppress it, so we don’t need to call for a special unit.”

“Oh, ok.” Elwen was a little confused as to why her magic was considered dangerous, in her opinion people like Varian were much more dangerous. She was also a little disappointed, as this meant she wouldn’t be able to practice any magic, at least in the short term. Still, she didn’t object when Mary snapped one around each of her wrists.

“Alright, that’s everything we need for now! The guards might want something else they want, but we’ll let them figure it out.” Mary declared.

After that, the two walked through the nearly-empty halls once more, this time heading to the back of the building, where a carriage was waiting for them.

FableMaker

I didn't quite get through all that I wanted to for this chapter due to time constraints they past few weeks. I figured, since it's been awhile, I would upload what is ready so far. Once the second part of this chapter is ready, I will upload it separately, then eventually merge it into this chapter, if I remember.