(⚠️) Earth Song | FE Fates

(/\) 19: Liola

Liola

The convoy passed through Windmire without incident, though it certainly took a while — despite the early hours, the cobblestoned streets were nearly suffocated by foot traffic and wagons, churning around the convoy like a diversely-colored river. It made the going slow, even with the detachment of soldiers at the front of the procession shouting for the traffic to make way.

But Katonah didn't mind. It gave her time to study the Nohrian capital city a bit more, and take in a few sights that she hadn't been able to enjoy on the day of the betrothal ceremony. In the northeastern part of the city, they pulled alongside Windmire's dry canal; remembering the trip to the Underground, Katonah couldn't help but smile at the sight.

Still, looking out the wagon window, she also spotted some things that made her uneasy: mainly the passing faces of Windmire's citizens. The convoy drew many a stare as it bumped along the city's main thoroughfare — much of the traffic jostled to the shoulder stopped and watched them go by, and many of the expressions that Katonah saw looking back at her were not happy. Some, in fact, bordered on irate.

Remembering the riots that Xander had spoken of, Katonah shifted in her seat, suddenly wondering how many of the faces staring back at her were those of insurgents. Did any of them study their passing in calculation, wondering at how to take advantage of the massive target that Xander had so gracefully provided them?

But they reached the eastern suburbs without incident, and soon, the convoy was making its way out into the exposed wastes beyond the city, over the spiny ridges that wrinkled the country beyond like the folds in an un-ironed shirt. Still gazing out the window, Katonah couldn't help but sigh in relief as the horizon consumed Windmire's spires.

"Nervous?" Leo asked, raising a brow.

She eased back from the window. "Just a little worried... Did you see how those people were watching us back there?"

"Indeed," Briarus mused. He looked sad. "I wager you could have cut the tension with a knife, it was so thick! I was just waiting for one of them to start throwing things at us. It was bad in Macarath a week ago — my father practically needed a parasol for all the rubbish the commoners were hurling at him."

Katonah's eyes widened in disbelief. "Really?" she said.

Briarus nodded. "Oh yes, Lady Katonah. It's not just the royalty who's fallen out of favor with the common cowhand. Their vassals are subject to bitter abuse as well, and my father has made his allegiance to King Xander clear time and time again." He sighed, peering out at the dry country-scape passing by outside their windows. "I suppose if they can't have Lord Xander, they can have my father, or the governor, or any other dignitary that has allied itself with Lord Xander's administration. So far, what I've seen is that they strive to take their anger out on someone." He cleared his throat. "Begging your pardon, Lord Leo."

Leo said nothing, just crossed his boots and stacked his feet on the seat across the aisle. But Katonah could see the thinly veiled anxiety on his face — it was in the lines pulling at the corners of his mouth. She wound her fingers together in her lap, hoping, not for the first time, that the threat the insurgency posed to Leo and his siblings was blown way out of proportion.

"So," she said, changing the subject, "Briarus, where's our first stop?"

The boy instantly brightened. "I'm so glad you asked," he said, reaching into his robes and retrieving a scroll of parchment. He unrolled it across his lap and then held it down with both hands — the ride had grown bumpy, as they'd transitioned to dirt roads uneven with rocky soil.