Sky Dust

Chapter 14

"There we are."

"It didn't take that long, actually."

"That's because I walked quickly," Vivia stood on the porch step of one house, ready to knock. A young Dapheni woman opened the door.

"Vivia! I was worried."

"I reckon you were," Vivia entered, gesturing Spencer to follow. "And this is Spencer. He's from Elaset, his parents came here to research sky dust... I think you can guess the rest."

Spencer raised his hand as a greeting.

"Alright. Sorry though, we have no food to give you," The woman leaned against the table.

"Because of the attack, am I right? You can't get out to buy some," Vivia assumed.

"Heck, we can't even make a fire!" The woman's voice got louder and more aggressive. "All the trees grow closer to the South."

"It still snows, and the Dapheni still live there, but there are pines," Vivia explained to Spencer in a quiet voice. "And bears. Brown bears."

Spencer thought that it was time to apologize again. There seemed to be so many problems, and he was the reason they existed.

"Can we at least sleep here?" Vivia asked. "If we sleep under the sky, I'm afraid we'll be killed."

"Yes, upstairs," The woman gestured at the staircase.

"Wow, a two-story house."

"Yup, Casep is pretty much a leader in trade," Vivia said as she walked up. The stairs looked dangerously narrow, so Spencer went silent and concentrated on the climb.

The second floor only consisted of three beds and a small table.

"This floor is only for guests," Vivia commented. "I've stayed here."

Spencer sat down on one of the beds. It was warm, and he immediately had the urge to fall asleep. Instead, he looked through the window.

The village was neat and small, with people busy trying to sell products. There was loud noise; he could only assume that they were talking about the attack.

Oh, they just hadn't seen it with their own eyes.

Spencer urged to get a walk around the village; after all, he'd come all the way to the North to explore. He glanced at Vivia, only to see that she was busy trying to tie the pouch up tighter. She had a black handkerchief in her other hand. It was probably needed to cover up the glow.

"I'm going outside," He warned.

"No!" She snapped, looking up. "If we go, we go together. Who knows what might happen."