The Arena

Idavoll

Acadia stretched her arms to the sky, mouth stretching in a yawn.

"Hurry up, we got places to be!" Karina said cheerfully, slinging her already-packed bag over her shoulder.

"What time is it?" Acadia mumbled, looking bleary-eyed at the dimly lit window.

"About... Half an hour past dawn, I'd say."

Acadia rolled over on her bed, groaning, and stuffed her face into the mattress.

"Why so early??" she whined.

Karina poked her in the side with the handle of her dagger.

"This is life in the Aesir: early mornings and late nights. You'll have to get used to it."

Acadia groaned louder. "Can't we fight people and sleep?"

Karina laughed and stepped into the hall, adding over her shoulder that Acadia had fifteen minutes to get ready. Acadia forced herself out of bed, hoisted her pack onto her back, and dragged herself after Karina.

Just outside the door of the inn, she stood, blinking in the cold morning light. The narrow road, deserted the evening before, now bustled with traffic.

"Acadia!"

She turned at the sound of her name, squinting through the crowd. A few buildings down, Karina waited with the horses. Acadia shouldered her way through the throng of people, holding her pack tight to her chest.

They rode on. Around midday, they passed through their second town, this one significantly bigger than the fishing village. As they rode through the town, Acadia felt eyes on her from all directions. Heads turned as she passed, and more than a few people leaned towards each other to whisper behind their hands. In one part of town, a little boy ran up and tapped her leg as she rode past, screeching 'I touched her, I touched her!' as he ran away. Acadia's eyebrows drew together. She didn't get it. Surely they couldn't tell she was new to the city just from looking at her, right? She glanced down at herself.

Maybe it's the way I'm dressed?

She pulled on the collar of her shirt and ducked her head, self-conscious for the first time in her life. Thankfully, a few minutes later they emerged back onto the country roads and left the town behind them.

After another night in another inn, Acadia and Karina started the last leg of their journey. The next morning, instead of her usual brown and red clothes, Karina changed into a striped gray shirt and dark brown pants. As they left the inn, she clipped a dark gray cloak around her neck, on the back of which a strange black symbol was printed. It looked like a star, partially encircled like a compass rose.

They rode on, the packed earth roads of the countryside giving way to pavement shortly after midday. When they stopped to eat lunch, Karina told Acadia they would reach Idavoll before dusk.

Reinvigorated, Acadia mounted her horse, not needing Karina's help for the first time. Soon, a clump of gray buildings appeared on the horizon. Shops and taverns dotted the rolling farmland, interrupting the rural landscape. Acadia felt her heart thumping in her chest as they approached the city gates.

Acadia looked up at the wall of huge stone bricks. It was at least three times Acadia's height, extending perpendicularly from either side of the road into the distance. A stone archway curved over the road, an open barrier for the bustling crowd to funnel through.

Acadia stared, open mouthed, as they passed under the archway. The wall was so thick it was practically a tunnel. They emerged on the other side into the city of Idavoll. Columns of stone and glittering glass rose in the distance, and all around them the chatter of the city cluttered the air. Karina kept moving forward, their pace slowed significantly by the throng of people swarming over the street. Acadia gawked at the people around them. Karina hadn't lied.