Figurehead

twenty-five

It is definitely colder than ice now as we leave the fields and Huistef behind us. I can't imagine trying to sleep here in this cold, but it is night now, and we must sleep, soon. Tomorrow, we head for Deritri. We are already outside Escatin land, according to all known maps. Soon, we will enter Avu land.

Jast plods beside me, hooves scuffing the dirt path. I can see the faint silhouette of the sandhills in the distance, outlined by the night. It is beautiful.

The stars glimmer like silver flecks in a sheet or cloak of shadow stretched across the horizon, as far as the eye can see, and beyond. So many of them, more than anyone can count.

I lower my gaze from the enchanting sky to the earth, where dirt is slowly becoming sand and my booted feet are beginning to sink into the ground more. Jast is slowing further still now. Around us are scattered clumps of dead grass, the occasional shrub or tiny tree. Beside them, shelters, large and covered by layers of cloth flapping gently in the light breeze. The winds may be soft, but they are extremely cold.

There are more living here than I anticipated, the shelters larger than I had imagined. "Are they all Escatin?" I murmur under my breath, tugging on Jast's reins as I trudge beside Tui. There is still a path beneath our feet, but it is not well-trodden.

"Mostly," she murmurs back, and we leave the path behind, our steps heavier in the thick and shifting sand beneath our feet.

"Where will they stay?" I ask, referring to Jast and Fik.

She nods in the direction of an even larger shelter. "It's kind of a stable," she shrugs. "Some messengers will take them back into Escatin."

I frown. "So they aren't crossing into the Avu empire?"

She shakes her head. "No chance. There's no place for them there." Something in my expression prompts another shake of the head. "Kor told me. You were with Dein." Saying farewell. I remember.

I can only pray that I can see him again. That I can see Anshakim again and walk its streets, that I can see Lus and Nirs and my parents and my sister. That I can visit Huistef upon returning and see how things have and have not changed in my old province. My old home. I don't know if I have any physical home now. But such is the life of a messenger.

Tui hands me Fik's reins and bites her lip before pushing aside some of the flapping cloths to reveal a small and bare front room. A man sits with one knee drawn to his chest, at the back of the small space, his back against the 'wall' of a thick cloth. He wears a thick pelt over light armour, a thin cloth around his neck, and he holds a staff in one of his hands, a lantern hooked onto its end.

"Tui," he dips his head to her. He nods to me. "Janf."

I raise my eyebrows. "Juk."