Kaya

Part 7. On the Road

Valeska looked at me with wide eyes as I stood in front of her, wearing her gifted clothes and smiling brightly. "We are going to a place in the forest. I- You- Those clothes suit you very well, Kaya." She complimented me with a barely noticeable blush.

"Thank you, Val. Let's go then!"

"Just a moment." She said, disappearing into the tent and coming back shortly after with a small basket.

"What's in there?" I asked curiously as I tried to get a peek inside.

Val chuckled and pulled away. "It's a surprise!" Valeska led me through the forest, down a different path this time. We walked for a while, the camp's noise long gone as we left the path to go further into the woods.

"So what exactly is this place you are showing me?" I finally asked.

"Why don't you take a look?" Val smirked as she stood to the side, letting me walk past her.

In front of me was a giant, natural stone structure with big hollowed out spaces, probably from a glacier that once resided here. It was overgrown with moss and seemed to have a little fountain of its own.

"Come." Val said as she walked towards it and gestured for me to follow her, which I eagerly did. She brought me to one of the hollowed out spaces and we sat on the stone.

"This is incredible." I said, looking around. "When did you find it?"

"About two years ago, when we first settled here. I used it as a place to retreat to when I needed some time for myself. There's something magical about it. It always helped me ease my mind, even find solutions to problems I had. I wanted to come back here one last time before we leave." She explained calmly, looking around herself before opening the basket and pulling out a glass bottle.
"I brought some mead." She said as she held the bottle up.

I felt myself drool a little as I stared at the mead. "I haven't had any alcohol in a while and now that I'm here I didn't expect that to change."

"I have to warn you though, it's very old." Valeska opened the bottle and handed it to me.

I took a big swig before handing it back to Val who also drank from it.

"This is good! I've never had any before."

Valeska looked at me in disbelief as she put the bottle on the ground. "You've never had mead?"

"We mostly drink other things where I come from." I chuckled. We continued to talk and drink for a few hours and eventually Val also pulled out some food from her basket. It didn't take us long until we got drunk and the second bottle of mead was empty.

"So, you ever had a woman?" I asked as our conversations had gotten quite intimate.

"Oh, yes yes. I've gotten a girl here and there. But did I get that right? You swing both ways?"

"Yup! I don't give a fuck about what‘s between your legs! What about you? You like dudes?"

"Dudes?" Valeska laughed.

I quickly joined her laughter. "Men! Boys! The males!" I explained myself.
"Oh, no. I just like women. Women are nice." She leaned back with a dreamy expression, „Women..“

"Yeeah women are nice. What about me though?" I asked, leaning forward and resting my elbows on my knees.

"You?" Valeska now leaned forward again.

"Yeah, me."

"Yeah. You're more than nice."

"More than nice? Like what?"
"Like, super nice."

"Woah..."

I looked into Valeska's eyes and met her strong gaze. As we looked into each others eyes we instinctively leaned closer towards one another before our lips met and we kissed.
I pulled back as I realized what we were doing. "Val... Sorry- We shouldn't... "

Valeska looked at me with wide eyes as realization hit her as well. "No.. of course. I'm sorry."

"No it's okay. It's just.. nothing. Uhm...maybe we should head back? It's getting late."

Valeska agreed and we got up to return to the camp. We didn't talk much on the way, mostly because we both concentrated on walking properly and not getting lost or tripping over anything.

"There you are! You've been gone all day. Oh, by Selvan, did you get drunk?" Randolf approached us as we walked through the camp.

"We'll be fine, brother." Valeska said.

As she wanted to go past him, Randolf stopped her with his hand.
"We have a long journey ahead of us tomorrow. Will you be fit for that?" He asked sternly.

"Dude, relax. Everything's gonna be cool." I replied as I went past Randolf and Valeska to our tent.

He looked at me confusedly before letting Valeska go. "Sleep off your drunkenness and let Sága give you something for the headache tomorrow before we leave." Randolf ordered before walking away.

"I know my limits, brother." Valeska reassured sternly while we entered her tent. We both pulled off our boots, threw ourselves onto the bed and passed out.

The next morning Valeska woke me up. She looked tired and the sound of her voice hurt my head. "We have to go, Kaya."

"Quiet, please." I whined as I held my head and slowly sat up.

"Yours too?" She asked much quieter and chuckled. "Come, let's go to Sága."

I shielded my eyes from the bright daylight as we left the tent. Everybody seemed to be awake already and busy packing the last few things and pulling down the tents.

Sága's was currently half standing as she put her supplies on a wagon.

"Sága, do you have something against headaches?" I approached her.

"A lovely morning to you too. Of course I have something for you both." She searched the wagon and pulled out a little bottle. "Drink this, you have to share it though."

I quickly grabbed the bottle and downed half of it before giving it to Valeska who drank the rest.

"Thank you." Val said as she gave Sága the bottle back.

"You should probably go wrap your own tent up. The pack seems quite eager on leaving." Sága chuckled, referring to how speedy everyone was taking down camp. It only took a few minutes before the headache was gone fully and I felt much more energized. Valeska and I pulled down our tent and stored it on one of  the many wagons before helping the others.

Soon the field where the camp once was, was completely empty.

Valeska stood on one of the wagons. "Listen up everyone!" She yelled as the pack gathered around and all attention was on Val. "We'll be on the road for the whole day and we will be on a main trade route for a while. So if I see anyone running around or causing trouble of any sort you're in some deep shit Understood?"

The previously silent crowd broke out in shouts of agreement before being silenced once again by Valeska. "Then I wish you a fun and safe journey. Everyone who's driving a wagon, stay close to the one before you." With that she jumped back down and climbed to the front of the very first wagon.