The Duchess Cannot Sleep || ONC 2021

8 | The Travelers

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Outside Esdantenella, Isantad
Early sun
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Reide did not think it wise to have Andreya ride bareback on a horse to Feledir as he usually did, given how she had reacted to Calever's inn the night before. She had not seemed overly pleased with the change in outfit or hairstyle earlier that day, and the inn had not seemed to be to her liking, either, although, polite as she was, she had attempted to hide all traces of dissatisfaction. With her tastes, it was not surprising at all that she was a noble.

Still, Reide had taken an odd little liking to her and, if nothing else, was itching with curiosity over her inability to die. He had not yet seen any proof of her claims, but she was also much too passionate for it to be a farce. Besides, she did not seem the farcical type.

The cart hit a bump in the road and he nearly bit his tongue. He was staring up at the cloudy sky, arms behind his head and legs crossed on the back of a wagon headed northeast. He didn't usually make a habit of hitchhiking, but he had already invested more into this endeavor than he'd been planning, and Andreya didn't seem to mind it, anyhow. He looked beside him at said foreign noblewoman, curled up among the furs and pelts that filled the back of the wagon and understandably fast asleep.

A smile nipped at his lips. She was quite an interesting woman, he would give her that. A ball of contradictions, emotional but trying desperately to hide it, fearful but determined, quiet but demanding. As he watched her, his expression faded.

It was a shame she wanted so badly to die.

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"This is your stop, travelers."

Andreya lurched up, her hair tousled under her hood and her eyes half open. "My stop? Why am I stopping?"

She blinked several times when Reide snickered from beside her. It took a moment for the surroundings to make sense—furs between her fingers, afternoon sunlight at her back—but it wasn't hard then to remember how they'd come to be on a cart. Now they were just out from a town a little smaller than Esdantenella.

Reide helped her off the back of the cart and thanked the driver before pointing to the town. "This town is the last one before Feledir. Anything you would like to see?"

She yawned and patted the dust from her skirts. "Is there anything you would like to show me?"

He seemed to think about it for a moment before they both started down the path. "Do you ride horses at all?"

"As a child."

"Ah, but have you ever ridden an Isantadi horse?"

She furrowed her brows at his almost eager expression. "What am I to take that to mean?"

She was to take it to mean Isantadi riding horses made Nasavtean riding horses look like children's toys.

"They're trained to return to the stables after their travel," Reide explained as she gaped up at the line of shaggy, speckled beasts in the town's stable. "So when we reach Feledir, we won't need a return trip to take it back."

Then Andreya was forced to climb a four-step mounting stool and pull herself onto the monster's back, all the while calling back down to Reide and the stablehand with squeaky-toned concerns for safety. By the time she situated herself on the saddle blanket eight or nine feet above the ground, her companion appeared dwarfish with his folded arms and amused grin.