IV
Jenna
She awoke hungry, after having a vision of a woman on a ledge inside of a cave. Something she couldn't quite name -- a dream spirit for lack of a better term, told her that the woman was at the ruins where they were headed. One lone survivor, it looked like. The psychic voice, the dream spirit, it gave her details which helped her interpret what she saw in the vision. She ran through it in her head, pushing the hunger aside long enough to try to explain it in a way that would make the others understand.
"Jenna!"
"Sir!" She almost said Ma'am.
Fearless stood above her.
"Gear up'n'eat. We're burnin' daylight."
"Yes Commander." Jenna got up and ate some breakfast. The eggs were cold, but Moonshine had found some wild oats, along with berries, nuts and raisins, so she had oatmeal to go with her travel bread and cheese wheel. Jenna smiled as she ate; she could get used to this.
* * *
The journey to Miller's Port was uneventful.
The day felt warm and bright, with a slight breeze that blew through her hair. Something came to her on that breeze -- the slightest hint of sweet rolls, with cinnamon and something else -- but it was too faint for her to know what it could be. Or maybe she imagined it. Mina must've also noticed it because she paused and whispered something to Trouble, who looked around, searching for something.
Whatever it was, Jenna didn't think twice about it.
When she looked up, she saw what she thought was a strange, winged creature, like some kind of deformed bat, but couldn't make out any details because it was so high up. It circled once and then flew to a nearby foresty area.
She felt like a child taken to the zoo for the first time -- so many strange and fantastic creatures populated Myrinthia, it made her want to never stop exploring.
They climbed a hill, and Jenna saw Miller's Port for the first time. It looked like any other midevil city that she'd seen -- 2 and 3 story brick houses surrounded a central castle with walls and towers. The towers were square and octagonal, with cupolas on top of them to protect against flyers and anti-seige weapons. Barns and stables were interspersed with rolling fields of wheat and barley. But mostly wheat. Some of the houses sat atop rolling hills slightly steeper than the wheatfields, while others, harder to see, were in the valleys.
The gravel road they walked on turned into a tiled road, with flat limestone tiles aproximately 1 meter square. And these in turn were replaced by mural-sized mosaics consisting of a variety of polished stones depicting various tranquil scenes -- farmers working in fields, castles with friendly knights on horseback talking with villagers, and some with fish jumping and dancing above blue flowing rivers. One in particular was of a night sky with all 3 of Ildora's moons fully waxed, over Warmaedyn. The mosaics became more frequent the closer they got to the city's walls. Some were larger than a wagon while others were about 10 centimeters square, depicting landscapes and people from a variety of different places.
