Chapter 29: Arrival

On the outskirts of Smallwall town, a carriage pulled by a horse was carrying two passengers on top of itself. An old man and a young lass. The man was driving the carriage in front, while the girl was sleeping behind. The old man donned a grizzled beard, and a worn-down cloak over his head, watching the road with experienced eyes, trying to dodge the stones and rocks littered about the road. But inevitably, a stone falls under one of the wheels of the carriage, rocking its insides with a violent jerk.

While the girl was lying down on a stack of hunted fur, covered with her new dark blue cloak, protected from the sun's glare under the shade of the carriage tent, a blissful smile on her face… the cruel jerk of the carriage made her jolt up in surprise. She jerked upwards and hit one of the beams with the small silver lump that protruded from her head.

She let out a shrill scream, then hurriedly began to hold the small protrusion in her hands.

"Fucking… horn…" she managed to mumble.

"Don't swear, child" the old man reprimanded.

With no notice of registering the old man's words, the girl retorted back.

"Grandpa, please drive carefully, I spent most of the night watching the fire in your stead, since you suddenly decided to increase my shift time, please…" she pleaded, then fell down to the pile of fur, to continue her sleep.

"Probably best to wake up now, child. We can already see the gates of your hometown. I don't want you father to see you come in that state of drowsiness. The cocky brat will probably accuse me of unlawful child labor or something" the old man spat out with a scowl.

"But he's right! Half our journey was you bullying me for no reason!" Sasha snapped back.

"At least it gave you some backbone. First week after we left, you would silently cry in the carriage, without even the guts to say you wanna go back home. At least now you've grown some balls to talk back"

"I don't want these balls that grew up! I never wanted to grow balls! I'm a goddamn girl!" Sasha yelled.

The two's bickering continued on until they reached the gates of the town.

"Quiet down, now," ordered the old man.

The girl reluctantly complied, but not without mumbling something under her breath.

"Halt! State your business!" barked the guard. Extra nervous, since he could see the silver horn on the girl's forehead.

"Forgot us already, Lowan?" asked the old man, while removing the cloak off his head, grinning at the youngster. There were two horns that curved like a ram on the old man's head, one red and the other pink.

"Master Ssatsko! Is that Sasha? How big she has grown!" the youngster cried out incredulously.

"Of course! We've been gone for 2 years already. Can't believe you've grown senile enough to forget about us in that time!" shouted back Sasha.

"A feisty little one you've become. Can't believe you're the same little brat who couldn't hold her tears back when leaving," joked the guard and promptly let the two in. But before letting them inside, he asked them a question.

"Did you see anything suspicious on your way here? There's been an increase of missing newborns lately, and everyone in town is at our throat, telling us to give back their children. You also be careful, Sasha," reminded the guard in an unusually stern tone.

"I'll be able to take care of myself. Let those losers capture me, I'll show them I'm not to be messed with," Sasha replied, unconcerned about the dangers.

"I have seen nothing that stood out on the way. Do you have any suspicions?"

"It must be those bastard Easterners. Can you believe it? All the way at the North-Western end of the Kingdom, a group of oasis dwellers. I wouldn't give two thoughts about it if they were from the North, but this far from their hometown, they must be up to no good," spat out the guard.

"What did they say their purpose was?" asked Ssatsko with curiosity.

"Said they were researching something, mages from the looks of it," replied the guard.

"Ah, then you shouldn't worry about it that much. Probably searching for something or other here. Most likely teleported here with the help of the Felines," shrugged Ssatsko. He knew that the Easterners were strange, but they would rarely come to other countries to find trouble.

"Come on! Let's hurry home, I wanna meet my new sibling!" urged Sasha next to the adults.

"Can't you see adults are talking? Such a rude child," replied the old man and said his goodbyes to the young guard.

"I wonder if it's a boy or a girl? I wish it's a boy. But at the same time, I wish it's a girl," the girl pondered out loud, curious and excited.

Ssatsko could only shrug and lead the carriage to his daughter's house.

The two neared their old house, but they could not help but notice all the differences it had. Before, their house looked slightly plain and humble, which was basically a nicer way to say empty and deprived, with an empty yard and not even a fence to make out the area that they owned. The house itself was well built, but one could not help but notice the low-quality materials that were used to build it.

But now, they saw a low and well-spaced cedar fence surrounding their house. Not the kind that's supposed to deter others away from it, but designed to show the household's welcoming attitude towards others. Inside the fence were freshly planted bushes, and a collection of chairs and a table casually left out in the open. Probably the easiest job for a thief, if one ever wanted to rob the household.

But the house itself looked the most different. First of all, it was twice as wide from what it used to be and another story was added on top. Instead of the cheap wooden frame that it used to employ, it was now built upon a cedar frame that looked sturdy and pleasant to the eye.

A sign that said bakery was on the front door and a row of customers were lined outside.

The two looked at each other and found the same puzzled look on each other's faces.

"Where did our family go?" asked Sasha from her grandfather.

"Perhaps we should ask the owners. From the look of the house, they don't seem that averse to strangers," replied her grandfather.

Both did not dare think that the house was their own. The contrast was simply too much. They didn't even want to approach the house, a feeling of apprehension on their expressions.

Just as they were about to enter the fence, the door opened and Elina ran out to greet them.

"Grandfather! Sasha! You're back!" she cried and went on to hug them.

They made an awkward hug and Ssatsko finally managed to ask:

"Elina? What happened here?"

…