Companions on the Road
旅の仲間
At , Finn left Wrenly with a heavy pack and a nervous heart.
Elder Alden had arranged for two companions to travel by his side.
The first was Cade, a broad with a across his cheek.
Cade had lost his village to the emptiness only one season before.
He had decided to join the journey to protect what still remained.
"I could not save my home, but I can yours," he said quietly.
The second was Mira, a young with sharp, clever eyes.
She had studied plants and medicines since she was a small child.
Mira's family had vanished with the marshland where they had lived.
She had chosen to come because knowledge, she believed, could defeat the mist.
The three of them made a strange and quiet little group.
For a long time, none of them knew quite what to say.
Finn had never travelled beyond the hills that surrounded his town.
Every new road filled him with both and cold fear.
Cade walked ahead, watching the shadows with a soldier's careful eyes.
Mira named the herbs they passed and gathered a few in her bag.
By evening, they had reached the edge of a silent forest.
Here the trees had lost their leaves, though it was still summer.
"The emptiness has touched this place," Mira said, kneeling to the .
Finn opened his book and wondered whether he should draw anything.
He had promised himself to use his power only when it was needed.
That night, the companions shared bread and slowly began to talk.
Each of them had come to save something they had already lost.
And each of them hoped the strange young mapmaker could bring it back.