I let out a yawn and began stretching... wait. A yawn? At that moment, there was a jolt and a feeling of weightlessness before I hit the back of my head on the wagon with a yelp. That sure woke me up. Opening my eyes, I looked outside. The sun was high in the sky, around mid-day and we were already on the road. The wagon must've gone over a boulder or something for a jolt that big!
"You ok?" I heard a voice whisper in my ear. Startled, I quickly turned around to find myself face to face with a girl... just about a little too close though! Embarrassed, I looked down at my feet and slowly nodded. She let out a giggle before asking, "Hey, what's your name? We already introduced ourselves while you were sleeping."
Finally looking up, I noticed there were three people, including the girl, I haven't seen before, all of which were looking at me. By my side was the girl who called out, watching me excitedly. Across from her was a similar looking girl sitting curled up with bangs covering her eyes, but I could still make them out watching me from the side. Probably a more closed off type of person if I had to say. Sitting directly across from me was a boy in glasses with a sharp look in his eyes like he was judging my every move.
"My name is Rui."
"Hi Rui! My name's Ema!"
"...Ame"
"Jack."
"Ame and I are sisters by the way — twins in fact. Although you probably couldn't tell by how different our hair and personalities are."
Winter was just starting to pass so it was still cold enough for each of us to be covered in robes, obscuring our clothing, but that wasn't able to hide everything they had on them. All of use wore gloves and boots to protect from the cold and especially from the snow, but the most important thing I could see was their weapons. As a budding adventurer, those didn't escape my gaze. For all I know they could be my partners for the foreseeable future.
Ema had a sword and buckler. Being a frontliner seems to match her lively disposition. On the other hand, Ame carried with her both a wand and staff which I found odd, but she was clearly a magician. Jack also carried a staff and book. Maybe he was a scholar? I couldn't help but feel awkward under his steady gaze so I decided to look outside. Of course it wasn't guaranteed that they would be adventurers though. The world wasn't so kind that anyone could just travel around without any bit of self defense.
I had never been far outside of town before, or if I had, I didn't remember. It was an open field of white as far as the eye could see on one side and forest a distance away on the other. There were a few birds flying and an occasional rabbit hopping around. The road we were travelling on had a light layer of snow, dampened in many places by wagon tracks.
"So..." I started. "Where are you guys going? You guys don't seem to be from around here either. At the very least, I haven't seen any of you before."
"Oh! Me and Ame from the port city Ocsea to the south of here. So you're a resident here, huh, Rui. It's a cozy town. We were there for two days waiting for a wagon to continue our journey. We're going to Sart to become adventurers by the way," said Ema while showing off her weapons. "Oh yeah Jack is also from Ocsea, but he doesn't talk too much. You can just tell he's one of the rich folk ya know. Probably doesn't want to be associated with us commoners."
"Uh huh..." All I could do was nod along. I was just an orphan after all who lived their whole life so far in the slums of a small backwater town. I had never heard of those places she talked about or even seen a map of the country.
Ema leaned in closer and continued in a whisper, "I heard he had some... problems with the other rich folk in town and was sent away. I wouldn't get on his bad side if I were you."
But try as she might, we were all still sitting nearby in a wagon with no other sound but the bumps in the road. Jack let off a little grunt and cleared his throat while giving Ema some side eye and Ame was waving her arms around frantically trying to signal her to stop talking, but she didn't seem to notice and continued talking. I couldn't help but think she talks way too much... I didn't even get any chances to interrupt or comment. Eventually Ame lifted up her staff and dropped it on Ema's head.
Jack and I couldn't help but let out a sigh after that constant barrage of words. I caught a glance at his face and he didn't seem too upset at the very least — just slightly ticked.
"Uhhh... Sorry. I talk too much right?" said Ema with an awkward laugh and started curling into a ball like Ame. It seemed like she couldn't handle the look she was getting. I couldn't help but think that they really were sisters. Ema was starting to look like Ame so I wonder if Ame would ever have an outburst like Ema. "So what about you Rui? Where are you going?"
"I..." Come to think of it, I didn't really set out with a destination in mind. I just knew the capital and storybook adventures were to the north and went there... But I couldn't just tell them that could I? "I... I didn't have a destination in mind to be honest." Jack let off a scoff but I didn't let it get to me and continued. "But I'm also going to be an adventurer so maybe I could join you two...?" My voice gradually falling to a near whisper. It was embarrassing admitting I didn't know what I was doing, but I didn't really know these people well enough to worry about it so it couldn't hurt to be honest.
Ema excitedly got up in my face and opened her mouth to speak but suddenly hesitated and turned around. Looking towards her direction, I caught the sisters staring at each other before Ame let out a sigh, shrugged, and continued acting like a pill bug. Ema's eyes practically glowed as she said, "Looking forward to adventuring with you!"
I didn't really want to ask given he had scoffed at me earlier, but I felt like it would be more awkward if I just tried to ignore him every step of the journey so reluctantly I asked, "Uhh... So Jack... where are you going...?"
"Huh?" Jack growled.
Suddenly it became quiet and the wagon was oddly tense. Ema curled back into a ball next to Ame and watched with bated breath. His eyes were honestly pretty scary. I could feel sweat dripping down my face, but I decided to match his gaze as I waited for an answer.
Seeing as his glare didn't get him what he wanted, he looked away and mumbled, "None of your business..."
It took a while for the tension to naturally fade and it seemed like that's what Ema was waiting for because she crawled right up to me soon after. "Wow Rui, You're braver than I thought! I never could've looked back at him like you did! He's kinda scary and I don't think he likes me at all. He might even hate me!" She said in a loud whisper.
I let out a sigh. "You know... even if you whisper the wagon is a pretty small space right?"
"Huh?" So she really didn't notice...? She never learns I guess. I gestured with my head to look to her right where she met Jack's glare head on and froze. "Aha...ha ha..."
She got up and robotically moved to hide behind Ame who seemed to be dozing off but not without Jack trailing her with his eyes. It seemed like he was getting used to her antics too because he relented soon after and continued to stare out the wagon.
Honestly I didn't mind him too much. Sure he was a bit scary and glared a lot, but he never did more than that. He also introduced himself and responded to the questions I asked, although not with an answer. But he responded regardless instead of just ignoring me. Perhaps he was just awkward.
Time passed peacefully from then on before the wagon slowed to a stop a ways away from the main road, closer to the forest. The sky was beginning to be dyed orange by the setting sun. A head popped in from the front of the wagon. It was the merchant's son. "We're stopping here for the night folks. Make your way out. Ah, by the way Rui, my names Phil. I heard your name a while back and never got to introduce myself."
We shuffled out of the wagon and got hit by a blast of cold wind, making me shiver. The sun was setting fast and it was visibly getting darker in the area. "Dad's feeding the horses so we're gonna need to gather some firewood unless you're ok with freezing for the night. Just gather as much as you can for now, if we manage to start a fire we can dry out the wet wood with it."
Ema was quick to run into the woods, leaving Ame frantically chasing her. I couldn't be too sure if Ema wouldn't get lost if left over own seeing how ditzy she was in the wagon. It seemed like Ame had a good head on her shoulders though so good luck to her. Jack seemed hesitant whether to stay or go, but eventually decided to also go get wood. He was awfully cooperative for a supposed rich kid, but maybe his pride couldn't beat out freezing at night. Phil, seeing as Jack, Ema, and Ame went into the woods, decided to walk along side the edge of the forest so I made the conscious decision to go the other way.