Steadily they made progress with each and every passing day. After the first couple of days, Roxane felt the days blend together as they did the same things over and over again. Every day started the same way, with the four of them waking up in the morning, they ate some more of the provisions, and they packed up the campsite to get on their horses for another full day of riding.
The only difference from the first day was that they took more breaks in the day. Roxane did not complain, and she took full advantage of the breaks they had to massage her weary legs. She made sure that Diana did the same.
"Tomorrow we'll arrive at Port Hetheros." Thatcher announced one day while Roxane and Diana were massaging their legs. Roxane was also chewing on a strip of dried meat as she squinted up at the man who was standing above them. The full force of the waning sun was behind him.
"That's good news!" Diana seemed happy, and Roxane felt a little annoyed by how her friend's voice eluded excitement. "I've never seen the port before, but I heard it's the most important port on the continent."
Thatcher was nodded, his grey eyes held nothing but admiration as he continued talking about the port with Diana.
Well, these two have certainly really hit it off. Roxane thought as she leaned back while sitting on top of the rock she had chosen to sit on while she massaged her legs. She regarded the two as they talked, then rolling her eyes, she got up and went to lie down on her bedroll.
The next day they reached the port mid-morning. While Diana's silver head went from side to side looking at the many things they passed by while on horse, Roxane felt the front of her head begin to throb. Her nose was overloaded with the heavy smell of the sea and the endless amounts of fish that were out on display.
Diana downright almost fell off the back of their horse when her emerald eyes first spotted the vast expanse of blue. It appeared to infinitely extend past the horizon. Such beautiful sights made Diana gasp in wonder. Roxane instead shivered.
"Look Roxane!" Diana pointed at the many things she saw that made her lead forward with her body in excitement.
"I know, I know. Stop tugging at my shirt, I can see where you're pointing." As they made their way to the docks, Roxane could feel her energy draining. She wondered if Diana knew how much she was dreading the trip.
Her golden eyes looked back at Diana as she kept watching the daily lives of the port's people. Roxane noted how Diana had slowly gotten back her liveliness from before, before the temple even mentioned the word marriage. She could even picture Diana when she was younger as her smiling face was insanely innocent and cute.
Despite all that, Roxane found herself grumbling her responses as Diana cheerfully made her observations.
"Roxane, do you see that? What is it?" Diana spotted a vendor's stall and Roxane's eyes automatically went to where she was pointing. She drew her eyebrows up in confusion.
"I haven't the faintest clue." She admitted she was at a loss when their horse passed by the fruit seller's stall. The particular fruit that had both of the young ladies' attention looked exotic. It appeared hard at the surface like a rock, but it was also porous and deep green in color.
The fruit vendor spotted them looking at the strange fruit and waved at them, trying to get them to buy some of his produce. Both of the girls looked at each other uncomfortably. Roxane shook her head at the vendor as he was just wasting his time. They didn't have any money.
"This is for one of the Xeques." Thatcher appeared like a knight in shining armor, handing one coin to the vendor and grabbing his dagger from his belt, he cut into one of the strange fruits in front of them. Roxane was impressed by how quickly he had gotten off of his horse just to buy them a piece of fruit.
He handed a slice of the fruit to Diana. "Don't eat the rind, only the inside." He instructed and gave another slice of the fruit to a hesitant Roxane.
Diana thanked him and took a bite of the fruit. Her eyes opened wide as she let out a delighted sound. Before taking a bite out of the slice of fruit in her hand, Roxane looked at it once more. Its sweet juices entered her mouth in an instant as her teeth dug into the fruit's meaty texture. It was mostly water and yet, it still had some substance to it.
Thatcher laughed at their reactions. His grey eyes crinkled at the ends. Then he turned and bought a few more.
"For the trip." He had said as he picked up a bag and placed it on the back of his horse.
By the time they got down to the docks, they could only see one ship stationed at the port. The rest of the ships had long left the port.
Thatcher got off his horse and heartily greeted one of the sailors as if he they've known each other for a long time. The middle-aged sailor roughly slapped Thatcher's back as he threw his greying head back in laughter.
"Thatcher my boy!" He said and pulled the young brown-haired man into a hug. His three companions looked on with amusement as Thatcher returned the man's hug in full force.
"It's been a long time Sabo. How have you been?"
"It's been a long time lad? It's been ages since last I saw you. Now mysteriously, I get a message from you that says you need my ship and crew?"
"I know I gave you very little time to prepare, but it was an emergency." Thatcher rubbed the back of his head nervously at the sailor's bulky frame. He looked like he could easily snap Thatcher in half if he so pleased.
"Nonsense lad! I was only kidding with ya. After all you have done you know this ship will always be in your service." The sailor's burly hand patted Thatcher on his shoulder.
"Men! Help Thatcher bring his bags and other supplies aboard!" He called his men and the sailors descended upon them. They happily all gave Thatcher a pat on his back as they brought their belongings on board the ship.
"That's fine. I'll be taking that one myself." Roxane quickly stopped one of the sailors from detaching her satchel from her saddle. Her mind instantly went to protect her precious gemstone that she had hidden inside.
The young black haired sailor immediately became red in the face as he stared intently into Roxane's face. He quickly nodded his head but still stood rooted at the spot.
"Boy!" The young sailor snapped out of it when the old captain hollered at him. As he hurried back to work Roxane could see the tips of his ears and the base of his neck were red.
"Terribly sorry for his behavior miss. It's not every day that we get beautiful ladies like yourselves aboard." The captain apologized for his sailor's rudeness. He extended a weathered hand towards Roxane. She took it and hopped off her horse. He helped Diana off as well.
"Don't worry. I am not offended." Roxane waved off the sailor's apology. It wasn't his fault that Roxane's beauty enchanted everyone. She was only slightly peeved that the young man didn't have the same reaction from seeing Diana. She was just as beautiful as Roxane. She was sure of it.
She grabbed her satchel, untying it from her horse's saddle. When she turned back around, she saw Thatcher and Kian had both already boarded the vessel.
Roxane took a deep breath, walking to the edge of the pier to peer into the waters below.
She was finally boarding the ship. Was she really going to go through with this? There were so many things that could go wrong while at sea. For a dragon, the ocean was the complete opposite of their domain.
"Are you alright?" Diana came up from behind her to ask, her green eyes searched her face for any signs of what Roxane could be feeling.
"Do you need to hold my hand while we board?" She offered her hand towards her friend.
"No thank you, I'm fine to board on my own." Roxane said and Diana looked unconvinced. She waited patiently as Roxane mentally prepared herself to walk up the ramp onto the ship.
She stepped on the ramp and walked a few steps up. Diana continued walking past her, not noticing Roxane had stopped. She only looked back at her in surprise when Roxane lunged to hold onto her hand tightly. Together they made it onto the ship's deck.
Roxane was so embarrassed that she couldn't meet Thatcher and Kian's eyes as they watched them come aboard.