Moira woke to the sounds of Jalla and Vyvian talking, the world was still and the shrill chirp of the birds could be heard through the thick metal carriage walls. The smell of hot cider made her rise from her bed with a strike of inspiration flowing in her, the mirror across the room showed her hair still somewhat in place. Standing, she realized she was in completely different clothes, and her shoes were replaced with white cotton sheathes with slits between her big toe and the others, perfect for wearing sandals. Her dress resembled a stola, but with no waist tie, long sleeves and a low collar. The chair next to the small round tea table had a dark green robe, slipping it on, she felt a wave of warmth, it was like it was sitting by a fire all night, the velvety soft leather was comforting on her skin.
Opening the door, Moira suddenly noticed the carriage was at a stop, Jalla was sitting at the table with her arms crossed, a plate of bacon and a rosemary baked bantam hen with four eggs and a glass of yellow drink next to her. Vyvian was drinking deeply from a rather large tea cup, a bowl of fruit was in the middle of the table, full of red grapes, pale green melon balls, small yellow slices of citrus'. They both stopped talking when Moira closed the door, looking at Moira's groggy face.
"Oh, am I interrupting?" Moira said in a hoarse voice, she cleared her voice looking from Jalla to Vyvian with a look of dismay.
Jalla scoffed and sipped from her tea, "No, not at all, Vyvian and I actually had a bet going and I lost because of you."
Moira reddened and furrowed her eyebrows, but her stomach rumbled as she quickly forgot the reason she was irritated, sitting down my Vyvian, across from Jalla. Vyvian poured Moira a glass of what she thought would be a delicious morning tea but was instead a sweet smelling green drink, steaming as it flowed into her cup, then transformed in color to a deep indigo blue then a bright violet color. Moira shrieked excitedly at the color change, it was a feature she had never seen before.
"What magic!" Moira exclaimed.
Vyvian smiled and shook her head. "Not magic, this is Ember and Root tea, made from every third pistil of the ember flower, mainly harvested in South Ostram, from the saplings of Ember Blossom Trees. It turns many colors depending on the person it is poured to: green for kindness, orange for joy, red for vanity, blue for gloom, violet for longing and so on. But you got a variety of colours, so it's an inclination that you are experiencing a variety of emotions."
Moira nodded her head, looking at the swirling violet color in her cup and took the flavour in her lips. It was fruity but rich, it tasted like raspberries and chestnuts with a strong aftertaste of black tea. It was an excellent taste, she took another long drink and finished her cup. It filled her full of energy as she devoured the grapes in front of her.
"So..." she said in between bites of the savoury chicken and eggs, "What did you two bet on?"
"Oh," Jalla remembered. "I bet to Vyvian that you would wake up earlier than high-noon, that you're always on time for your daily duties, but, apparently, I was wrong and now it's well past noon and you finally woke up." Jalla offered another glass of tea and Moira nodded her head, the wonderful color changing as it did before. "Though, I can't say that I didn't enjoy sleeping until a later hour, but then the carriage stopped and I was woken up by the long line of servers coming in and out, might as well put myself to work."
"Well, that is just unwise to bet on me in the first place, Jalla. If i have a chance to sleep in, you know I will take it." Moira replied with a wry smile, then filling her mouth of bacon.
Moira and Jalla sat there in silence for a while, she appreciated that there was no empty air, no unspoken words. She never had to try to make conversation or try to get to know her, it was always just fine with the silence, but with Vyvian, Moira felt unsure. Moira would rather loom over the window, gazing out than to start a conversation with Vyvian at the moment.
Looking out the window, she saw a vast lake surrounded by yellow cedars, black hemlocks and tall green pines that reached out like fingers over the water. Getting up with her fresh cup, staring at the clear sky the clouds were nowhere to be seen. Almost pressing their faces against the window, they saw the train of carriages behind them, over half the well beaten, cobble road was taken, an occasional rider passed staring at all the carriage, sometimes voices could be heard asking about the caravan.
After about an hour of eating and looking out the window, Vyvian stood, clearing the cups and the plates and the food that has now gone cold to the front room, where arms reached out and took them then disappeared. With a single loud knowck at the door, Vyvian walked over and opened the carriage door, a guard walked in wearing thick metal plated armour, the plackart was black iron with flower engravings, the chest plate had been wrapped in leather. The tassets clanked against his matching leather bound cuisses, which led down to his dazzling, black iron greaves. It was wonderful to look at clean armour, but Moira knew, from reading in books, that clean armour is unused armour.
Removing his helm, Hulmir's face was revealed, his hair was tousled but his face was clear, his baby blue eyes beaming at Vyvian, then to Moira, then bowing.
"Everything is in order, we have roughly an hour before the caravan starts moving, but it is the perfect conditions and the floor isn't too wet." Hulmir said, looking at Jalla, who was staring out the window with such intent it made it seem she was looking at something, then focused back to Vyvian. "We can start now if you would like?"
Vyvian closed her eyes gracefully and smiled, "Of course. We'll be out in a moment, Hulmir."