Anticipation built the closer and closer they drew to the castle. The horse's hooves made a steady rhythm against the cobblestone as they passed through the gates. Strelitzia wished that the windows on the carriage could be pushed open so that she could take a deep breath of the familiar city smells. She knew areas of the castle and parts of the city that had been neglected, things that she had begun to miss in the long weeks away.
There had been no healer along the way and no one qualified to care for such a horrendous wound leaving her to grit and bear the pain. At the moment she had it covered though if one looked hard enough they could see the angry looking bruising creeping along the curve of her shoulder.
