Simone slitted her eyelids and groaned slightly. Her last moments in her own bed. She snuggled down deeper into the warmth before she sighed. She didn't want to be late. Shayn would never let her hear the end of it.
Slipping out of the comforting blankets, she brushed her hand over them in a farewell. On her last journey, she'd stayed in inns, in unfamiliar beds. On this one, she was to sleep on a bedroll in a covered wagon out in the middle of nowhere.
Or so Shayn had told her on the way to the clinic in a blatant attempt to increase her feelings of trepidation about going. It had only strengthened her resolve to not fake her way out of the journey. Contradiction wasn't part of her personality, normally.
Just lately, it seemed.
She washed and dressed and quickly braided her hair in a style that would keep it out of the way and discourage tangling.
Slipping her last few items into her travel pack, she shouldered it with a shake of her head. At least there wouldn't be crowds where she was going. She'd said her goodbyes to the other apprentices the night before, so she quietly made her way out of the dormitory area and out the back door.
The city streets were calm and dark, save for the lights of the lamps. It would be nearly time for them to be snuffed as dawn threatened the horizon.
The slight chill in the air quickened her steps so that she could get warm, and she made her way to the city's main gate.
Thankfully, the Treasurer had sent the boxes of maps and tools ahead to be packed in the wagon the evening before. There was no way she would have been able to carry it all herself. Likewise, the horse she would borrow from the city was waiting for her there.
The library did not have its own stables, and military horses were kept near the barracks.
Last time, someone had saddled the gentle mare for her. She hoped that would be the case again; she had learned on the road how to do so, but it wasn't particularly easy for her to lift the saddle all the way up.
To her relief, she easily found the wagon amongst the merchants lining up to leave the city as soon as the gate opened. It stood with two horses pulling it and three saddled horses secured at the back, pawing the ground anxiously.
Who would be responsible for driving, she wondered? The seat was wide enough for three people to sit across, but obviously someone had planned on three of the four travelers riding horseback.
She was glad she'd gotten a proper riding skirt before. Shayn was at the back of the wagon, along with a chipper Victoria.
"Good Morning!" The girl greeted with more cheer than was necessary this early. She was obviously very happy with her choice to come. "I just loaded my things back here, you can put yours with them! The men didn't leave much room for us to sleep inside, but there's two tents if we want to set up our own at night!"
She wasn't exaggerating. Between the instruments, the maps, and the supplies needed for the journey, there was very little floor space left in the back of the wagon.
"That's fine," Simone replied, trying to be a good sport. She'd never slept on the ground, but surely it couldn't be much worse than inside the wagon.
Shayn grinned in a way that made it obvious he found her future discomfort amusing, but she ignored him.
"It should be dawn soon, am I the last one here?" She asked. She hadn't seen Walter yet.
"Sure are. The old man–don't tell him I called him that–is headed to the privy before we leave civilization." A voice from the other side of the horses said. Simone took a couple steps to see who it was.
"Kyler!" She exclaimed with delight. "I didn't know you were coming!"
"It's my professional reputation on the line as well as Shayn's," The man grinned. "I'm a bit surprised he didn't tell you."
"He tells me as little as possible, unless he thinks it will annoy me or discourage me from coming," Simone whispered, and Kyler laughed out loud.
"Now that's interesting," He cut a glance at his brother, who had fixed them both with a glare.
"What's interesting is that you're not helping me secure the cargo, Brother," Shayn grumbled.
"I'll help!" Victoria chirped. "I'll be the most helpful, you won't regret having me along!"
Simone felt a surge of warmth for the younger woman. She wondered if the girl were normally this impulsive or if this was some anomaly in her behavior. Most people didn't just decide to leave their homes one day, unsure when they would return.
"I organized the maps so that the ones we'll need first will be most easily accessible," Simone pointed to the box she'd packed full of things the day before. "Since the area we'll be looking at spans the border between the areas you and Walter surveyed, I packed both sets, with the closest areas on top." She explained.
Shayn eyed her. "It will be three weeks at least before we make it to the edge of where the survey began."
"That long?" Simone's eyes widened, and his lips twitched.
"I know things look very small on the maps you love, but it's a vast wilderness. We didn't even get the entire world surveyed, really, only the passable areas. The mountain range hems all of us in on the East and North, impassable, all the way to the sea, which blocks the South. The desert in the West, no one but the Rhone have been able to traverse, and that was mostly because they had the Darkness to rest in during the heat of the day."
"I know my geography, thank you," Simone snipped at him.
"There's knowing it, and there's living it. Kyler and I went to the edge of what is known, by cart, which is the slowest way to travel next to walking. There are few roads out that direction." The lecture was condescending in the extreme, and Simone felt a rise coming out of her over it.
"That's fascinating!" Victoria interrupted what would have been an incredibly snide reply. "What sorts of things will we see? I've hardly stepped foot more than a few steps outside of Klain before!"
The older woman blinked, grateful that Victoria had, intentionally or unintentionally, diffused what would have quickly become a heated argument. Shayn too, was caught off guard, judging by his facial expression.
Simone would have to remember how much he liked provoking her. She would make efforts to disappoint him when he tried, but so blatantly insulting her knowledge of the world! It was insufferable.
The sky was getting visible lighter, and a rattling of chains announced that the gate was being opened and the drawbridge across the river lowered.
Walter appeared and mounted a brown horse with a dark mane, while Shayn put down a crudely fashioned set of wooden steps and helped Kyler mount the next.
"May I ride the other? Please?" Victoria pled.
"Shouldn't there be four saddled horses?" Simone asked. When she'd first arrived she hadn't realized Kyler would be along, or was capable of riding horseback.
"The wagon can be pulled by only one horse when it's lighter, after we've eaten a lot of the supplies, but for now, two people will ride in the wagon and three will ride horseback. That's what Kyler told me." Victoria said brightly. "I dearly love riding, would you mind terribly if I did first? I'll trade you after the midday meal!"
The excitement in her eyes was too much, and Simone relented with a small nod, belatedly realizing that this meant she would be riding on the wagon. With Shayn.
Reluctantly, she climbed up to the seat, pulling her skirts aside so they didn't catch on the wheel. This would be a long morning. Maybe… She looked back. No, there was nowhere comfortable to just sit in the back.
Shayn pulled himself up the other side, freezing when he saw who was sitting on the seat. His eyes darted back to the horses.
"Victoria begged me to let her have the first turn riding the horse," Simone explained quietly. She wanted to be clear that it was not at all her idea to sit next to Shayn for a number of hours in close proximity.
"I see. Kyler would normally drive the wagon, but asked this morning if he could ride for a while first." Shayn's eyes narrowed and Simone paled.
He'd mentioned before that there was matchmaking in the family. Did he suspect it now? The journey suddenly seemed much worse than she had planned for. Surely not. Victoria's excitement had seemed genuine, and the girl didn't seem capable of willful deception… did she?
"Don't worry, I'm a quiet traveler," Simone promised.
"Hmph," Was Shayn's only reply.