Naomi had been regretting her simple Cetoan dress recently. It had been unseasonably cold in Klain, but oddly, it became warmer as they moved North away from the city. The caravan was slow-moving; so many were fleeing what was to come.
There had to be over a hundred thousand people between the women, children, laborers, and soldiers. Combined with the carts and beasts of burden, it was an unfathomable sight. Possibly far more than what she could estimate, as the multitudes were beyond her ability to see. She was near the front, reaching the top of a foothill and looking back on the group with awe.
The trek from Ceto had been one of barefoot sorrow and helplessness; moving as quickly as they could with nothing but the clothes on their backs.
This mass migration was altogether different. People had varying possessions from nearly nothing to almost an entire household crammed into what space they could find in a covered cart.
Most strange to Naomi were the open carts driven by the halflings, which also carried the royal children who tended pots of herbs as they rode along on the bumpy roads.
Naomi had been able to garner a pair of traditional Rhone sandals from a merchant in Klain, and was now reminded heavily of her childhood as she walked along with so many others.
The Ceto and the Rhone had intermarried so thoroughly that the nomadic people and the homeless civilization seemed to move as one. The occasional Klain residents among them seemed more scared, while the rest seemed resigned to a life of wandering.
The rumors of Beast had spread far and wide. Those who talked of its kindness were decried as disloyal or insane, though many had initially left in pursuit of the healing and resources that were proclaimed. None of those had been allowed to flee, even if they had wanted to.
Caspian had made quick work of mobilizing the Cetoan refugees for another move. Though the people were disheartened by the need to leave where they had settled, the confirmation that a monster from the meteor that had destroyed their homes was coming was motivation enough.
So they trod, in shoes this time, onward and away from the city that had taken them in during their time of greatest need.
Well, greatest need so far. Rumors of disease and disaster throughout their worlds made her wonder what horrors were still to come.
Today, Lily lingered close, taking a break from the halflings' cart. Naomi and the girl had always shared the bond of loving the sea. They loved best to go swimming during the royal visits to the ocean.
The girl looked over her shoulder for the third time with a little sigh.
"Missing the presence of your lake?" Naomi guessed.
"I… love the sea best," Lily said quietly, "though it is dangerous and full of mystery. The lake is not as deep, but it is calmer and purer. To leave is like part of myself is missing."
Naomi often contemplated in her quiet moments the intricacies of Lily's affinity for water. For now, the road ran beside a stream that ran alongside the mountains before joining the lake, and Lily spent much of her time looking at it.
"I think we will return," Naomi assured her after a moment. "I'm not sure when, but I don't think we've left for good."
"I just wish we hadn't left Papa behind," Lily glanced back again.
"Judah stayed with him. He will be all right." The woman smiled and put her arm around the girl as they walked. "And your uncle, the General. They will take care of one another."
"I'm afraid sometimes, though I know I shouldn't be." A little sniff accompanied the admission.
"Who says whether you should or shouldn't be?" Naomi eyed her. "You can't stop your feelings, you can only control what you do about them."
"And what do you do about fear?" The question was laced with skepticism and self-deprecation, and Naomi's heart sank.
She wasn't very good with fear, not by herself.
"I don't know about everyone," Naomi whispered, "but when I'm afraid, I look at someone stronger and braver, and try to do what they do until the fear passes."
"What do you mean?" Lily squinted at her.
"I mean, I married a very brave man, and I have made some very brave friends. When I'm afraid, I look to them, and it makes me feel braver. I can do more with others than I can by myself." Naomi's eyes searched ahead until she saw Caspian mounted on a horse, overseeing the beginning of the caravan crossing the stream where it wound across the road ahead. Gwen, the Fae, was some distance ahead as a supernatural scout.
The muddy bottom caused a wagon wheel to stick, but under his direction, they soon had it free.
"Papa's the bravest one I know," Lily confided, "and he's not with us."
"I will be brave for you, when I can," Naomi promised. "And perhaps your brothers are stronger than you know."
"They are strong, but so am I," The girl frowned and pulled away from Naomi's arm to run ahead.
On the way, she grabbed Roen's hand, whispering to him. Naomi watched with interest. They reached the stream and Lily spoke to Caspian, who held up a hand before the next wagon entered the water.
The parade of humanity paused as Lily closed her eyes and gripped her fists. Roen knelt down and put his hands to the earth.
The water of the stream stopped as if it hit a wall, rising up like a wave, but leaving the stream bed dry below. Roen took a deep breath and held it. The ground shook slightly, and then the riverbed rose in a wide swath to form a land bridge with a roomy gap underneath
Sweat poured down the young man's face as he worked. Lily's fists clenched as the wall of water grew taller, held back by the invisible force. At the bottom, it broke through and began a trickle under the makeshift bridge, and then a steady rush.
The girl let the water go in sections, a little more at a time until the backlog was released from her grip, and then she fell to her knees in exhaustion next to her brother.
Finn rushed to their sides and put her arms around her children.
Ivan was on her heels, and suddenly the sun seemed to shine brighter on the bridge, the heat drying remaining moisture from the muddy clay of the stream bed.
Roen panted, pressing his palm to the ground.
"It should hold," He breathed.
"You should tell me before you do such things," Finn chided, but Naomi was in awe. She'd seen each of the children's powers in some measure or another, but the creativity shown here was beyond what she expected of them.
"Sorry, Mama," Lily said. "We just wanted to help."
Caspian was focused on the task at hand, and walked back and forth across the new, wide bridge on foot several times before remounting his horse and doing the same. Nodding, he gestured for the next wagon in line to cross.
The caravan picked up its pace without the need to slow for stuck wheels, and the royal children sat with their mother for a time in the dirt, watching the fruits of their labor. They could catch up to their designated place soon enough.
Naomi lingered with them, and her stomach rumbled. Breakfast had been a light and hurried affair in the caravan. Lily squinted at her, and glanced over to the stream. With a look of concentration on her face, she lifted her hand and twitched her fingers.
The water roiled and expelled two fish from its shallows. They flopped on the dry ground, obviously bewildered to find themselves there.
"Would you like some lunch, Naomi?" Lily asked innocently.
Finn scoffed lightly and pulled her daughter's head close to kiss her hair.
"You mischievous scamps. I love you three." She grinned. "Now go and get your fish. We can clean and prepare them on the way."
The children did as they were bade, having recovered from the use of their powers.
"I didn't know they could do that," Naomi whispered to Finn as the ladies fell into step beside each other.
"They constantly surprise me," Finn admitted. "I think all children are surprising in their own ways, but mine especially."
Naomi swallowed a bit of momentary sadness. She'd still had no progress in talking to Caspian about adoption. In passing she had mentioned the orphanage, but it seemed that now was not the right time. The chaos of settling refugees in Klain, followed by the anticipation of war, and now the caravan's travels…
She knew she would find a way, someday. She was glad beyond words that there weren't orphans in Klain, that the influx of generosity of the locals had made it so that no child was without a home, and honestly, she'd been staying in Finn's home and hadn't room for a child anyway, but her heart still yearned.
Someday.