Vallum stared blankly into the moving terrain in front of Raef. He looked behind him at the long wagon hooked up to Raef. All eighty-nine people that had been enslaved in the warehouse decided to come with him. It made no sense to him, but he guessed that the strength Kenra showed in taking out all the guards was something that these people desperately wanted. They just wanted protection. Though it was not at all what he expected, Kenra had become enamored with the idea of protecting this group of people. Vynn had given him no end of teasing about how amazing her idea had been. Even with it being a bizarre turn of events, he was actually excited by the idea. He had planned on living in the mountains by himself, but now he would have a small village of his own.
"You are amazing, Kay." Vallum said when she returned to the envoy with tons of wild game. They had decided on going straight to the mountains and avoiding all settlements so they could stay out of trouble.
They had a group that stepped forward and took on the responsibility of all food related tasks. Each night they stopped and camped out. The cooks would prepare their meal and they had a group of the men assigned to keep watch through the night. Vallum would rise before everyone else and make sure everything was ready to leave before waking everyone else. One morning when he woke up, he found Vynn sitting up and staring contemplatively into the horizon. He went over and sat down beside her.
"What's up, Vynn."
She glanced at him as he approached and said nothing. He sat down and they stared in silence for a while before Vynn had something to say.
"I don't have a chance." She said.
"What do you mean?"
"With you. No matter how badly I want to think that I have a chance, it is simply not true." She spoke surprisingly clear and didn't mix her words or use sarcasm.
Vallum could only keep his eyes on the horizon.
"It's right, isn't it. There isn't anything I could do to make you like me, is there?" Vynn turned and looked him in the eyes. "I'm doomed to live with an unrequited love, aren't I?"
Vallum met Vynn's gaze. "Yes." There were no other words that he could find, so he uttered the simple truth. It was a truth that caused tears to form in Vynn's eyes.
"Okay. I won't ever bring it up again. I will make sure that Sari doesn't either, but I am a thief. There is one last thing that I have to take from you."
"What do you..." Vallum was interrupted when Vynn suddenly pushed her lips against his. He went to pull away, but Vynn held his head, pulling him in. She finished and stood up. Vallum was angry, but he knew that this was the last real moment that he would ever have with Vynn. He looked up at the girl somberly.
"Thank you for everything that you did for me, Vynn."
Vynn quickly turned away from him when tears threatened to crawl down her face. "Be quiet, farmer boy. I only did that to repay a debt." Her voice broke at the very end and she dashed away.
Vallum stood up and finished all of the preparations. Vynn was back by the time they needed to leave. The way that she treated him when she got back was still familiar, but there was a strict and visible distance between the two of them now.
Kenra observed this and put an arm around Vallum, reaffirming his decision that she didn't even know he made.
They set out, and day followed day until they made it to the foot of the mountains that Vallum planned on inhabiting. Vallum sent Kenra ahead to start scouting the mountain out in search of where they would settle down. Right now they were waiting at the base of the mountain, waiting for Kenra to return.
"Have you ever been to the mountians, Sari?" Vallum attempted to make conversation to pass the time.
"No."
"Have you ever thought about going to the mountains?"
"No."
"Are you excited about living up there?"
"No." She didn't even maintain the little sense of familiarity that Vynn had.
Vynn had decided that the two girls would live in the mountains with everybody else. Her reason had been that the village wouldn't work without her help, and Vallum wasn't sure how much her liking of him factored in.
Vallum gave up on the failed conversation and settled back into silence until Kenra returned. He watched her fall from the sky, using whatever magic she had to control her dive. It was quite the scene, seeing her black cloaked body moving so swiftly through the sky toward him.
"I found a place. There is a nearby cave system so that we will have shelter while we are in the process of building the village."
The chosen leaders of each main group had been formed into a council of sorts, and they were all there with Vallum, listening to Kenra's report. The old man was named Cecil, the woman was named Freya, and the man was named Brand. They all had several questions about the chosen area. Many of the questions had to do with resources available and possible dangers of the area. In the end, they decided that this area Kenra had found was suitable, so they set out.
Kenra guided them through the forest. Everyone had to walk, because the wagon that Raef was pulling wouldn't make it through all the trees and underbrush. Kenra did cut a small path through the underbrush so that they could all make it on foot though. It took them half of the day to make it to the caves that Kenra had found, and when they made it, they took to setting up a more permanent camp. Kenra brought back wild animals and water from a stream that was a ways away.
Vallum held a meeting in between the leaders of each group, and discussed the plans for the village. They agreed that Vallum and Kenra would go to a city the next day to get supplies that were necessary. The job of the thirteen men that they had would be to start clearing the forest, while everyone else would take to the forest and start gathering materials.
After the meeting, night came for the very first time on the soon-to-be settlement.