Upon arriving at the wall, bundling the town's many sandstone buildings and multistory mud huts into a glowing bundle shining out from far-stretching plains of sand and dunes, Graf was stopped by two northern troops. Even though their helmet was missing, Midas quickly recognized the light gray steel surrounding and protecting their upper bodies. His gaze sunk as quickly as it had snatched onto the plain features of the metal shielding them; memories of Alma slashing down the Northerners invading the ancient room underneath the fort reemerged in his head.
Graf was quick to hold out an old-looking scroll of paper in front of one of the guards faces; bundled up by blue string, the employed trooper loosened the knot with his gloved fingers. Nodding firmly at its contents, which were written down onto the paper that was stretched out by his hands, letting his partner gaze at it for a short while before handing back the document. The untied string flew around in the air as the driver hid the scroll under his thin white cloth again.
Stepping to the side, they silently watched as the sledge passed the entrance to the insides of the walls; the arched hole built into the sandstone easily fit the sledge. Their gazes quickly wandered away from their ride as they stopped another that followed. "Why... didn't we pay anything to enter...?" The question Midas asked was hesitant, eventough it was directed at the driver, his gaze quickly switched from one side to the other, mustering the many frameless windows put into the mud and sandstone the surrounding buildings were made out of.
"Because I'm of northern origin. I originally thought this law only applied to the border of the water kingdom... But, I suppose anything they are fully concerned about, be it a town or a village, counts as a water kingdom territory." Graf didn't turn to him, plainly explaining the use of showing the mysterious paper to the guard. "That paper was a certificate someone gets after joining a trading guild... That specific guild only allows for people from the water kingdom to join." His voice was lowered, just as his head was, as the carriage passed darkened streets, the passing people walking on them already used to the never-stopping stream of carriages entering the town.
"Water kingdom..." Midas mumbled the name of his destination to himself, a sense of dread filling his speech. With focused gazes, he mustered lit-up torches stuck into stone holsters glued onto mud facades with clay; the color of the spanned cloth was desaturated by the young night falling onto the land, dotted around multiple lit-up shops stretched out of the surrounding buildings. Their keepers eager to wave at anyone passing by, aromas of fish and spices overlapped each other, reminding the boy of the great tower that sat right in between Gip'din; the street they passed was much broader, spanned with sand, which allowed the ride to glide onto the plastered streets.
After slowly turning to stop behind one of the buildings, Midas watched as Graf tied a knot onto the wooden fence built into the grounds of the tiny free space stretching out behind the buildings. The ride didn't stick out from the rest; sledges matching and even outclassing its size were bound onto the same wooden fence, which spanned a long distance, following the path of the wall right after it. The group was quick to leave the dark space behind, and as they followed the driver, Haya and the young girl were much more excited than Inaya, barely able to not outpace the rest of the group.
"I never got to ask you, Midas, where do you come from...?" Inaya's voice was barely audible from the energetic calls and preaches the stall keepers voiced from behind their filled counters. Her mask didn't turn to him, as her head was glued forward to gaze at Haya and Graf taking the lead, the bald man slowly growing annoyed at the two of them bouncing around the broad street, barely avoiding the passing sledges creeping their way down into the core of the town.
Midas stopped internally at this question, his jaw parted, eager to find a quick answer to the basic question she voiced. "I don't remember; from what I know, the fort's cells were the first place I woke up in." His reply was quickly built together; his mind sorted out any details that might indicate he had lived another life before his sudden arrival in the desert. His head called back to the bursting cracks he heard in his dreams, the same sound he also heard right before he woke up in this world.
Inaya didn't react much to his reply, watching his stressed gaze quietly; the many dark holes spanning her mask loomed onto Midas' face from an arm's length distance, and the boy was able to feel her gaze from the uncountable holes punched into the metal that fully covered her. Trying to imagine the process of how one must have used a needle to hammer this unfathomable amount of holes into the metal. A nearly perfect rectangle of holes spanned across the mask, covering her eye area, before he even realized his eyes were fixated onto the perfect distances between the holes, matching her covered gaze.
"My mother was gifted to a young general, who then grew up to become my father." Her voice was calming, her head turned forward again as she began to continue, "The son of the now old Gihin head general... His peers were shocked after I was born; he described how my mother had looked at me—uncertain, panicking in a voiceless manner." Her fingers tucked at the mantle resting on her shoulders, a cold wind passed through the long streets they wandered, blindly following Grafs directions, passing by countless shops and stalls built along the street they passed.
"I was blessed to have him as my father; he taught me the preachings of the sun... It gave me the stability I lacked, especially after he told me I was better off leaving this land behind." Aimlessly speaking to him, Midas looked back at her again; she was slightly smaller than him, even though he was sure she must be around his age, possibly being even older than him regarding the words she spoke to him.
"I felt great at first for learning this region's language, yet... After I discovered that the northerners speak differently, this sense of relief vanished..." His sentence was quick enough not to be overtaken by the luring words of a stall keeper gesturing the passing children towards his display of cut meat; their bloody smell made Midas flinch slightly, looking downwards to ignore the man. "The only thing I know about this land is its name, the fact it has many universities to visit... as well as Cle'phoria, somewhere lying there—a town I have to meet someone in..."
Inaya listened quietly, her head traveling to the other side of the road to glance at the young girl; her fingers were held up to cover her already protected lips, gasping to herself as the child quickly passed the road and found a way back to Graf all on her own, watching as the girl was shouted at by the driver for her recklessness, stopping her from darting from one shop to another. "Well, if you wish—in order to even take part in the universities lessons... you must be part of a course teaching you the northern tongue. There's a fee one has to pay for every great sun cycle... Graf gave me that information."
Unable to really grasp the extent of a great sun cycle, Midas turned to her to ask a directly voiced question, risking possibly finding an answer that would connect loose dots in his head, "Say—how old are you and Haya...?" Midas tried to sound casual, even though he struggled to keep his peaking interest at bay.
Inaya chuckled lightly, her hand already held up in the same position again, "I was born thirteen great sun cycles ago... Haya, I'm sure, was born one great sun cycle before me... Quite the unexpected question, if I dare to say." Nodding sternly at her light reply, Midas's stress began to leave slightly, finally able to answer long-lasting questions on his mind, beginning to grasp the time frame he had to reach Alma's brother and find out more about what the storm to the east really is about. Also now knowing the rough age he must have, even though he never mustered himself completely.
Unable to share Inayas's lightly amused demeanor, he felt a sense of security, which then quickly was submerged by a lingering dread reaching him. Midas didn't forget the real reason behind even stepping out of the fort's walls; the royalties plea was edged onto him, and the many questions regarding the stone slabs and the golden flask Alma left behind also lingered deep inside of his head, questions begging him for an answer. Midas glanced down at his bandaged hand; he was able to move his thumb more freely, and his head slowly returned to glance forward as he saw Graf stop in front of a lit-up stone building.
"We're spending a night here; the prices are lower in the morning, and the goods are much fresher... Make sure to hop in bed right away; we'll wake up quite early." With a stern look, Graf pointed at the youths surrounding him; his glance rested more on Haya and Midas, sure they were able to carry more than the others. Graf wasted no time before walking up the tiny sets of stairs leading to the entrance of the building, the four of them following the driver.
"One room for three, please... another for two. We're spending a night." Graf told the man behind the counter.