Elsi walked in silence beside the tall Bard named Pan. It had been three weeks since they left the camp in Fendrel Forest. While she was glad to be heading back south, the ball of dread in her stomach grew as she walked. The further south they went, the more her nerves worsened.

  The sun had not yet risen but already Elsi began to wonder what the day would bring. Despite it being dark, she occasionally glanced at the map. It made her feel like she was doing something productive.

  “You know,” Elsi said after a while. “It was kind of you to accompany me this far, but I can reach Dawnellis on my own.”

  “I’m aware,” said Pan. “But I take great pride in sticking to old Bard traditions. My grandmother would be mighty disappointed if I let someone so young travel to the southern coast alone. It's quite the trek.”

  “So, it’s my age then, is it?” Elsi flicked one of her long braids out of her face and over her shoulder. “You know, in my land, I am considered a woman already.”

  Pan shrugged as he walked along. “Woman or not, it’s polite to accompany someone on a long journey like this. Besides, we’re friends, aren’t we?”

  Elsi couldn’t argue with that. Ever since the day she arrived in Fendrel Forest in a fit of rage, Pan had been there for her. He was the only Bard whom she had grown close to in her days in their camp. He had listened to her story and never doubted the validity of it, despite how mad it sounded.

  Dawn eventually broke out across the eastern horizon. It started as a pale purple but slowly faded into orange, pink, and eventually blue. Elsi loved the sunrise. It reminded her of being a child and waking up aboard a grand ship and seeing nothing but ocean and skies. She smiled at the thought of the endless seas where she was raised.

  The sun made a slow crawl up into the sky. It was so slow in fact that Elsi had failed to notice the smoke cloud that had grown in the northern skies. She was so focused on heading southeast, that she nearly ran into Pan’s back when he stopped.

  “What are you doing?” She glared up at the Bard.

  “Els,” he said. “Look.”

  Elsi turned around and immediately saw what Pan had been looking at. Hanging dark in the northern skies was a lingering cloud. Or at least, that was what Elsi first thought it was. As she stared in awe, she quickly realized it was no normal cloud.

  It was smoke. Thick black smoke billowed into the skies above where the Longthorne Mountains would have been. While she couldn’t see the mountains from that far south, Elsi knew those mountains all too well.

  “Pan,” she said. “That’s not good.”

  “I can see that,” he said.

  “We…we should do something.”

  “Do what? We’re already on our way to warn the Akarelles about what you saw. What more can we do?” Pan said.

  For a moment Elsi was silent as she stared at the dark plumes of smoke. “Do you think…”

  “I can feel it,” Pan said suddenly. “I felt something strange last night but I wrote it off.”

  “What do you mean you can feel it?”

  “Magic,” he said as he adjusted his satchel on his shoulder. “It was as if it got stronger suddenly last night.”

  Elsi glanced up at him. Being an Akarelle she had no sense of what magic felt like, but Bards could feel it. She wondered how it felt to Pan.

  “Think of the wind,” he said. “Magic is typically like a calm day with a bit of wind, but last night I felt a gust. It was strange but…I suppose I didn’t think much about it.”

  “Well, it’s hard to think much about anything when you’ve drunk enough wine to kill a Tuskus.” Elsi retorted. “But it is strange. Let’s keep moving.”

  By the time Elsi and Pan found themselves on the outskirts of a small fishing village, the immense cloud of smoke had only grown larger. Elsi didn’t want to admit it, but it frightened her. Pan, on the other hand, seemed obvious to the danger. If he was worried about what he ‘felt’, he showed no signs of that fear.

  Together the Akarelle and the Bard walked down a dusty road towards the village of Henoble. Small cob houses became more and more common as they approached the village. Elsi watched as an old man carried a basket of clothing toward a drying line in his yard. A dog followed him closely, keeping an eye on Elsi and Pan.

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  “Have you been here before?” Elsi asked, sensing some prying eyes of the villagers.

  “A long time ago,” Pan said rather distantly.

  “Is it safe to assume that an Akarelle such as myself will stand out?”

  “It’s safe to assume we both will,” he replied. However, the idea of standing out didn’t seem to bother him.

  Elsi supposed that it shouldn’t bother her, either. However, it did.

  “Don’t lose your edge now,” Pan chuckled. “This village is our best hope for finding a ship sailing south.”

  Elsi looked at the dusty old homes and people dressed in simple clothes. “Do the Meiren sail?”

  “No,” Pan said. “But traitors from other places sail up the Similyan.”

  As they entered the town of Henoble, Elsi was greeted with the familiar sounds and smells of a village. Meiren walked through the village carrying crates of dried fish and fresh apples. Most Meiren were a head shorter than both Elsi and Pan. Many of them had strong arms, wide shoulders, and skin that was either freckled or tan from days on the river.

  Carts of vendors lined the road, selling a variety of things. Fresh produce, cured meats, and jars of floral honey sat in large wagons. At the sweet scent of a bakery Elsi’s stomach growled.

  “We should get some food,” Pan said.

  “We should find a ship first,” Elsi said. She glanced to the north at the cloud. “Why does no one seem bothered by that cloud?”

  Pan shrugged as he snagged an apple off a cart and into the pocket in his cloak. “These people are Meiren and Meiren can’t feel magic. They probably just think that there’s a wildfire in the alpine forests.”

  Elsi looked at the people going about their daily lives as if nothing was happening. She wanted to tell them all that darkness was descending upon the lands. She wanted to tell them to gather their children and run to the distant reaches of Astaemor.

  However, she stayed silent. She had a mission to complete and she was going to complete it.

  “Let’s go to the docks,” Elsi said, heading towards the direction of the Similyan River.

  “I’m hungry.”

  “Then eat the apple you just stole,” she rolled her eyes.

  “You’ve got a good eye.”

  “Or you're not as stealthy as you think you are.”

  Pan laughed and followed Elsi towards the river.

  The river rushed past the little village of Henoble. Elsi found herself at what must have been considered a marina of some kind. In comparison to the marinas of Dawnellis, it could hardly be called such.

  The docks were small and the boards were loose and decaying. Little rafts and small rowboats were all that was tied up to the dock.

  Elsi let out a sigh. There were no ships here. Only small fishing vessels. She looked back towards Pan who leaned against one of the posts. He ate his stolen apple and watched her with an unreadable expression.

  “Well?” She gestured to the little rafts. “Where’s the ships that you promised?”

  Pan shrugged. “They’ll be here.”

  “When? We need to get to Dawnellis as quickly as we can.” Her eyes looked back at the dark cloud of smoke and she thought about all the evil she had seen in the mountains.

  “I’m not sure.”

  She flicked a long braid out of her face and over her shoulder. “Can’t we do something?”

  “And just what do you want me to do?” Pan stepped closer to her. “Speed up time?”

  “I want a ship to be here.”

  “Well, I can’t summon ships.”

  “What can you do?”

  Pan raised an eyebrow and pulled a familiar bottle out from his satchel.

  “Drink? You’re going to drink?” Elsi let out an angry laugh as she crossed her arms. “And what is that going to do?”

  “Make this situation a bit more bearable,” he said as he uncorked the wine bottle.

  “Pan,” she stomped up to him. “That cloud is proof of what I saw on Mount Daemir. It’s proof that Dria Thal has been released. We have to tell the Akarelles. They are the only ones who have a chance of stopping…whatever the Tathians are planning.”

  Pan said nothing as he took a long drink from the bottle of wine.

  “Yes, Els,” he replied after a moment. “I’m aware. I am very aware. A ship will come and we will travel south. We will tell the Akarelles. But for now, we must wait.”

  So, they waited.

  And waited.

  Pan and Elsi had found a patch of grass in the sun beside the docks. Pan sprawled on the ground while Elsi sat rigidly, waiting for a ship to come. Her eyes were glued to the gentle waters. Even the fishermen in their rafts didn’t stop by the marina.

  It was a calm and lazy day. The kind of day Elsi would have typically enjoyed. However, at that moment, she felt more irritated than ever. She had a burning desire to go. She needed to get to Dawnellis and warn her people. She needed to tell them that something terrible was going to happen.

  After about an hour, Pan finally sat up from his catnap. He pulled his flute from his satchel and began to play a tune that reminded her of the springtime in Dawnellis. The catchy rhythm soon pulled Elsi away from her worries and to a simpler time.

  Elsi stood aboard her mother’s grand ship. The salty, warm air blew across the deck, playing at the corners of her tunic and pants. The ship had made harbor only minutes ago at a small island called Onelli.

  The crew was beginning to unload the ship as Elsi turned to face her mother.

  “Will I really be here all summer?” she asked.

  Her mother smiled down at her and ran her hand over Elsi’s braids. “Yes, child. You performed wonderfully on your exams. A woman named Sauni has vouched to be your mentor. She is a skilled woman. You are very fortunate to have her.”

  “And she lives here?”

  “No, she lives in Dawnellis like us,” she explained. “But she requires that all her students study for a summer on Onelli. It will prepare you for her teachings.”

  “But where will I live?”

  “There are bungalows on the other side of the island. You and the other students will live there while you endure the training process.”

  Elsi thought about it for a moment. She had never been away from her mother for so long. “What if I miss you?”

  “Then you must remember that you are making me proud,” she bent down to Elsi’s level. “And you must promise that you will be coming back soon?”