Return to Tiaanway

We walked for almost an hour before we reached a road. It looked like we could take this road back to Tiaanway. We took a quick break but everyone was very quiet. Many times I wanted to say that I was sorry about what happened but whenever I looked at Cindy, she was busy with something. She didn't look at me, not even once.

Feeling even more dejected, I decided to let things be as they are. Hopefully Cindy will talk with me once she is not angry. I asked Mark how far the city is.

"We should be there within an hour." replied Mark.

We started walking again. The road was not full of travellers as I had expected. We didn't meet a single person. I asked Mark about it and he told me there are no cities on this way. There is just the outpost. I remembered then that The Great Wall was on this side. I tried to remember all I knew about this wall. It was there to guard the humans from the demons. It was built thousands of years ago and since no one had seen any demons, it looked like that the wall was working. Then my thoughts turned to Ifera. If anyone could be a demon, she would be. She had strange powers and she also performed strange actions. Since I had seen the guild master change her size, I assumed that was the same magic that Ifera had been using. But what about the way she controlled Sheila? Was that some kind of magic too?

As I was wondering about this, the gates of Tiaanway became visible to us. It looked like the same gates that I had used just yesterday. Or was it yesterday? I wasn't sure what had happened to me and how much time had passed. I turned towards Mark and asked about the date. Once he told me, I let out a breath of relief. It looked like today was the next day. I hadn't been missing for too long.

We reached the gate and the guards asked us for identification. Cindy and Mark started showing their guild cards. I looked around but didn't see Captain Edwards. Being a captain, he probably didn't stay at the gates all the time. I also showed my guild card to the guard and he let us through.

Cindy was still avoiding my gaze. I needed to get back to the inn to let everyone know that I had returned.

"I… I need to get back to my inn." I said hesitantly.

Both Cindy and Mark turned towards me. They glanced at each other quickly and Mark said "Oh. I guess this is goodbye then."

I looked at Cindy but she had averted her gaze. Feeling down I nodded towards Mark

"Can you tell me where I can find you two? I will introduce you to my party."

"We stay at an orphanage run by the guild. You can ask for directions at the guild. Its not too far from there. But most of the time we are not there. Lets hope we bump into each other at the Adventurer's Guild."

I nodded at him once more and then looked at Cindy.

"Bye Cindy."

She jerked her head towards me and nodded slowly before turning away once more.

It looked like what I had done was worse than I thought. She still hadn't forgiving me. I sighed and started making my way towards the inn.

I was new to Tiaanway, so I asked around for the way to The Horn. I reached after 15 minutes of walking while asking around. Seeing the door of the inn, I finally relaxed. Finally… I am back.

I entered the inn and saw Elsie sitting at the desk. She was looking down while looking grim. She didn't even notice when I stood before her desk.

"Els… cough… big sister?"