Maps

I stood without Mayliam's aid. She reached to grab my arm, but I sidestepped away wordlessly.

We walked into the circle of covered wagons to find people packing up.

"Corbiam," I called, "we see map now?"

"Aye, lad! Over here!" the amethyst-haired merchant replied.

I followed his voice across the clearing. Mayliam stayed close, the two of us weaving past the bustle. We got to the back of the wagon, where Corbiam had unrolled a map, with a number of other rolled up maps within reach.

The map depicted a country. To its southern and eastern borders, a wall of mountains cut off the rest of the map in those directions, forming a corner and natural barrier to other countries. The west and north had water, with seemingly nothing to the west past a pair of islands, and a pair of peninsulas or something similar. They were labeled as other countries. The borders of the country we were in, called Pera, made it look somewhat like a bottle on its side to me. Very few cities were marked, but rough travel routes were sketched on. Due to the travel routes, I could tell that there could be a number of towns nearby.

"Where we?"

"We're about at the end of the forest, here." He pointed towards the bottom middle of the forest, perhaps half an inch from the end of the forest.

With the entire forest region being about five inches across, the vastness of it struck me.

"How much are you asking for the map?" Mayliam asked.

"Two silvers."

"That seems excessive. One silver should be plenty."

"Humph. That's robbery. One and eight is certainly fair."

"We're not going to spend more than one and six on a map."

"I guess I can go for one and six."

I was stunned to see quiet Mayliam arguing over anything, particularly over a bit of money.

She turned to me. "Who has the money bag?"

"I. One silver, six copper?" I asked as I fished the looted bag from my pocket. It had remained on my person since we left Farsfield.

The coins were simple circles with a house emblem imprinted on both sides. I withdrew one quarter-sized piece of silver and six nickel-sized pieces of copper to hand to Corbian. He took the coins and passed me a rolled up copy of the map. I unrolled it to confirm.

It seemed the same, but I scanned the two for discrepancies. There didn't seem to be any.

"Good doing business with you," Mayliam told Corbian, extending a hand.

He took it gently, shaking. "The pleasure is all mine. Was there something else you wanted before we part ways?"

Mayliam looked to me. I shrugged.

"I don't think so." She pulled her hand back.

"Then until we meet again." The purple-haired man nodded to us, then turned to pack some wares or supplies.

I rolled the map back up, then lead Mayliam to the others, who were at varying stages of packed. As we went, I started conversation.

"You surprise me. Confident talk money."

"Oh, bartering? My father taught me."

"You different when bartering. Confident."

"Am I? I guess so," she glanced at me, "did you like me being more confident?"

I didn't answer. We had arrived at the point where the others were repacking their stuff. The back-basket that Mayliam and I shared was packed already. It made me wonder how early she had gotten up. I had only slept six and a half hours.

She was her own woman. She could make her own choices, but that was beside the point right now.

I unrolled the map again over the top of my basket and pointed at the spot that Corbian had.

"We here. We go north. Where?"

Elengail looked and frowned, indicating that she wanted to handle the map. "May I?"

"Yes." I pulled back.

She set a finger about where I had just removed mine, then walked her hand along the map with her fingers. She made sure each step made the fingers cross. I suddenly realized that she was using her fingers as a scale of sorts. Then she started over from the same place, going a different direction.

"I'd guess it's about twenty-one days to Hakaibekkr. Twice that to Marthy. There will likely be places to stop and restock either direction."

"Or settle down." Kendalyn noted.

"You said Marthy would take twice as long, but it wouldn't. It would only take one and a half times." Mayliam countered.

"Forest paths are not as straight as paths along the plain. A day in the forest won't get us as far." Elengail corrected.

"That doesn't matter, as long as we decide a place to go." Kendalyn said. "Do we know anything about these places?"

"I've heard a little. Hakaibekkr is a city that thrives off mining precious gemstones. Marthy is the capital. There will be many ways to earn a living either way."

"I would rather not go to Haka-whatsit. Miners have a reputation of being rough," Faivere noted as she tossed her blonde hair back.

"Other insights?" Elengail asked.

"Bigger town, closer Marthy. Go Marthy, can stop before." I answered.

"Another vote for Marthy. Kendalyn?"

"I don't care."

"Alright, Mayliam?"

"Marthy sounds fine."

"Then we're in agreeance. We'll head towards Marthy for now. Are you done packing yet, Faivere?"

As she turned to the young woman who was still packing, I rolled up the map and stored it in the basket-pack. Then I slung the pack over my shoulders, still refusing to let Mayliam share that load. If I could have my way, she wouldn't share any of my loads.

Faivere was finally packed about the same time that the caravan of merchants were. Many of the children waved to us as the wagons jolted into motion. Mayliam, Kendalyn, and Faivere waved back, and we were on our way.