Road Trip

"And, what are these Blessed Beasts used for?" Faye asks.

"It's… better that you don't know," Astra says.

I don't hear a response.

"But Lohikaarmi is different. We didn't buy her. Kris, um, found her wandering in the wild, so he took her in," Astra says.

"Oh," Faye says, "you must have lived such a scary life before Kris."

"Yes, I did," Lohikaarmi says.

The cabin becomes quiet. Whatever Faye is thinking, it's probably not right.

Faye speaks up, "Astra, if you don't mind me asking, how do you know so much about the Holy Capital? I thought you two are from a faraway village."

"We- oh yes, that's right. I read, uh, a lot of books," Astra says.

"I see."

"What about you, Faye?" Astra asks.

"What about me?"

"Introduce yourself. Elves who can pray are pretty rare," Astra says.

"Yeah, um. I am actually a half-elf. My father was an archbishop."

"Oh."

"Oh, no, it's not what you think. My father was a nice man. He was put in charge to oversee the development of the farmland of Alventyr, and he fell in love with my mother there, but of course, a bishop can't be together with an elf, so my father chose to be excommunicated from the Church. He lived a happy life with my mother, and since elves take so long to give birth, he died of old age before I was born. As for my mother, she went mad from grief, and after I came along, she discovered that she had an unawakened blessing, which sent her even further into the deep end. At last, she ran away into the woods by herself," Faye says.

Huh. That vaguely reminds me of my own parents. It looks like she's had a pretty rough childhood, as well.

Faye continues, "But it's all fine. I was raised by the village, and I found a new family there. Although, hearing stories about how my parents were treated by the Church made me really… angry, and here we are."

"Yeah? That's what Kris and I are doing, too," Astra says.

"Really?"

Really?

"Well, not exactly, but we are also trying to change Terradivina."

"Oh? How so?" Faye asks.

"We will make it a better place," Astra says, her voice full of confidence.

Does she not understand the fact that she was the literal higher power of this world just two days ago? She could have done anything back then, why wait until now, when she is a powerless little girl?

Faye chuckles and says, "Well, let's help each other achieve our goals."

"Yeah!"

The cabin is now quiet, again. The girls seem to have had enough of conversation. My attention goes back to the endless green blur passing by us.

A couple of hours passed. It's now well into the afternoon. The evening sun casts rays onto the road in front of us. I am getting a little tired from the ride, so is the horse, and my bottom has definitely had enough of this bumpy road.

I turn around to the window. Astra is quietly snoring with her head in Lohikaarmi's lap, and Faye is sitting across the cabin from the two, looking at the passing trees through the window on the side.

"Hey," I call to get their attention.

Faye and Lohikaarmi turn to look at me, and Astra is still snoring away.

"Hey," Faye says with a smile.

"It won't be long before the sun sets. How about we set up camp somewhere now so we won't have to do it later in the dark?" I ask.

"Sure."

Lohikaarmi nods in agreement with Faye.

"Alright, I will stop when I see a suitable spot to set up camp. You two try to wake Astra up."

"Yes, Master."

Faye looks over to Lohikaarmi with her mouth half-open and back to me. "Um… Yes, Master."

"You don't…need to… Just call me Kris," I say.

"R-Right, sorry."

"No worries."

I turn back around to the horse. There were some clearings we passed on the way. I am keeping my eyes on the lookout for the next. I just realized that we brought nothing with us on this trip. No tent, no food, no weapons. Oh well, we will probably think of something.

Soon, I see a spot in the woods beside the road ahead that gets really thin, like a little grove. There isn't much undergrowth there, mainly just dirt. It's a good enough spot. I've never been camping, but I've seen it being done, but not in woods, as that was impossible to find. They were mostly in the desert. I can't imagine them being too different.

"Whoa," I call to the horse and tug on the reins a little. The carriage slows down. I pull the reins to the right, and we head into trees toward the patch just on the side of the road.

A couple of meters in, we are now blanketed by a layer of leaves. The sun is now gone from sight. I stop the horse when we reach the center of the grove.

The surroundings look pretty good. Not a bush in sight, or barely any form of vegetation under these trees. It's mostly barren soil. I can see hundreds of meters into the forest before the logs completely block out my vision. At least there won't be any freakish monsters around.

I step down from the coach seat, and it takes my legs a second to get used to the stable ground again. I give the side of the cabin a little knock. "You can come down, now," I say.

I hear some shuffling in the cabin, and one by one, the girls jump down from the back. Faye gives the surroundings a good look. Astra is holding a piece of bread in her hands and munching on it.

"Where did you get that?" I ask.

She swallows her bite and says, "From under the seat. There's food there, remember?"

"Oh yeah, that's right. I forgot. Is there food in there for the horse?"

"What, you hungry?" Astra says and laughs. I hear Faye chuckle a little, too.

"Very funny."

"Yeah, there's some hay in there," she says.

"Alright."

The sky is dimming quickly. Its bright blue is now dark with a hint of orange. The first thing we need is a fire. There are plenty of dry branches on the ground. The problem is starting it. I can just ask Lohikaarmi to blow a little, but I don't want Faye to see it.

I don't really know why I feel the need to keep our identities a secret from her, but if I reveal one thing, I might end up going further, and I can definitely see how telling her that Astra is her Goddess can have an undesirable effect.

"Faye," I say.

"Yes?"

"I'm guessing you are familiar with animals. Can you go feed the horse?" I ask.

"Sure, no problem," she says and reaches into the cabin to grab the hay.

I walk over to Lohikaarmi, holding a handful of branches.

"Light this for me real quick," I tell her while Faye is jollily walking to the horse.

"Yes, Master."