We were very careful to fly around the capital and to avoid the Demon and any other possible searchers who may have been sent by the Church of One as we flew southward to where the troupe had made camp. I could sense the magic well before we came close to the camp and wondered, “Is that them?”

-Most likely,- Sharai stated in reply to my errant thought. -They have set up a temporary Seeming. It will keep most mortals from sensing their presence and encourage them to ignore anything that seems out of place. Only Fae or other magical beings can sense them like that. I believe that the Demons should not be able to sense it unless they are very close. They did not sense my glamour until I was inside their Church and the cold iron there dispelled it.-

“But how did they find your troupe then?” I asked as I saw the glow of a large campfire in the distance.

I could feel the stab of pain and loss in her thoughts as my spirit guide responded. -One of them likely came upon our Seeming by chance while scouting the forest and returned to their lair to gather others of their ilk. Our village did not move as Voyager caravans do so they merely needed to lead their cohorts back there. It is the only sensible explanation for such a large and organized attack. There were enough of them to wipe out my troupe and they had weapons of cold iron.-

I did not know what else to say and tried to send her comforting thoughts as I followed the Dragonkin who was carrying Nirlyn to land in the center of a circle of eight large wagons painted in bright colors. A few young men with swords or spears patrolled outside the wagons where dozens of large white creatures grazed, and at the center of the camp was a large bonfire with close to two dozen people relaxing and talking in small groups as they ate their evening meal and soaked in the warmth of the fire. To my eyes, most, if not all of them, looked like Voyagers, very similar to how I once looked with their dark hair and dusky skin.

Except for the six children that I had seen in the city earlier and two adolescents, all of them seemed to be adults, though none showed a trace of gray in their dark hair. I supposed that made sense though. My mother was still very youthful-looking and I recalled people complimenting her on how good she looked for her age and trying to learn her secret.

Now that I knew that she had been a Voyager and that the Voyagers were Fae, I realized that any secrets she had told them likely would not have done them much good long-term. The Fae are immortal unless someone manages to slay one of them… us. Sharai told me that, like other Fae, I could expect to stop aging completely once I reached full maturity. The idea of that was going to take some getting used to.

Vesha glided downward in tight circles and then, once she was roughly a grown man’s height off of the ground, she pulled in her wings and allowed herself to drop the remaining distance. She bent her knees with the landing before placing her Master gently on the ground. I carefully touched down beside her and took an uncertain look around. People were staring and I heard the word ‘Faerie’ whispered here and there before Nirlyn suddenly stood up from where she had stopped to offer the promised bag of sweets to the children and took charge.

“I got good news an’ bad news, folks,” she started with a grim expression and serious tone. “Good news is that I found Kalara’s daughter. The bad news is that things ‘ere are worse than we thought.” The Master Bard told them everything that I had told her, not even sparing the children’s ears. She told them about my parents’ murder, the Demons' return under the guise of the Church of One, everything that had happened to me, and how I had become a Faerie and the bearer of one of the five Vos’oraik.

As she explained things to the troupe, small platters of food were given to Niryln, Vesha, and me, and Nirlyn paused occasionally to eat as she talked. From the hurried way that she did so, it appeared that she wanted things done quickly so we could get on the road. The food was good but I was a little too distracted to appreciate it since the more that Nirlyn revealed, the more that those gathered took an obvious interest in me.

After that, there was a brief discussion on what to do. Brief because people seemed to agree with Niryln that we needed to take me to the Bardic Guild headquarters, and home of the Guild Council, in Derevik to report about everything that I had told the Ravieri Bard about. After the Bardic Guild knew and could send out Bards to circulate information to other nations and guilds, then we would make our way to Tarin’dol to warn the Fae there and hopefully find the four other bearers of the Vos’oraik.

During that discussion, she also split the gold that the children had managed to heist, giving an even share to each wagon. To my great surprise, she had split the share for her own wagon three ways and I had gotten a share as well as she and Vesha. I had tried to object, but she had sternly told me that I was one of the troupe too, and old enough to use it wisely.

With the discussion over, the camp became a flurry of activity as the gear was packed and secured in wagons. We weren’t excluded from this as Niryln half-dragged me to a bright blue and gold wagon. It had a bench and some sort of rigging and harness that looked like it was meant for animals to pull it. I had seen large animals that I had trouble identifying grazing just outside the circle of wagons, so they here probably the beasts of burden.

The wagon was large, half again wider than I was tall, and three times that in length. The wheels were large and looked to be made of ironwood so they were probably durable as well. All in all, it was like a small cottage on wheels, mostly made of wood, with a shuttered window on each side and a slightly curved roof of wooden shingles that had a metal chimney of sorts sticking out of it near the end with the door. I wanted to think of the end with the door as the front but since it was on the opposite side of the harness and driver’s bench, it was probably actually the rear of the vehicle. There was a small door behind the driver’s bench as well though and expensive oil lanterns hung on each outer corner of the wagon.

Nirlyn had me place my few belongings inside while she and Vesha did the same. It was as spacious as the outside indicated and the ceiling was high enough that I had to stand on my toes to reach it with my fingertips. Since Nirlyn had been spending most of her time in the city and Vesha had been there as well while keeping to the rooftops and listening for her Master’s call, most of their things were already stowed away. With that in mind, we just had to worry about my things and what Nirlyn had taken with her into the city. As a result, it did not take us long to finish once Nirlyn had assigned me an empty cupboard to place my belongings in. Not knowing what else to do, I looked in interest around the interior of the wagon.

Seeing my curious gaze wandering around the wagon, Vesha decided to give me a tour and explain some things while we waited to get underway and Nirlyn went to go help someone named Joak and his son gather the beasts to secure them into the wagon harnesses. “Let me show you where everything is,” she said with a smile that did funny things to my heart and made my knees go weak. What was wrong with me anyway?

She started the ‘tour’ by taking me to the small door in front that led to the driver’s bench, telling me that it would let us change drivers while underway so that we could all properly rest on longer trips. Then she gestured to the walls to either side just back of the door where she pointed out two handles. I thought might be for cupboards since they were near the four small closet-like cupboards where we had stowed our gear but one was really high on the wall and the other was about halfway down.

The Dragonkin girl reached for the upper one and pulled downward to swing out a comfortable-sized cot with a mattress stuffed as thick as my hand was long with rushes, and covered with warm-looking comforters that had been folded before but became disheveled when she pulled the hidden bed from its cubby. “These are the bunks; there are two on each side so you’ll have somewhere to sleep. Master Nirlyn and I usually use the bottom bunks on either side so you’ll have to use one of the top ones. You can sleep above me if you like. You’ve already seen the storage cupboards, of course.”

“That certainly saves space,” I murmured thoughtfully, my face reddening for some reason at the thought of sleeping in such close proximity to her.

Vesha smiled and nodded in agreement, as she led me to the rear half of the wagon and gestured to other cupboards that filled the wall space to either side of the middle third of the wagon’s length. “We usually store food and supplies in these ones; it’s handy in case we need to travel without the rest of the troupe for some reason.”

Behind the cupboards and toward the rear of the wagon was a counter on one side that looked to be for preparing meals, with cupboards underneath holding pots, pans, and other cooking implements. Between it and the rear wall, there was a door that I thought might be more cupboard space at first but I was shocked to find that it was a small privy. I found out later that it emptied into a bronze chamber pot that could be retrieved from a cubby on the underside of the rear of the wagon to be emptied.

On the other side of the rear third of the wagon was a bronze basin with some sort of small water pump over it and a tray of rough soap beside it to wash up or to fill kettles or pots for cooking. The basin also had a cork plugging a pipe at the bottom that when removed would drain the water outside when you were finished with it. Vesha showed me the bronze water reservoir in a cupboard underneath the basin and beside the basin was something that resembled a wood stove. It was so interesting, there were thin metal trays that could be pulled out and filled with coal or other fuel just beneath the steel grate on the top.

I supposed that the trays would allow people to cook using pots and pans while regulating the heat better than using the residual heat of the metal of the stove itself. The inside did use wood for fuel though, to both provide heat for the wagon and allow baking in a small oven compartment above where the wood was placed in the very bottom. “This is so inventive,” I commented with a smile.

“The Voyagers have been doing this since the fall of the Ancient Ones. They have come up with some ingenious ways to make travel more comfortable,” Vesha agreed with a nod. “The ride is a lot smoother than you would think too. They use something called suspension to keep the wagons from bouncing or shaking too much.”

I looked around thoughtfully as something occurred to me. “How can they afford such luxuries? The basin and such are bronze but that stove is steel, those were oil lamps outside, and the wheels are ironwood. Surely picking pockets is not that profitable?” I could see why they had to use steel for the stove, cold iron would have been deadly for our kind, but good steel with all traces of cold iron smelted out of it was expensive.

“We,” the Dragonkin corrected as she placed a hand gently on my shoulder and caused my breath to quicken in response. “Everyone contributes to the troupe by doing what they do best and everyone shares in what we earn. Sometimes things might be lean for the Bards and dancers and sometimes we might get more than enough so we can help those who are having a lean time. The little ones have light fingers and aren’t learning a trade yet so they’re doing what they can by lifting a purse or two from those what can afford it. We busk the streets and play for those willing to pay well for a bit of music, Wilden offers his services as a Healer and apothecary, and Godan, our wagonmaster, often makes wagons like this for wealthy merchants while we winter in the south.”

It was not long after that explanation that Nirlyn returned. “We’re almost ready t’ leave; Joak an’ Sten are gettin’ the last o’ the kirgens in the harnesses now. I imagine that Kaelyn ‘ere has never driven a wagon afore so I want ya t’ show ‘er the ropes, Vesha. Ya can also tell ‘er ‘bout ‘er duties as my apprentice, an’ my duties t’ her.”

I almost said that I had not agreed to anything yet but there was no harm in seeing where this went. I had until we arrived at the Bardic Guild headquarters in Derevik to change my mind after all. “Of course, Master. I’d be happy to. It’ll be a good way for me and Kaelyn to get to know one another better,” the Dragonkin agreed with a toothsome grin.

I had little time to say anything myself then as Vesha half-dragged me toward the small door at the front of the wagon and through. After getting out herself, she helped me to navigate my way into the driver’s seat beside her and behind two of the biggest animals that I had ever seen up close. They had the muscle and bulk of oxen but were easily twice the size of any ox that I had seen before. They had short stubby tails, were covered in luxuriously thick white wool, and their heads were vaguely like a ram’s, especially those massive spiraling horns.

“Nirlyn called these kirgen?” I asked as I gaped at the rears of the pair of unfamiliar beasts.

“Yes,” Vesha confirmed as she giggled at the look on my face. “Most Voyager wagons like this use teams of six horses but Joak got a good deal on some kirgen about four years ago when we met a Ravieri trader, and he’s been raising and breeding them since. The Ravieri use them for a lot of things. One pair is enough to pull a wagon like this, they aren’t scared of anything, and Zenna weaves cloth from their wool for clothing. We have some females too but they don’t pull the wagons, we mostly keep them for breeding and their milk. We have a herd of around thirty kirgen now but the females should be near birthing season soon.”

“It sounds like you have more kirgens than people in this troupe,” I said, hoping to lead her into telling more about the troupe.

“Yes, including you, there are only twenty-five of us in this troupe,” she replied with a smile that told me she knew exactly what I had been trying to do. “Usually, when a troupe gets over seventy or eighty people some break off to form their own new troupe. Our old troupe was getting too big and since some of us wanted to keep searching for signs of you or your mother when Master Nirlyn lost contact with her, those of us who wanted to do that broke off to form our own troupe.”

“How do you all know my mother?” I asked uncertainly.

The Dragonkin looked thoughtful for a moment before answering. “Well, obviously I didn’t, and you know about Master Nirlyn. Our troupe elders are actually your grandparents, Lorne and Vaela. Bryden is your uncle, and he of course brought his wife and their daughter, Shava. She was the oldest of the children who came into the city to pick some pockets. The others were close friends and troupe-mates of your mother, and their spouses and children.”

For a moment, I was too stunned to say anything. I knew that the troupe seemed to care about my mother but I had not considered that I might have actual family among them. That adept little thief was my cousin? I found myself just staring blankly at the rear end of a kirgen as I tried to process that. Sharai didn’t help matters when her voice slipped into my thoughts. -That settles it. We will travel with them and you will accept the apprenticeship that Nirlyn offered, Kaelyn.-

“Do I not get a choice in the matter?” I thought back as I worried my lip in thought.

-You and I both know that you want this, Kaelyn. This is your troupe; you have family here and a chance to follow a dream that is dear to your heart. What reason is there to refuse when not only do our goals align, but they will also accompany us to Tarin’dol, making our journey safer? I will not allow you to give it up out of a sense of duty to me when they can help us as well as give you what you long for.-

I was surprised when Vesha took my hand in hers and asked, “Are you alright?” Her hand was warmer than I had expected, and butterflies danced in my chest as I saw the warmth and concern in her eyes as she continued to embrace my hand with her own.

“I… uhh…” I tried to answer breathlessly.

“We are ready to start moving,” an unfamiliar woman’s voice said from the darkness beyond the light cast by the wagon’s lanterns. A woman and a man were approaching, the elders that had been holding up most of the discussion of plans with Nirlyn earlier. My grandparents. They looked not much older than me but they had this air of experience and wisdom to them and their eyes were misty as they seemed to look at me longer than was necessary Then my grandmother smiled and said, “We will introduce you to everyone on the road, Kaelyn. We do not wish to overstay our welcome in Evalis so we should move swiftly. Your wagon will be following ours, Vesha.”

I nodded, unable to speak and uncertain of what else to do. Then, after we took one last long look at one another, my grandparents turned and left. Vesha was still holding my hand and gave it a gentle squeeze before letting go to take the reins. Moments later the caravan was on our way out of the secluded forest glade and making our way toward the road that would take us southward and away from the capital of Evalis.