Sorry this one is shorter than the other chapters

It's almost one, Ludwig and I were given packs with food and clothes by Fara and Tara, who also showed us where the stable Gilda was at.

I notice that they took the time to saddle Gilda up and groom and feed her. She seems very happy to be pampered, especially after that horrid three-day journey where it was basically nonstop galloping for her, the poor girl.

"We made sure to get her all ready and rested for your journey to the capitol," Fara says, bringing her over to us.

"Thank you, she seems much better than she did a couple days ago," I say as I stroke her snout. Her fur is so much softer. Whatever these mages did to her, I'm sure it made her a much happier horse.

"She's all ready for your long journey, and we made sure to pack a lot of little treats for her to keep her happy," Tara says, patting a bag hanging on the saddle.

"You two should be on your way," The two sisters say together, handing the reins to Ludwig. "Don't want to be late," they finish.

They send us on our way to meet Arthur at the front of the infirmary. We see him there waiting, on top of a beautiful white horse with silver speckles, all saddled up and ready to go. He looks over at us, and smiles as we approach; Ludwig gets onto Gilda without hesitation.

I looked up at Arthur as he smirked at me.

"Glad you two made it on time," He says, most of his attention on me. "If you'd like, poppet, you can ride with me," He says, subtly winking at me. I feel flustered as I shake my head.

"That's ok…" I say, as I get on Gilda behind Ludwig and hold onto him. "And my name is Alfred, not poppet," I murmur under my breath. I don't know if Arthur heard it or not.

"Well, let's be off then," Arthur announces, taking the lead, his horse at a mid-paced canter. Ludwig and I follow along beside and slightly behind him on Gilda. Arthur leads us down a dirt road. Traveling on a path is much better than weaving through a forest on a frantic horse.

As we ride, I catch Arthur frequently glancing back at me and I'm not sure what to make of it. It makes me blush and feel all flustered, but it also makes me uncomfortable. What's with this guy? Why is he so strange? And crap… Does he here what I'm thinking? Is he reading my mind right now?

He looks back at me again with a smirk and mouths a 'yes.' I sigh and try to clear my head of any thoughts. Really, it was an invasion of privacy, him reading my thoughts. He could at least ask first or something.

"If I asked first it wouldn't be fun anymore, poppet," Arthur says, not even looking at me.

"My name is Alfred," I mumble.

Ludwig grunts, obviously annoyed. "Stop reading his mind," He says coldly. It really feels like Ludwig is reaching his breaking point, like he's going to lose his temper soon.

"You're no fun," Arthur says, but that's all he says and for the rest of the trip, until we stop for the night, is silent.

"We'll have to camp outside tonight, but tomorrow night we should be near a town where we can find an inn," Arthur says, getting off his horse and guiding it to a tree to tie it up for the night. Ludwig and I do the same, bring Gilda to the same tree so she can rest for the night.

"I'll build a fire," Ludwig tells us and starts collecting sticks. I go into that pack on Gilda's saddle and pull out an apple for her. I think about grabbing a second one for Arthur's horse, but I'm not sure if I'm allowed. I look over at Arthur who is busy doing… something weird. What is he doing?

"I'm putting up a magical barrier to protect us while we sleep." He says not even looking at me. I sigh, annoyed.

"Can you not read my mind, please? It's an invasion of privacy!" I say exasperated. Seriously, what was up with this guy?

"If that's what you want, poppet," He says cockily. I groan, grabbing a second apple and giving it to Arthur's horse anyway, whether he minds or not.

"My name is Alfred," I insist, turning my back to him to pet Gilda. It's best if I just ignore Arthur, I think.

The mage doesn't say anything else to me, and I glad. I look to see if Ludwig is anywhere near and see that he's back with a pile of sticks, ready to make a fire. He starts setting everything up. When he gets to the point of getting out his flint to actual light it, Arthur walks over and points his finger at it.

"Allow me," He says, muttering a word, I'm guessing it's a spell of some sort, and sparks come out of his finger, lighting the fire. My eyes widen, that was so amazing! I've never actually seen magic before, only heard stories. Ludwig doesn't seem as impressed, he just roles his eyes.

I turn my attention to the horses again, not wanting Arthur to see my amazement. He'd probably get all coy and cocky and say something stupid like 'you like that, poppet? Well there's more spark where that comes from.' Or something like that.

I here Ludwig and Arthur moving around, getting things out of their packs, probably setting up camp for the night. I grab mine and go over to help. Ludwig is setting up a place to sleep with some blankets Fara and Tara packed for us. I see Arthur doing something similar.

I begin to set up my bed next to Ludwig's.

"You could sleep next to me, love, I'll keep you warm tonight," Arthur says smirking. I blush and look away. What was with him and all these pet names for me?

"I'm fine over here," I say, sitting down on my 'bed' and grabbing some food from my pack to eat for supper.

Ludwig stays next to me, eating his own food and staring at the fire. Arthur pulls out a book as he eats an apple. Hopefully he won't try to read my mind if he's focusing on his book.

When I finish my food, I don't really feel like just sitting her in awkward silence.

"I'm going to bed," I say, getting under my blanket and snuggling it around me. It doesn't take long for Arthur and Ludwig to follow suit and in no time, we're all asleep.

That first night was extremely awkward. I couldn't really sleep.

I just kept thinking about everything that had happened to me in the past few days. I might never see my family again. I'll never know if Matthew made it to Baehlin alright or how he's doing at his training. Is my mother all right? Did my father survive the attack on the village? Is Emma alive? Did Lars protect her like my mother said he would? Are Padget and the tailor shop all right?

Oh god… I'm really alone now, aren't I? All I have left from my old life is Ludwig and I'm not even sure if he likes me that much… Still, him and me have to stick together. He's now the closest thing I have to a family.

I ended up not being able to sleep at all, I must have laid there for hours just thinking. I decide to just get up, before both Ludwig and Arthur were up. I quietly packed my things, so as not wake either of them up and grabbed an apple to eat for breakfast. I go over to Gilda and Arthur's horse, they're both asleep as well, so I sit under the tree they're tied to.

It's very early. The sun is rising right now. As I watch it, I eat my apple. I feel something nudge my head. I look over and smile, laughing softly. It's Arthur's horse. I stand up and my hands go to pet his snout and his main. He's such a beautiful horse. All snowy white with little flecks of silver all over. A horse this lovely must've cost a lot of coin.

"I didn't purchase him. He was a gift," I look behind me and see Arthur standing there, now awake and reading my mind.

"Argen was given to me by the Grand Diviner when I was sixteen. All the apprentices receive horses, which look just like Argen when they reach that age. That's the age where we are allowed to leave the Hall, but only with permission from the Grand Diviner herself," Arthur explains, standing next to me.

"He really is beautiful. He's a special bread, only available to the mages of high respect," He says, stroking Agren's neck.

"Why'd you name him Argen?" I ask, it was all I could think of to say.

"In Latin, silver is argentum. I named him for the silver flecks in his coat," Arthur explains. I nod and stifle a yawn.

"You look tired, didn't you get any sleep?" He asks. I shake my head.

"I couldn't get myself to fall asleep, too many thoughts," I say shrugging. I feel Arthur's hand on my shoulder.

"Anything you'd like to talk about?" He asks, and for once there's nothing weird or fake about him. He actually seems concerned. I smile and shake my head, shrugging his hand off.

"It's alright. I'm fine," I say dismissively. "I'll go wake Ludwig, and we can get going."

I turn my back to him and suppress the urge to yawn. I go over to Ludwig's sleeping form. I didn't know it was possible, but he looks even more stoic in his sleep. I place my hand over his shoulder, squeezing it slightly and giving a gentle shake. Ludwig's eyes flutter open almost immediately. He must be a light sleeper.

"It's morning, we should get going," I tell him quietly. I look over my shoulder and see Arthur starting to pack his things together. Ludwig nods and starts to get up, Arthur looks over at him and smirks.

"Rise and shine, sleepy head. I thought you'd never wake up," He says jovially. Ludwig's mouth stiffens and he glares at Arthur. I can only imagine what sort of threats he mentally sending Arthur. They must be terrible, since I think I just saw the mage shudder slightly.

I stifle a laugh and as I do, Arthur looks over at me and gives me this…. Strange smile. I quirk my brow at him, giving him a confused look; he just continues to smile before looking away to finish packing. I go and grab my pack, going over to where Gilda and Argen stood. I got out an apple for each of them, they would need the energy if they would be going practically all day. They eagerly eat the apples up and I stroke Gilda and Argen's snouts while I wait for my companions.

I hear them bickering about something, but I don't really listen close enough to understand what they're saying. But I assume its probably Ludwig telling Arthur to stop reading his mind and Arthur saying some smart ass comment in reply. I don't really know either of them very well but…

… They're so predictable.

Ludwig comes up to me and attaches our packs to Gilda. Out of the corner of my eye I can see Arthur doing the same to Argen.

Before Arthur has the chance to say anything flirtatious and offer to let me ride with him, Ludwig grabs me around my torso and lifts my light figure, placing me on Gilda. I blush out of embarrassment and scrunch up my face. I can hear Arthur laughing, most likely at my expense as Ludwig gets on behind me.

Before I can question why he's placed us in this position again, he speaks.

"Try to get some sleep. I can tell you didn't get any last night," He explains. I nod and silently curse him for being so observant.

I don't want to be a burden to Ludwig. I don't want him to feel like he has to take care of me.

The next few days of travel go on like it did the first day. It would be awkward silence with the occasional flirty or cocky comment from Arthur, followed by an irritated grunt from Ludwig. I decided it would just be best if I didn't say anything.

It was our last night of traveling and we were thankfully in a small city for the night, so Arthur checked us into an inn for the night. It would be nice to sleep in a bed again after four sleepless nights on the ground.

The only sleep I've gotten this whole trip is just a few hours while riding on Gilda. Thankfully Ludwig was careful to make sure I wouldn't fall off in my sleep.

Even though I'm not sick anymore, I still have this horrible feeling in my stomach. It makes it hard for me to feel happy or even fake happiness. All I've been feeling lately is gloomy and melancholic.

And I'm not stupid, I know it's because I have no idea what's happening with my family. Not knowing if they're dead or alive is killing me. And knowing that I will most likely never see them again makes it even worse.

I just want to feel my mother's arms hold me tightly. I want my father's large, calloused to clap me on the shoulder as he laughs boomingly at something I've said. I want to play knights with Matthew again, like we did when we were small.

I want that familial love and comfort back again. I want to feel like I've got a home with people I love.

Mother said to make a new life, a happier one here in Varlera, and to never look back… But I don't think that's possible. Not when there's a hole in the shape of my family in my heart.

"Stop reading my mind!"

I hear Ludwig's voice coming from the other room, he and Arthur are probably bantering again. I walk closer to the wall and lean against it so I'm able to hear what's going on.

I know it's not polite to ease drop, but if things get out of hand, I should know so I can go over and break it up. Arthur and Ludwig usually stop pestering each other when I ask them to.

"But its so much fun, and I'm bored," Arthur says, his voice slightly muffled since he's not yelling like Ludwig.

"Maybe I'll go find Alfred, I'm sure I can find some way to entertain myself with him," The mage says, and I can practically hear the smirk on his lips. My face flushes red. Seriously, what was with Arthur and his weird fascination with me? Ludwig is most likely sending a death glare at the mage right now.

"I swear, if you touch him..." Ludwig says, his voice trailing off, but the threat in his words still evident through his tone.

"What makes you think that?" Arthur asks, pretending he's offended. Ludwig lowers his voice a bit.

"I don't need to read minds to know what you're thinking," He says. I furrow my brows, my entire face scrunching up as it darkens in color. Now seems like a good time to stop this fight. I quickly rush over to the room they're in, not even knocking as I enter the room. Arthur looked as if he was about to say something, but both men stopped what they were doing the moment I entered.

I stood there awkwardly in the doorway as they stared at me, obviously waiting for me to say something. I swallow hard to buy some time before I say anything.

"Uh… I was going to head down to the tavern to get dinner," I say, thankful I managed to not stutter nervously.

"Do either of you want to come with? I'm starving, haha," I laugh in an attempt to lighten the mood. Arthur smiles.

"I'd love to join you, love," He says, once again using one of his terms of endearments instead of my name. He gives Ludwig a look before returning his gaze to me. Ludwig glares.

"I'll come too," he says sternly. I smile and nod.

"Great! Let's go," I say as I turn to leave, knowing they'll both follow me as I walk down to the tavern downstairs. I can't wait until this whole journey is over with. I really don't get why Arthur and Ludwig can't get along.

It's a good thing we'll reach Ciserio tomorrow. Then I won't have to deal with Arthur and Ludwig fighting because we'll probably part ways. Arthur will go back to whatever it is he does as an apprentice and Ludwig and I will start a new life, wether we stick together or not, I'm not sure. I hope we do since he's the only thing I have left from my old life.

It's weird but… I think I'll sort of… miss Arthur.