It was almost midday the next day when the troupe’s caravan reached Aikan’s Crossing, where the road we were traveling northeast crossed the river once again near where the Afshan River and one of its larger tributaries met. Aikan’s Crossing was actually two towns, one on each side of the tributary, just north of the far wider and more turbulent Afshan River, and travelers and goods crossed the river via a ferry service. We had to pay a toll for each wagon to board one of those ferries, but it was the only way to make the crossing for now.

Master Nirlyn said that the individual tolls were not truly that expensive and would have been even less had we been traveling on foot. The wagons and the kirgen all took up quite a bit of space, though, and on these ferries, space was at a premium. A bridge was being planned to connect the towns on the opposite banks, one that would allow water traffic to pass through, but it would likely be some time before that was completed.

The twin towns of Aikan’s Crossing were a large trading hub for western Haydin that sent goods upriver (both northward along the tributary and westward along the main branch of the Afshan) into Nalean and even as far as the eastern reaches of Kalidar. Were we heading north, back into Nalean, we could have followed the road along the tributary or gotten someone carrying goods upriver to Nalean’s capital to ferry us for a price, but we were heading eastward toward Derevik and the Sea of Storms. That left us with two similar options.

The first, and slower of the two options, would be to take the main road eastward from here. The road was well-traveled and patrolled, passing through the forests and plains of Kalidar, but we would not see the Afshan River again until we reached Derevik. This would take close to a fortnight of travel, and that was if the weather stayed nice and we did not run into any surprises.

The other, faster option was to try to hire someone to take us downriver to reach the same destination. It would likely only take two or three days that way, but finding a barge that was heading downriver and not already filled to capacity with goods from Nalean might be troublesome. Still, by the time we were ferried over to the town on the east bank and made our way through the town to the outskirts, it was late afternoon, and my grandparents decided to stop and set up our camp there.

They planned to go into town and to the docks, to speak with some of the captains there. Should they not be able to get someone to take us down the river, we would only lose a couple of hours of travel along the road. If they did manage to find a captain who was willing to do so, we could shave more than a week off our journey.

Once our camp was properly set up, my grandparents left for the docks to see to their task while the rest of us were left to spend the remainder of the afternoon and early evening as we wished. Shava and Xulyin took most of the kids into town to explore and possibly pick some pockets, though both of them would mostly be watching over the younger kids and acting as distractions, if necessary, since both were fairly conspicuous. My cousin had her armor and Fal’hevar, making her stand out from the other Voyager kids, and though my new aunt was dressed in Voyager clothes, she was an Undine and bound to attract attention.

They even took Kalara with them, both promising to guard my daughter with their lives. I was a bit uncertain at first, but my daughter was wearing her glamour and would leave her totem and illusory Faerie wings in our wagon, leaving her looking like any other Voyager child. She was still young and learning to pick pockets, but she could at least help serve as a distraction if needed, and she wanted to ‘play’ with Cylia and the twins, especially once Shava promised sweets afterward for good behavior. Just in case, I instructed Zaiya to follow them from the air and keep an eye out for trouble.

As for myself and the other Bards, we went to look for a good place to busk and to explore the town a little. I had my new pipes and my fiddle with me, and once again, I was without my glamour, and Selice was acting as my twin. As we walked down the streets, I held hands with Vesha, talked with my ‘sister’ and fellow Bards, and occasionally we stopped to look at the wares being sold by various vendors.

I showed more interest in looking at the various shops and wares than my companions did, probably because I was the only one of us who had not been here before. This was familiar territory to most of the troupe since they wintered in Derevik and usually had to pass through the twin towns at least twice a year during their travels. To me, though, it was a new place, even if the wares being sold were mostly things that I had seen in other markets and other towns that we had traveled through.

The market was not large by any stretch of the imagination, though there were a few interesting things I saw, such as the timekeepers. Those were expensive, though, and Vesha told me that I could likely find better ones and pay less for them in Derevik. In fact, the same went for most of the things we saw in the market.

The others told me that once we arrived in Derevik, I would see true wonders. As a trade hub, it dwarfed Aikan’s Crossing, and even Hindra, the capital of Kalidar, supposedly paled in comparison. Not long after I was done browsing, we found a place that had a lot of traffic and enough space for us to set up with our instruments and for Selice to dance.

We spent the rest of the afternoon plying our trade until Master Nirlyn decided that it was time for us to return to our camp for the evening meal. Korine and I had taken turns singing for our group and playing whatever instruments best suited the music we were playing. We both wanted as much voice practice as we could get, and sometimes, when I was not singing, I joined Selice in dancing as well.

We made some decent coin, not nearly as much as we would make in an afternoon in Hindra or another large city, but respectable for a relatively small town. The kids had a similar fortune with their efforts, though they had returned to camp a good while before we did. Xulyin got a lot of attention and served well as a distraction for the children while they cut purse strings and picked the pockets of those who looked like they could afford to lose a little.

Even Kalara had managed to snatch a purse and hide it in her long skirt, like she had been taught while playing mark tag with the other kids. She looked so proud of herself as she showed it to me, and I quickly praised her and gave her hugs and kisses. I also rewarded Zaiya for keeping an eye on the kids from above. Nothing notable happened, and she did not need to dive in and cause a disturbance to cover the kids’ escape as I feared, but I felt better with her watching over the little ones, my cousin, and Xulyin for me.

As we ate dinner, my grandfather sadly informed us of the bad news. “Unfortunately,” he began, “there are currently no barges going downriver that have the capacity or interest to grant us passage. We will check again in the morning, but we should all resupply while we’re here, in the likely case that we will have to take the road.”

The news was not unexpected. In fact, it would have been a very pleasant surprise if there was anyone who would be willing and able to ferry a troupe of Voyagers to the capital, even one as small as ours. So, plans were made for some of us to supply our wagons with food and other necessities for the road in the morning after breakfast, while my grandparents went back to the docks to try again, and the rest of us broke camp and got ourselves ready to leave. If our two Elders could manage to gain passage for us, we would be ready to leave when the boat was; otherwise, we would be on the road again by midmorning.

I was a little disappointed that we would likely not be able to take the faster route along the river as Seline gave me and Shava our evening dance lessons. My dance teacher, and sometimes twin, telling me that I was almost a proper dancer now, cheered me up a little, though. We had gotten a few new crystals on my Tien’jin to light up and make their sweet ringing tones as well, and being able to add new notes to my growing knowledge of the Tien’jin improved my mood immensely as well.

The next morning, after my training with Vesha under Sharai’s watchful presence and a quick breakfast, I joined Selice, Glimma, Tanna, Zenna, Aunt Sivelle, and Mara in buying supplies for our expected trip eastward along the road while the others finished their morning meals and began cleaning up and packing up camp. Since we were hoping to be done with our task as swiftly as possible, I did not even bother to remove my armor or weapons or cast a glamour before we left camp.

While there were a few villages, including one within a day’s travel, and even a proper town along the road, it made sense to buy most of our supplies in Aikan’s Crossing to take advantage of the variety available. We went about our task swiftly, purchasing supplies that we were running low on. Mostly, those supplies consisted of basics like flour, grain, various hard-to-find herbs, and the like. We had plenty of fish still, and it would keep a while now that it was smoked, but we planned on getting a few other things while on the road.

By the time we had returned with our shopping baskets, all filled to overflowing, the others had packed everything up for travel, and my grandparents had returned from their task as well. Sadly, there were still no boats going eastward along the river that could or would accommodate a Voyager caravan, even one as small as ours. With that in mind, we set out on the road again, hoping to make good time and maybe reach Solhaven by nightfall.

I was told that Solhaven was a friendly hamlet along the eastward road that usually welcomed our troupe and the news and entertainment that we brought with us. It probably helped that we never stole from any of the people there. It was a small hamlet after all, only around thirty to forty people lived there, and they all lived off the land and did not have much coin to steal. In fact, the troupe often stopped at Solhaven and a few hamlets like it, to spend some money and help them as we could.

Solhaven in particular had several farms and sheep pastures, so we were planning to stop there to make camp that night, if possible, and buy some mutton, eggs, and vegetables. We did not make it there that night, though. A summer storm rolled in just after midday and slowed our progress enough that we had to find a place to camp that would give decent shelter for the kirgen against the fierce rain and wind.

The storm lasted all through the evening and did not cease its fury until sometime in the middle of the night. The next morning dawned chilly and damp, and it was a while before we got underway again. Master Nirlyn and my grandparents thought that we would make it to Solhaven by midday, but we saw signs of it by mid-morning.

I was a little confused about why our wagon came to a stop in the middle of the road, and Korine and Vesha seemed similarly befuddled until Master Nirlyn poked her head into the wagon from the small door behind the driver’s bench. “Kaelyn, Vesha, we need t’ talk t’ ya outside,” she informed us with a dark look on her face.

My intended and I looked at one another in confusion for a moment before nodding and stepping out the rear door of the wagon and heading around to the driver’s bench in front. By this time, it looked like most of the adults in the troupe were gathered, and they all looked as grim as our Master did. I was immediately on guard and asked, “What is it?”

For a moment, nobody said a word, and then Master Nirlyn gestured to the road ahead of us. At first, I thought that the road might be blocked by some fallen trees as a result of last night’s storm, but there was no such blockage that I could see. Then I looked at the sky.

Several thick plumes of black smoke stretched skyward ahead of us like ominous fingers stretching out to try to grasp the sun and hide it from view. Vesha let out a small gasp beside me, and her voice trembled a bit as she began to ask, “Is that…”

“Solhaven,” Hagen agreed with a grim expression. “Or at least, that’s about where it should be. That’s too much smoke for my comfort. Mara and I were going to go scout ahead, but we thought it might be faster if the two of you go by air instead and get a bird’s-eye view.”

“If those people need help, then you two can be there faster than our wagons can get there,” Mara added. “I’ll go with you in owl form, but I won’t have any of my gear with me, so I’ll probably have to come to update the rest of the troupe while the two of you help those who need it.”

“We’ll follow as fast as we can push the kirgen, but we’re probably still at least an hour away, even at our swiftest,” Joak, our Beastmaster, grumbled.

I nodded, not blaming them for being worried. Those plumes of smoke were giving me a bad feeling, bad enough that I summoned my armor and weapons to me as I said, “What are we waiting around for? Let us hurry.”