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Elias stared for a moment more, then let out a sigh. He ran his fingers through his dark, silky hair. “I do not understand you, Aurelia of Rimor,” he said quietly.

“Right back at you, Elias of Nowhere.”

He let out a laugh, the sound illuminating my soul. I couldn’t understand why he thought he was a bad person. In the deepest depths of my being, I knew he wasn’t. Felt it. He only proved me right when he saved me from the river, and when he retrieved my pack to help save Nadia.

With that, we made our way back to Magda and Nadia. The sisters watched as we strode back into camp. “We will take you to Chatus,” I said to them, and they both smiled.

Nadia shot up and embraced me. “Thank you!” she squealed. Then she let go of me and ran to Elias, her older sister warily watching from her seat. Magda still seemed nervous around us even after we saved her sister. Or maybe it was just Elias who made her nervous. Nadia squeezed him tightly, and the look of pure discomfort on his face made me laugh.

Magda stood and put a hand on my shoulder, and I turned to face her. “You do not need to do this for us,” she said to me quietly. “Ifgoing to Chatus is too much of an inconvenience…”

“It’s okay,” I stopped her. “It is no inconvenience.” The lie easily escaped my lips.

She smiled at me and I gave her a genuine smile in return. “Thank you,” she whispered.

I bowed my head in response. The four of us rested a little longer before packing our things to prepare for the journey to our new destination.

CHAPTER TEN

Nadia was very talkative and upbeat for a child who almost just poisoned herself to death. Throughout our long hikes towards Chatus, she described all of her favorite things in great detail. Her favorite flowers are roses, but not the red ones. She liked the white ones. Her favorite food was chocolate, of course, and she was very excited to get to Chatus so she could buy some.

“Why are you traveling to Chatus anyway?” I asked her and Magda out of curiosity.

“For shopping!” Nadia squealed with enthusiasm.

Magda smiled at her sister, then gave her own answer. “We were traveling with a group so we could pick up a decent amount of supplies for our village.”

I almost stopped in my tracks. “Village?” I asked her.

“Yes,” she replied. “We have a small village behind the mountains between Monuvia and Sprath. Sprath is closer, but Chatus has thebest supplies.”

“They have everything you could think of! We can get everything we need all in one spot, it’s amazing!” Nadia chimed in.

I looked at Elias, who shrugged. “Which kingdom is it a part of then?” I asked Magda.

Nadia answered. “We aren’t part of any kingdom,” she said boastfully.

“We keep to ourselves, mostly,” Magda continued. “Away from the politics of the Four Kingdoms. It’s peaceful.”

“Politics?” I muttered. As far as I was concerned, the Four Kingdoms were at peace. There hadn’t been war in well over a century. Besides the other three being wary of Sprath, the kingdoms all got along peacefully.

“War can brew at any moment,” Magda shrugged. “That’s what our chieftain says, anyway. We prefer to stay away from it all, away from the possibility.”

I did not know what to make of this. All my life, I had been taught every detail known about the Four Kingdoms. Now I learned that not only may there be a fifth, but that there are even villages that exist independently between them.

“Is the village a secret?” I couldn’t help but ask, wondering if this was public knowledge that I was just never taught.

Magda sighed. “Sort of,” she stated, sounding unsure. “The chieftain of our village does not welcome outsiders, but we were never really told not to tell anyone it exists. I think most of us choose not to disclose it, though. To maintain our safety and peace.”

I gawked at her. If I had to guess, those in Sprath probably knew this village existed, or if other such villages did as well. Another secret they have likely kept to themselves to exploit in the future.

I composed myself. “Well, your secret is safe with me,” I assured her. Magda smiled in response.

I looked forward to see Nadia now keeping pace with Elias, nagging him again with questions about his favorite things. He would answer her with uninteresting, one-word responses. I laughed at the thought of someone else now pestering him for information about himself besides me.

“Can I ask you something?” Magda whispered to me, breaking my thoughts. I nodded. “Did he…hurt you?” She gestured towards my bandaged arms, some spots showing small bits of blood that had soaked through. The blood wasn’t fresh though, as the wounds were healing nicely, although they looked rough. I looked up from them and could have sworn I saw Elias slightly tense as if he could hear her. But he certainly couldn’t have heard the whisper from our distance behind him and Nadia.

I shook my head. “No, on the contrary. He saved me.” I began to silently reminisce about feeling his warm arms pulling me out of the vicious river just in time.