They approached Linna’s wagon together. Ethan rapped his knuckles on the wood several times and stepped back to wait for a response. There was a rustle from within the wagon. Several seconds later, Linna’s head poked out from the tarp.

“Can I help you?” She asked politely.

Jasper had to admit that the girl would have difficulty blending in as a mainlander. He hadn’t paid attention to it before, but her voice had enough of an accent to stick out to anyone looking for it. Her brown eyes had a distinct slant and her skin was tanned darker than that of most mainlanders due to exposure to the sun from voyages.

Jasper walked up to the edge of the wagon. Linna’s head was a good bit higher up than he was, so the Vision had to crane his neck up to look at her.

“No,” Jasper said.

Linna blinked and drew back slightly in confusion. Ethan rolled his eyes and stepped forward, extending his hand in greeting to the baffled woman.

“My name is Jackson, and this is Jill. We’re here to-”

“Sorry, I’m not interested. Please tell your boss that I don’t want to buy any rugs, and the endless solicitation is getting annoying,” Linna said.

She pulled back, disappearing within the wagon. Jasper stared at the tarp in disbelief, his mouth forming a small o shape. He jerked a thumb over at the cart and send a sideways glance at Ethan.

“Did she just call me a rug salesman?”

“Oh, wonderful,” Ethan muttered. The swordsman took several steps back and positioned himself behind a wagon as an impressive string of curses flowed nonstop out of Jasper’s mouth. He carried on for an entire minute before finally running out of breath.

Linna’s head slowly emerged from between the tarp flaps. Jasper was hunched over panting, but he straightened his back in a vain attempt to hide his exhaustion when he saw she was watching.

“I’m here at the request of Mephilla,” Jasper said. “I’m not a damned rug salesman.”

“I gathered that from your…impressive vocabulary,” Linna agreed. “I don’t think a rug salesman would know half of those words. And do you mean Melinda?”

“Potato, tomato,” Jasper said, waving his hand dismissively. “The lady wants me to teach you how to be a Vision.”

Linna froze. She peered closer at Jasper with a small frown. The Vision’s eye twitched slightly, but he didn’t say anything. Linna rocked back on her heels and chewed her bottom lip.

“You don’t look like a Vision,” she said.

Jasper’s features tightened. He raised an eyebrow and gestured to himself aggressively.

“And what do you expect a Vision to look like?”

“I don’t know… maybe more like him?” Linna pointed over to Ethan, who was making his way back over toward them. The swordsman paused as Jasper turned to look at him, then shrugged and walked the rest of the way over.

“Well, he’s not a Vision. I am,” Jasper said through gritted teeth. Linna shrugged, but she didn’t look too convinced.

“I’ve seen a Vision before, and he was a lot more intimidating than you are,” Linna said.

A small smirk played across Ethan’s face. Jasper prodded the taller man in the side before returning his attention to Linna. He lifted a hand to the sky, and a pillar of earth formed under him, raising him up until he was looking down at the woman.

“Does this convince you?” He asked.

“Hmm. I’m not sure,” Linna said, a smirk flickering across her face. “Can you do anything cooler?”

“I can blow your wagon up,” Jasper offered.

“You know, I think I believe you,” Linna said. She climbed out of the wagon and offered Jasper her hand with a wry smile.

“Let’s start over. I’m Linna. No surname. I’m sorry for calling you a rug salesman. They’re ridiculously persistent and have already dropped by twice today.”

“Apology accepted,” Ethan said, stepping in before Jasper could say anything. “Before we continue, could we move to a more private place? This might take some time.”

“Oh, of course!” Linna said, stepping aside and pulling the tarp open to reveal the inside of her wagon. “Please come inside.”

The inside of Linna’s wagon was plain. There was a straw bed with a green blanket at the far end of it. Wooden crates lined much of the wall space, and Linna’s backpack rested near the entrance. Linna pushed some of the boxes out of the way and gestured for them to sit.

Once they had all settled down, Jasper scratched his chin in thought for a few moments. Linna watched him silently, her dark eyes scanning him intrusively as she waited for the short Vision to talk.

“What do you know about being a Vision?” Jasper finally asked when he realized that the woman fully willing to sit there forever.

“Not much,” Linna admitted. “It’s got something to do with having faith in yourself.”

Jasper and Ethan both flinched. Linna looked taken aback at their reaction.

“Did I say something bad? I’m sorry.”

“Not faith in yourself,” Jasper said. “That’s a whole new problem.”

“Visions draw their power from having faith in something. There is a certain rare type of Vision that draws power from faith in themselves. They’re incredibly dangerous and we’ve had some unfortunate encounters with them,” Ethan explained.

Jasper stood up and started pacing around the small wagon, wringing his hands impatiently. He stopped behind Linna, forcing her to crane her neck so she could see him.

“There are two main things you need to do in order to call yourself a Vision,” Jasper said, holding up two fingers. “First, you need to figure out what your vision is. And second, you need to believe in it.”

“My vision?”

“What you have faith in,” Ethan said helpfully.

“Ah. How am I supposed to figure out what it is?” Linna asked.

“You don’t know?” Jasper asked in shock. “It should be obvious. Something you’re suddenly finding especially important. Ridiculously important.”

There was a knock on the wood post at the back of the wagon they were in. Jasper frowned and looked back at the tarp as someone impatiently cleared their throat from behind it. The disguised gremlin made his way over to the tarp and peered out of it. A short man with sandy yellow hair stood at the foot of the wagon. A wicker basket nearly the size of his body was slung over his back and packed full of wrapped goods. He wrung his hands as he waited for Jasper to say something.