When they had started off Amanda had thought that perhaps the town they were going to was maybe twice as far as the village. But that time came and went. Then again, and again, when her legs started burning from the long walk her father offered to let her ride on his shoulders. By that time she was so worn out she barely noticed how the shimmering lines around her moved. In fact at some point she simply fell asleep. When she woke up she decided to climb down and walk some more. Which didn’t last nearly as long as it did the first time. But she pressed on as far as she could, until finally her father called for them to stop.

When she asked why they were stopping for the night, his reply was simple, “It's the middle of the night.”

Of course Amanda hadn’t even noticed, with the warmth around them, and her eyes closed the whole time it was somewhat easy to lose track of something like that. Had she thought about it just a little bit she might have realized that with a little effort it would have been somewhat easy to tell if the sun was out or not, after all you could see the sun's light through your eyelids.

They set up a small camp, where her father and her gathered up twigs and chunks of wood that had broken free and started a small fire. Her father caught a babbit easily enough, using his invisible hands in a new way that Amanda hadn’t seen yet. They were pretty dumb. They were mostly a big lump of fur that zipped away when you chased them. Back in their village there were a bunch that got lazy and barely ran unless you chased them, this meant that the children there had made a game of it. Amanda was fairly certain they were named as they were because of the soft “Bah” sounds they made when they got excited.

Her father wasted no time in skinning his catch and cooked the meat while Amanda sat resting. They ate there, alone in some small clearing of a size that Amanda herself was ignorant of. Just hearing the sound of the insects and the wind in the trees beyond them made her creep closer to her father. Before long she curled up in front of him, and they got some sleep near the fire, the fire that dazzled her with it's motion and vibrancy until she simply passed out.

In the morning the air had chilled quite a bit, but only until her father fixed it, collecting aura up as he had before, bits of dew froze into tiny beads of ice on the tree leaves and blades of grass. Amanda distracted herself watching that as her father moved about preparing breakfast, much the same as dinner from the previous night.

As he moved away, and the shimmering bubble around him took the warmth with it the tiny beads of water solidified. The water would change shape, soft edges became harder, and the shade shifted with the change. The little warmth in the air would rush in to fill the space and slowly the tiny flecks of ice might melt into droplets again. Sometimes dripping away in the process as the blade of grass shifted at the tiny almost imperceptible motion.

It was nice to have something to distract her from the black void beyond, sitting there she peaked a few times to see the forest at a distance. They were surrounded on all sides, but really studying their surroundings required her to move her head with her eyes open, something that she wouldn’t do.

Bellies full, they set out again. As they walked they practiced numbers aloud, and while she rode on her fathers shoulders she tried to open her eyes for short spurts. But in the end it didn’t help much, always when she moved the sickness came back, it didn’t matter if her father was the one moving, or she was.

One day became two, and before Amanda knew it another week had passed. While it did Amanda wondered what incredible sights lay beyond her tiny bubble of sensation as they walked. She could have missed rivers, roads, towns, mountains, animals, so much was likely just beyond her reach, only the persistent grass, dirt and pebbles she trodden seemed endless. They had left behind the snow long ago, and the further they went the warmer the air beyond her fathers protective bubble became. Until finally they no longer even needed it.

-

Leon kept a close eye on Amanda, not simply because of her dim mood, but also because he wanted to make certain she stayed at his side. While his aura sight extended well into the trees and beyond, the forest was home to creatures that would relish the chance for an easy snack.

Leon had not for a single moment considered that she would have issues adapting to aura sight. Normally she was bright and learned quickly, always adventurous, if a bit mischievous, her curiosity usually guided her forward. Yet she felt like a wounded animal now, plodding along next to him in the slightly dampened morning.

Seeing her so despondent being the result of his own actions pained Leon more than he was willing to admit. But there was only one way forward, and he would go to any lengths to find a solution. Leon was glad that he had recalled the use of a common sea sickness cure among students. For that had given him a kinder path to walk. In the end Leon only knew one way to solve problems, it was the way he lived life, it was the way he raised Amanda. As long as they kept moving towards some destination that was good enough for him.

If only it would have been easier, but Anara knew nothing of such a draft, nor did anyone else he had found the time to ask in the village. Given time he could have waited it out, surely someone who knew the draft, or could trade would come past. But either would have taken too long by far in his mind. He would neither stand by idly and watch Amanda this way for months on end, nor would he simply let her curl up and hide from the world the way she had for that week.

His plan was simple at first, a trader had come though only a day earlier, heading south when they left. When they left home he hoped that they would have caught up to the caravan. Initially it had seemed an easy task. However while his daughter had the energy of youth, she lacked the stamina he had built over years of marching and martial practice.

Thus rather than catching up to the caravan and riding along as he usually did, they had instead been forced to travel the road just the two of them. While he had confidence in his own abilities, it was never particularly wise to travel roads alone. Which was why he was so glad that finally today a caravan came from behind them.

Leon pulled Amanda to the side of the road, and waited. While they stood there she asked him, “What's wrong?”

He put a hand on her head hoping to comfort her some, her aura sight was still quite weak, and as her only means of seeing the world he imagined that she was simply trying her best to be brave. “Nothing is wrong, there's a caravan. I’m going to speak with them.” He explained.

She seemed to cheer up a little at that, if only for a moment. He could imagine the little cogs in her head tripping to excitement at new things, but then realizing she couldn’t really see them. Just another reminder of what his actions had caused.

The caravan was making good time, they had four guards each riding on a lyzard. The long four legged scaled mounts weaved back and forth under their riders. The lyzard themselves had saddles, and a few bits of leather work strapped on to fend off obvious bite points. They were roughly four feet tall, but easily twelve feet long, probably longer if they flattened themselves out rather than holding their heads and tails up as they moved. The tips of their tails went back down, like the end of a crook. They flicked their tongues out testing the air as they approached curiously, clearly wary of potential threats, though not detecting any.

Between the guards were four wagons, two which had a curved cloth fitted over it, the other were simply flat with a tarp strapped over them to keep their contents from getting wet. Leon and Amanda had so far endured a few short showers, but it was spring so rain was a constant concern.

Each wagon had a driver, the two larger wagons had two lyzards each. While the flat wagons only had a single lyzard pulling it. He was surprised that the caravan was so small, but the more he considered it, this was probably the wrong direction for spring trade. Smart merchants and traders would be pushing north into the melted snow to make their profits, or so he considered, though he was no merchant.

Leon waved a hand at the oncoming group, “Hello!” he cried out.

A few waves returned, and soon the wagons slowed as the forward guards past Leon and his daughter.

“Isn’t this a bit far out to be traveling alone?” Asked the woman huma guard that interposed herself between Leon and a wagon.

“You are not wrong, I had hopes to catch up with a caravan leaving our village, but I’m afraid we were too slow.” He admitted.

He couldn’t help but notice the woman’s eyes looking at Amanda, appraising her.

“A refugee?” She asked simply.

“My daughter.” Leon said with a note of pride.

The guards expression flickered to one of confusion, if only for a short moment, then it was gone and she spoke again, “We’re heading south from Vanshimer, probably to one of the harbors, Synovo is the closest.”

“That matches our own destination.” Leon replied, “I’d be glad to travel with you as an additional guard if one of the merchants would be so kind as to let my daughter rest her legs, we’ve been pushing hard and I’m afraid that it's been a bit much for her.”

“A guard?” asked the man on the wagon behind the guard, “You don’t look armed to me.” He was a gobi, and as such was around four feet tall. He had a greenish brown skin, and his four fingered hands gripped the reins tightly.

Leon raised a hand, extending out his shade to an extent forming a sphere from the outside, roughly six feet across into the air above him. Sealing in the aura within, his shade pulled the aura down and compacted it into his hand, the result was not immediately obvious to those without aura sight. His shade suffused the now smaller sphere, and he lengthened it's contents, before twisting it. A process that had more to do with the aura contained, and less to do with the overall shape of it, or his shade. The result was that the spherical air sparkled as it first became spark, and then glowed as it became light.

Everyone could now distinctly see the glowing orb in his hand, and as he shrunk the sphere of aura further it's edges refined, and it became more intense to everyone's eyes as the density of the higher grade aura raised.

“I’m a Magus by trade, and retired from the legion.” Leon offered as evidence.

Everyone seemed to respond to that differently. The guards woman stiffened at the sight of it, while the merchant beamed. Amanda for her part stared in the direction of the light in his hand, though she had no real reason to do so with her eyes closed as they were. No doubt she was holding back some burning questions about what he had done because of the others around, no doubt out of shyness rather than manners.

“I for one would be glad to have a Magus to help us the rest of the way, I’d never pass up an additional guard that didn’t require pay after all.” Said the gobi merchant slyly.

Leon sighed inwardly at that, it was poor manners to not pay a guard anything, but in truth he wasn’t about to argue the point now, what was more important was that Amanda could rest after the week of constant walking, she was spending more time on his shoulders, and when they rested at night she was clearly dealing with muscle fatigue. She had to take nearly three times as many steps as Leon did, and rarely spent so much time active even when they visited the village.

The guards woman looked to Amanda one more time, then with a slightly resigned look she nodded. As she moved out of the way Leon led Amanda to the merchant’s wagon. It was of the flat variety, but there was space at the front for another rider, and the merchant shifted over slightly as Leon approached.

“You can ride on top of the wagon and rest.” Leon told Amanda, leaning down to speak with her.

Amanda just nodded her head in response, her shyness in full effect.

Leon gave Amanda a smile, hopefully bolstering her some, and then hoisted her up and patted her head, careful not to bother her two triangular ears where they poked up.

Another merchant who had pulled up alongside surprised him by speaking up, “You can ride with me.”

Leon gave the Huma woman a smile, “Thank you, I’ll take you up on that offer.”