“You often meet with companions who walk the same road at unexpected times.” - Old folk saying.

“If I wouldn’t be a bother,” replied Calais with a firm nod at Aideen’s question. “Over the past three years I’ve walked and visited most of the northern and central regions of the Jarldom, even visited a couple frost elf covens and helped grandpa relay some message to them. Gulski and Istria are pretty much the only regions I haven’t explored as much, and I’ve passed through the northern route to reach here, so all that’s left is to head straight west for me as well.”

“I certainly don’t mind. I’m going to take the scenic route, though, since I’m showing my apprentice around as well. Since you also took your time going around the Jarldoms, I assume that would be fine with you, right?” asked Aideen as she polished the last of the soup in her bowl, drinking deep to finish off the remaining broth.

“Indeed, Aunt Aideen. Taking the scenic route is just fine with me,” replied Calais with a nod. As Aideen had said, his main purpose for the trip had been to experience the land to begin with, so taking the scenic route back definitely suited his plans as well. That, and there was also more safety in numbers. The Jarldoms being the harsh lands that it was, there was no lack of desperate people who found themselves unable or unwilling to work hard for survival like everybody else.

With their next destination – The Jarldom of Istria – being one of the richest Jarldom thanks to the trade routes it opened to the Lichdom in the past centuries or so, its main roads were also one of the most plagued by opportunistic bandits looking for a fat haul. Despite the Jarldom’s best efforts, the roads were just too long to patrol on a constant basis, so merchants who lacked guards fell under such banditry from time to time.

“When do you plan to set off, Aunt Aideen?” asked Calais after the proprietor came and took away the empty bowls.

“I’ll be meeting my apprentice at noon today, maybe we’ll be leaving by tomorrow or the day after or so. I wanted to have her get a look over the city first,” replied Aideen. “It’s been well over a century since I last visited here so I can’t exactly show her around, if you get my meaning.”

“If you want, I can show her around instead, Aunt,” replied Calais with an understanding nod. “I’ve been in town for the past two weeks, so I’ve taken my time to go around and see the sights worth seeing in that time. Well, at least the ones people suggested to me, that is.”

“Sounds like a plan. We still have a few hours to spare before the meeting time, got any suggestions on what to do?”

“I presume Aunt would want to wait until we gathered with your apprentice for lunch, so if you don’t mind, I would like to restock my supplies for the trip home. I had been planning to do that anyway.”

“Works for me. I have extra supplies with me, but since both Celia and I are Unliving, we didn’t bring that much in extras.”

*******************************

Later that day, after a brief bout of shopping – Calais mainly bought extra rations for the trip, as he already had most of his travel necessities sorted out otherwise – Aideen brought Calais with her as she headed towards the meeting spot she had agreed upon with Celia. It was easy to notice the younger unliving woman, given her dark brown skin in the tide of pale-skinned locals, and they met up without any issue.

“Celia, this is Calais. He’s my niece’s younger brother-in-law, happened to run into him yesterday. He’ll be joining us for the trip back home to the Lichdom,” said Aideen as she introduced Calais to Celia and vice versa. “Calais, this is Celia. She’s an apprentice I took under my wing in Alcidea around eight decades ago. You two are around the same age, so try to get along with each other.”

“Nice to meet you, Miss Celia,” said Calais as he extended a hand for a handshake.

“Likewise, Mister Calais,” replied Celia as she shook his hand with a smile.

“You two still feel like sightseeing some more? Or should we leave later this afternoon?” asked Aideen to the two after they introduced themselves to each other. “For what it’s worth, I’m fine either way, so it’s up to the two of you.”

“Mind if I show Miss Celia around the city while we get to know each other a bit more today, Aunt?” asked Calais. “We can depart by early morning tomorrow, would be better than barely getting a few hours of time to travel from the city before dark, I think. We wouldn’t reach any nearby villages in that short a time.”

Aideen looked at Celia, and the younger woman gestured that it sounded like a good suggestion to her. In return, she gave a nod to Calais. “All right, we’ll do it that way, then. You two have fun for the night. Meet up here tomorrow morning then?”

“Sure thing, Miss Aideen,” replied Celia with a nod. “You’re going to be out on your own again tonight, then?”

“It’ll be a pretty long trek ahead of us,” replied Aideen with a smile on her face. “Might as well get my fun while we’re still in town, since it’ll be a long way over to the next one. Make sure you two don’t overdo it tonight and end up oversleeping, you hear? We’d be going out early in the morning tomorrow, so don’t be late.”

“Oh, and don’t worry about Calais,” she added as she addressed Celia. “He’s pretty much harmless. Good kid, but a bit lacking in the experience department in some issues. I don’t think you’d need to keep him out of trouble or the likes. He should be more than wise enough to do so on his own.”