Chapter 107 - Getting Underway

A knock on the door of our compartment caused my head to pop up with a start, smacking my head right into Eira's knee, which elicited a curse from me.

"Damn, always at the best part! I was right there!" Eira whined from beneath me with an adorably angry pout.

"Who is it?" I stammered rapidly, trying to get my clothes back on, handing Eira her own displaced garments. How the hells we got all these clothes everywhere so fast is beyond me.

"Hastera Caravan Services, just need to go over a few things before we depart. Protocol says we have to have you both sign a few things." A voice that just sounded tired said.

"Give me just a, Eira stop it, just a moment! Just putting some, Eira not now woman, some stuff away thank you!" I said while Eira continued to touch me playfully as we dressed.

"Uh huh." The voice said, acting as if all this was the most routine thing in the world.

I smoothed down my blouse, made sure everything was secure, and checked to make sure Eira was decent, which thankfully she was, full face blush notwithstanding.

I took a deep breath and opened the door. Standing at the bottom of the little steps were a man and a woman, humans, standing near a Ptarm in full summer plumage, which reminded me a lot of tree bark rather than the snowy white of winter. The man was glad in the red armor of the Scarlet Aegis, while the woman wore a more formal-looking uniform which reminded me of the administration office staff back at the school.

The woman was shorter than me by a little bit, with little round glasses, blonde hair, and a red cap, which matched her uniform and the man's armor. The man was a beast of a human. Tall, with a full beard, hard eyes, and scars across his face. He has led a hard life, and looked more tired from it than anything else.

"Hello, sorry for the wait there," I said, managing to look properly embarrassed.

"No worries. Happens all the time." The woman said with a pleasant but practiced tone, as if she had already done this a few dozen times. "In any case, we're with the caravan team, and we just wanted to go over a few things before we leave. Just legal and safety stuff, you understand. Could we have you both step outside for just a moment?"

"Do we have to?" Eira said over my shoulder as she attempted to fix her hair.

"It's just easier to handle this all under daylight, ma'am." The woman's smile tightened a bit, with a subtle twitch of irritation. She no doubt had been dealing with travelers long enough this morning, and we weren't helping things by any stretch of the imagination.

"Your compartment could no doubt use an airing out, as well." The man stared hard at the two of us, very clearly knowing exactly what we were up to.

To my credit, I managed to look a little ashamed of myself. It was even slightly genuine.

We did as they said, climbing down the short steps to the ground.

"Thank you so much, and I do apologize for the inconvenience. My name is Marsha Langhurst, part of the Caravan operations team, and this is Gunrad Corswain, part of the security team, First, I need to check your documents. I know they checked at the gates, but this is for the Hastera side of things. We check documents ahead of time to cut down on the wait at the border crossing. I hope you understand." Marsha held out her hands.

I opened my hip satchel and pulled out my papers, while Eira did the same. The whole concept of these papers were a bit strange to me. Sure, Burgotova required passes and letters of introduction, but the Hastera Principality's requirements seemed excessive to me.

We had identification papers, complete with pictures, simplified medical information, documents about legal history with the Revenstahd guards, and so on and so forth. It had taken Eira and I a few days to get everything together. Thankfully, due to our 'meritorious service,' we got to skip final examinations and focus on doing battle with bureaucracy in all its horrific forms.

"Let's see. Alta Marchesi and Eira Medwin, travelling from Revenstahd as students on summer break. How lovely! Heading directly to Porthynys Harbor, which is an absolutely stellar choice. It looks like everything is in order on my end." She handed the papers back to us, and I tucked them away, hoping not to have to deal with all of that again.

"So, are we done, or is there something else?" Eira asked, her tone a little snippy. I mean, we had been interrupted, but there seemed to be something else behind her words. I couldn't quite put a finger on what was wrong.

"A few things. Just to make sure you're aware, you will be sharing the Caravan Carriage with a few other passengers. While you will all have your own separate compartments, we do ask you to keep any sounds to a minimum so as not to disturb your fellow travelers. Certain sounds can carry further than one would expect." She held her smile, but I could tell it was increasingly strained.

I felt my face flush. I had been far from quiet earlier.

"U-Understood. We'll do our best." I managed to stammer out. Good gods above and below, I'm half convinced my face is going to burn off from this blush.

"Pressing on, we'll be stopping twice daily. Once for a midday meal, and again for a nighttime meal. We will be stopped overnight so the Ptarms and crew can get some rest, and will begin again after breakfast in the morning. Your tickets cover the cost of food, so you will be joining other passengers at that service tier." Marsha continued.

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"I've heard the food is really good too." Eira said to me, her gruff demeanor melting back to her earlier excitement.

"We like to think so. Now, to quickly cover some of the more blunt necessities of the journey. When we're stopped, we also have specialized mobile facilities for hygienic purposes, you are free to utilize. If you need to relieve yourself, please ring the little bell in your compartment, and a Scarlet Aegis member will escort you and return you to your carriage. We have plenty of water available stored under your seats in the compartment, magically chilled. Mr. Corswain will fill you in on security information." She stepped aside for the man.

He was dressed in a red painted breastplate, with matching gauntlets and armored boots. He wielded a wicked-looking polearm that was like a scarier-looking halberd. He wore the armor over a red long coat that I had to imagine was warm as all the hells combined, unless there was some kind of enchantment underneath. Topping the entire ensemble off was some kind of tall cylindrical hat with a short brim on the front. There was a white feather on a little crest at the center of the hat tying the whole look together.

The whole thing looked equally ceremonial and functional. Clearly a uniform, but also perfectly suitable as battlefield wear. I needed to take notes for my own future outfits.

He took a standing position in front of his, his casual stance suddenly pulling up in a sort of military parade rest. He towered over both of us, which impressed me as Eira was not short by any means. He was also very broad, clearly well-muscled under all that gear. It was more than a little intimidating, to be honest.

"As she said, I'm Lance Sergeant Corswain of the Scarlet Aegis, contracted as the security unit for the Caravan. I noticed you two have authorization to wear weapons in Hastera, which is all well and good, but I want to make a few things completely plain to you two. If we encounter monsters or, more likely, bandits, you leave it to us. Only get involved if we get overwhelmed, which isn't very likely. I know you, Dungeon School youngsters, think you're the gods' gift to combat, but leave it to us. You're paying for our protection, and you're going to get it. Understood?" He glared at us hard, looking for confirmation.

We both nodded our heads, both of us shrinking a little. He had a bearing rivaling Kugarth, the orc who ran the training halls, and my own sword trainers back in my noble days. Seeing Eira similarly standing stock still and attentive surprised me, but this Corswain just had the kind of presence that made you want to stand at attention.

"Good. Let's keep it moving, Langhurst. I want to get this done before the sun gets any higher." He motioned for them to keep going. The woman continued on but Corswain stopped for a moment and turned back to look at Eira.

"Medwin, huh? Any relation?" He said brusquely.

"Nope. None at all." Eira said firmly.

Corswain narrowed his eyes a bit.

"None of my business, in any case. And it had better not become my business." He turned away and quickly marched to catch up with Langhurst.

We stood there for a moment watching them move on to the next carriage.

"Well, that was awkward and strained," I said, breaking the silence.

"You're telling me. What a mood killer, am I right?" Eira huffed, putting her hands on her hips and pouting.

"We might have to hold off on continuing till we make it to Hastera, my lovely. Which is a shame." I sighed dramatically.

She spun me around and dipped me playfully in her arms. "Oh, I will collect with interest, my sweet flame-haired paramour!"

"Uh. Sorry to interrupt, I just thought it would be neighborly to introduce myself." A voice said from behind us. Eira and I both turned our heads to face the direction of the intruder to our romantic silliness. They did a bow, hands held palm up in front of them.

The speaker was a tall, ridiculously slender elf, at least I thought they were an elf, with silver blue hair. They had that kind of ethereal look to them that made it hard to determine their gender at a glace. Which I suppose wasn't my business anyway.

Eira helped me straighten back up, and I smoothed out my clothes, again, and bowed slightly in their direction. Eira likewise bowed but held her hands out in a position I hadn't seen before, one hand in a fist and the other in an open hand.

"Well met, fellow traveler. It pleases me to see a master of magic sharing a road with me." Eira said, almost ritualistically. I really needed to ask about this. There were clearly some social cues I was completely oblivious about, and I didn't want to mess things up with Eira's family by doing some kind of idiotic faux pas.

"Ah! Another returner to Hastera, I see!" The tall elf-like person said in a similar ritualistic tone.. "And a warrior of magic no less. I shall feel safer in my travels."

Both Eira and the tall person stood and immediately relaxed.

"Formalities now being out of the way, I'd like to introduce myself. My name is Caru Gavyn, and I'm a sort of scholar, I suppose you could say. Traveling back home after researching ruins and the like, where the Kildjani and Revenstahd border lies. And you two?" Caru's voice was warm and soft. It felt like it would be too hard to hear with all the bustle around us, but it carried with zero problem.

"My name is Alta. Student. On vacation." I said, holding out my hand in greeting. Caru reached out and took it. Their touch was soft, like they had never done any real hard labor in their life. I suppose that would make a certain sense if they were a scholar. Something in the back of my mind felt uneasy, but I couldn't place a reason for it.

"Eira. Also a student. Likewise, on vacation. We've decided to have a little romantic getaway from school." Eira looked at me with a big smile.

"Ah, I completely understand. Well, like I said, I just wanted to introduce myself. I will likely be working in my half of the carriage, so we likely won't see much of each other, but politeness must never be ignored, yes?" Caru smiled and bowed again.

"Absolutely. I wish you luck with whatever you're working on, and enjoy the journey. We'll try to keep our noise to a minimum," I promised half heartedly. Anyone with a lick of sense would know that was unlikely to happen on a romantic holiday.

"You as well." The elf bowed and disappeared around the corner of the carriage.

We stood there for a moment.

"Weird vibes, yeah?" I said.

"Yeah. Really weird. Also, good gods above and below, she was a tall one. Or he? Or neither? Whatever. None of our business." Eira shrugged.

"True enough! Our business is getting to Hastera, and having a good trip. We are going to relax or so help me..." I shook my fist at the heavens.

"You know what would really help us relax?" Eira wiggled her eyebrows suggestively at me.

"I swear to the gods above and below, you are insatiable, woman!" I laughed as I wrapped my arm around her and headed back to the carriage.

"But quietly this time, beloved. We don't want to bother the neighbors." Eira chided me playfully.

"I promise nothing and less," I replied firmly, helping her back inside.

We had at least another thirty minutes to an hour before we left. Plenty of stuff two lovebirds could get up to, I suppose. Nice quiet things that wouldn't disturb the neighbors.

As if I gave half a damn.