The creak of wagon wheels set the pace for the road ahead. The Boro Trading Group kept to themselves at first, merchants muttering over numbers, laborers sprawled lazily on the flatbeds whenever the road smoothed out.
Arden sat at the rear wagon with Nyra, Rael, and Zephyra.
His eyes looked half-lidded, but he was watching everything.
"They're not exactly the lively with us," Nyra murmured, leaning on the rail.
"They're not here to chat," Arden said, his tone calm, measured. "They want herbs. We make sure they live long enough to pick them."
Rael gave a small grin. "So we're the hired muscle?"
"You're not wrong," Arden replied, gaze sweeping the treeline. "Better than wasting weeks at the ruin. We need the experience."
Hours passed quietly until the road narrowed, pulling them into the wild edges of the second zone. The convoy stopped by a shallow stream to rest, and that was when Zephyra's head lifted.
Her tail, tipped in faint ember light, swayed once.
