"Finally..."
Midas huffed, the salty water that washed onto the shore of the desert foaming up slightly, his soles sinking into the wet sand as he walked towards what seemed to be a sandstone tower - next to it an old wooden bridge reaching into the sea that functioned as a dock. Beside the tower were a few huts dotted around - most of them made of sandstone and mud.
The boy walked along the shore, having been walking through the daylit dunes ever since the sun arose; after the sun had risen higher, the sand became hotter, which eventually caused his feet to burn. The water helped with cooling off; having washed his face in it, Midas made his way to the tower, a giant torch fire lit on top of it to guide boats that drove either into or out of the gulf in the north.
Slowly approaching the set of huts, the boy examined their dark insides - most of them empty rooms with scattered clay cups and dusty carpets left behind, whoever lived here now gone, as it seems. Now standing in the middle of the pathway that connected the houses with the tower, Midas looked up at the giant torch - someone seemingly keeping the fire alive, even though the only thing notable on the barren way between him and the dock was some fishing nets bound to a nearby pole.
"Someone is in that tower."
Hearing Gilts whisper in his head, Midas froze - torn between entering the tower or taking the ship while they are still inside, possibly looting the few spare things the village had to offer to them. Taking a step forward, the boy reached out for the handle - the wooden door screeching before his palm could grasp its rusted handle.
Looking up to a woman wearing a poncho, Midas took a step back, startled as she raised a brow at him - her hair tied together by string. Staring at each other for a quiet moment, the woman eventually narrowed her eyes at him as she seemingly remembered something.
"You were with Graf, weren't you...? Just a Trestempo ago on the western shore when that old man begged me for some supplies, or not?"
"He called you Jelle when we came to your shop in Samak'thir with the others - yes, I transported some of the water to our sledge if I remember correctly..."
The fact that Gilt was capable of aiding him in finding the memories he needed came in clutch at the moment. After everything that happened in the desert, the memory of meeting her was quickly swallowed between the fight against the spider-like creature in the dark and their arrival in Giv'Narva. Watching her eyes relax, she nodded - seemingly surprised that the child in front of her actually knew her name - as she headed for her fishing nets, untying them half-mindedly as she held his gaze.
"Where did all of your friends go...? Left you here to die or what...?"
"Fortunately, all of them and Graf are in the water kingdom - I think they already are in Montcanal... and I will follow them there."
Jelle's expression briefly flattened after her pity grin, almost turning thoughtful as she untied the netting, looking up into the now clear sky. After Midas awoke with Gilt, the sky had cleared completely - rid of any cloud whatsoever as the sun now freely shone down onto the sand.
"First the storm just disappears completely overnight - now I meet an old friend of Graf of all people... you know what...? I'll bring you there - you might bring the luck I currently need."
"What...? Just like that?"
"Of course not...! Don't worry, you will make up for it by helping me fish on our way there."
The somewhat rotten wood planks that were beginning to bleach because of the salty water squeaked as she and he walked towards the humble fishing boat - its trunk accessible by a trapdoor, steered by a tiny wheel, paddles, and sails. Midas felt a sense of gratitude - Jelle brought much more luck to him than he could possibly bring her by fishing, something he had no experience in whatsoever.
"If you get there... make sure you get yourself a whetstone - it makes life much easier out here, even though we both would never be able to just buy one because of our appearance alone. Graf told me that the nobles have an iron grip on their dispersion, only allowing their own kind to possess it - the same goes for the gear you actually have to use."
Midas silently listened as Jelle spoke, a faint grin on her lips as she loosened the rope from the wooden beam that was rammed into the sea floor to prevent the ship from floating away - her eyes looked somewhat tired, as if the past Trestempo hadn't been easy for her. Seeing her like this made the boy wonder, unable to tell why he found her on the complete opposite side of the desert - especially given that during the time she travelled here, the sandstorm was still present.
"So... how's Graf doing out there? Does he still have that house in Cascrender with his wife...?"
"Yes. His wife had passed when we arrived there, however... However, I think he's on a good way to process his loss - even though I can't tell for sure how hard it is to really lose someone so close to you."
"It's definitely something you have to experience - it does something to you, but I'm sure you'll figure that out on your own when the time comes... I mean, not that I hope so..."
Watching her correct herself and laugh awkwardly after, Midas turned to the glistening waves of the sea, the sun directly over their heads as the sails of the boat began to curve as wind blew against them. Jelle silently walked around the ship, staring at the land ahead as she saw the side of the mountain range separating the water kingdom territory and the desert come closer ahead of them.
"You have papers, right...?"
"A plant kingdom guild card - yes."
Making her raise a brow at him, Midas looked up at her as she nodded in silent respect - seemingly taken back by what distance he had already travelled despite his age. Having some silent time to himself, he eventually sat on the back of the fishing boat - his eyes closed, Midas began to pour his mana into his eyeballs, making shallow silhouettes of darkness briefly flicker through his closed lids, as if he were drawing a black object onto a black surface trying to locate it.
Furrowing his brows to focus, Midas was able to make out three slim objects that followed the boat in the same direction - swimming after it as it sailed through the water. Judging by his rough understanding of their size and shape, he was sure that these were fish. Opening his eyes again, he turned to Jelle, not paying much mind as she adjusted the sails, holding onto one of the ropes bound to the boat's pole.
Turning back, the youth didn't mean to distract her as he glanced down onto his bandaged right hand - the sunshard was currently slotted into his stone rune, and the bandaid now served the purpose of hiding it rather than making sure the ointment curing his aching stayed on his skin, as he was now freely able to move and spread his fingers apart without any stinging.
Gilt definitely somehow healed his separated hand. Tracing his wrist with his finger, Midas was unable to make out any sign of a cut on it - having seemingly healed without any trace. The same goes for his stomach - there was no sign of the hand that was rammed into him, as Gilt was somehow able to heal his body fully, perhaps by using Midas's own mana.
Seeing how strong Gilt really was with everything he saw of it, Midas felt, in comparison, much weaker than previously - staring into his palms, the boy began to crave finding more useful Null-Abilities he could use in fights, his feeling of lacking in knowledge regarding that becoming clearer to him as he couldn't stop thinking about how outmatched he was - beginning to find interest in the explosions Jikith was able to create with his mana, making him remind himself of the letter that was given to him.
"Jelle... do you think I will be able to reach Montcanal by the third of the month...?"
"If there is no storm - I see no reason why we wouldn't..."
After a day of nothing but sailing, Midas was able to see the lowlands that surrounded Cle'Phoria; multiple farming plots were settled on the shore. Amongst the banks of rubble and sand emerged another tower similar to the one he saw back in the desert; the same kind of giant torchfire lit up on it to guide ships. The youth was able to smell the fish that were trapped in the fishing nets, bound closed into bundles, and stored in the storage inside the trunk - somewhere Midas had spent the last night.
"The noble family that owns the lands surrounding Cle'Phoria has built this little port right here... from there we will make our way by carriage - I frequently come by here to trade and sell my goods since my shop was ransacked shortly after your group had left town..."
"Ransacked...?"
"Yeah, these thieves wearing black and red that ran from the storm after it appeared... Since I'm barely in the same location for an expanded time now, I don't really have to deal with them anymore."
Once the ship halted at the tiny port that seemed to be just another tower and wooden dock in the middle of nowhere, Midas helped with unloading the bundles of fresh fish over into the carriage, feeding the Fahin that was kept in a nearby stall to eventually pull it towards the ride, and aiding with putting its gear on before ultimately entering the ride. The boy was able to see multiple people stand at the shore, some of them trying to use glasses to look for what seemed to be the now suddenly vanished storm.
In the distance was the giant residence that most likely was owned by the same nobles Jelle mentioned, its size comparable to the university in Cascrender he used to visit. Hanging his head out from the open back of the carriage, Midas watched as they made their way north - reminding him of the trip he had towards the grass kingdom. Feeling the elevation slowly rise, the youth closed his eyes, sitting straight as he silently worked on concentrating his mana, not able to spend much of his time doing so because of all that had happened.
Jelle would occasionally halt at different villages and towns, their carriage parked on the outside as Midas remained seated inside - securing their carriage while Jelle would sell her fish at various markets and stalls. The scenery of the east was similar to what he had seen in the central plains: ever-stretching grass fields on which there was the occasional plot of crops, broken up into sections by a river or two running along their road. The gigantic chain of mountains ahead of them began to rise, growing only taller the further north they went, Montcanal seemingly built right at the foot of the giant mountain wall.
By the next day, Jelle had already sold all of her fish - the rations Midas was given by the royalty had also run out by now, and the sun was quickly hidden by a carpet of clouds that didn't want to disappear - raining down onto the cloth spun over their heads. The dampened sounds of the droplets that hailed onto them felt somewhat relaxing - a good background noise as Midas continued to work on getting a firmer grasp of the Null-Ability he applied onto his eyes, able to see a slightly sharper silhouette of Jelle through his lids.
The sun began to settle quicker than the youth had imagined, a sign of the third of change as Jelle had told him. With every moment he spent closing the distance between him and Montcanal, the urge to finally open the letter to see what was written inside by Avernil grew - even though it was somewhat dreadening to know he had a debt towards a pirate leader. Ever since they had set sail in the desert, Gild didn't speak one word - the fact that it seemingly only did the bare minimum to keep him alive being true, beside the occasional smart remark it gave about things they saw.
Jelle eventually halted in front of a checkpoint, a stone arch with a lowered iron gate and two towers on each of its sides - halting in front of the closed gate, Midas opened his eyes as he saw the mana of two approaching knights through his lids and one above them watching from one of the towers. The boy was already used to being checked by the knighthood - his grass kingdom guild card already in hand to give to the knight, nodding in silence at the stamps he collected, the armored man quickly vanished from the back as he came to inspect it.
"The boy can go; she will have to stay."
"Why is that...? I haven't done anything; I used to pass by here all the time."
"Well, if that's so, then our right to ask you some questions is even greater - Montcanal is on high alert after the attack on the festival held by our ally... Ever since the royal court also found out about multiple pirate groups that set up camp inside the walls of the city, you fit the description of one of the culprits that took part in the robbing..."
Feeling frustration already building up inside of him, Midas instinctively tried to reach for his sickle as their focus currently lay on Jelle - unable to grasp anything, the boy was painfully reminded that Gilt had destroyed his weapon, leaving him unable to defend her. Already trying to find a solution to get rid of the knights with his sunshard - Jelle glared at him over her shoulder, quietly shaking her head before she was guided outside the carriage.
Simply standing at the side of the road, Midas quietly watched as her wrists were tied together - her carriage parked to the side, unable to follow her as she was brought inside one of the towers. The youth forced himself to swallow down the urge to free her - unable to do so quietly without any weapon. Seeing a wooden arrow point north with Montcanal chipped into it, the youth sunk his head as he walked through the gate once it lifted up again, having to walk the rest of the way there.
Watching the sun settle, Midas eventually found himself walking along a paved road, his leather boots clacking against the damp stone bricks that shone in a bluish light emitted by the lanterns that were set up on each side of the street - fancy carriages that dragged chains of wagons passed by him, mostly transporting goods like metal and food. Going uphill, Midas hid his hands in his leather trousers - the nights in the water kingdom were just as cool as the desert - as he approached the gate of the massive wall of pale rock that encircled Montcanal.
"Can you identify yourself?"
"Here."
With a lowered face, Midas handed out his guild card - unable to celebrate finally reaching Montcanal as his mind darted between multiple things he thought about. Not knowing where Jelle was brought to, if Haya and the others arrived without any problems, or where Skye was currently held. Hearing the knight clear his throat intentionally louder, the boy realized he already had examined his card - making his way through the gate.