The Journey: Chapter 6

    The next morning, we quickly picked up camp and readied the horses. Things were much calmer that morning than they were the night before. I rode on Swift, in front of Danicio. We were silent, and I knew that he was still steaming over what happened last night.

    “Danicio?”

    “Yeah?”

    “I was wrong.”

    “I know.”

    “You know?!”

    “Uh, I mean...”

    “And what exactly did you mean?”

    “I meant that I know that you were wrong...”

    “Did you now?!”

    “What....why......” Danicio stopped and held the reigns tightly in his hands and didn't speak. The horse fidgeted nervously. We sat in stormy silence. Silverleaf sighed and nudged his horse next to us.

    “Tyra, may I have the pleasure of your company?” he asked. I winced, but climbed off Swift and onto Rain. Silverleaf started again but dropped back, letting Ridge and Swift go ahead.

    “I take it that your apology did not go well,” Silverleaf said.

    I winced again. “Um, no.”

    “You're being too proud. Danicio is not adept at this. Stop taking delight in his discomfort.”

    I winced yet again. “Sorry, Silverleaf.”

    “It is not me that you should be saying 'sorry' to. And let this be known; I do not take pleasure in getting involved everytime you have an argument. The next time this happens I will let you sort it out.”

    I grimaced at the ominous note in his voice. “I am sorry, Silverleaf.”

    “Then talk to Danicio.”

    I sighed. “I will.”

    We were silent for a time, before Silverleaf started talking about the elves and some of their history. It was mostly repetitive stuff from my history book, but it was still interesting to hear it from Silverleaf's point of view.

    When we stopped for the night after a day of riding hard, Danicio was calmly cleaning his sword. I approached him yet again. “Danicio?”

    He looked up at me, his eyebrows raised. “Come to yell at me again?”

    I also raised my eyebrow. “When have I yelled at you?”

    Danicio's mouth dropped open, then he blushed. “I had that line waiting for the whole day, but yet you still best be at that,” he accused.

    I shrugged. “I'm sorry. I didn't know that you couldn't tell me about it.”

    “And who told you that?”

    “Silverleaf.”

    Danicio's face grew wary. “And what else did Silverleaf tell you?”

    “Just that you couldn't tell anyone other than members of the Golden Arch about enemy movements and Intelligence reports.”

    Danicio considered this. “Well, I guess there is no hiding the Order of the Golden Arch from you once we reach Gil'ana.”

    The rest of the evening went smoothly. About halfway through dinner, Silverleaf said, “We should be reaching the first human settlement tomorrow. Tyra, stay close to us and don't talk much. And, under any circumstances, do not tell anyone about Emeray the Great, or where you come from, or anything like that.”

    “You'll be my niece,” Danicio suggested.

    “No,” Talut disagreed. “You don't have any siblings.”

    “Will anyone know that?” Danicio asked.

    “Yes, actually. You're the topic of conversation all throughout the land, in case you hadn't noticed,” Talut replied. My head snapped up, and Silverleaf quickly dived into the conversation.

    “How about an orphan placed in your care?” Silverleaf said.

    I was distracted. “What's a orphan?”

    “An orphan is someone whos parents died,” Silverleaf explained.

    Danicio nodded. “Sounds good to me.”

    “Great. That's settled. Now to bed.” Talut turned, and brought down the saddlebags.