The Hidden City

Voa was right and, before the sun is up, she is shaken awake, the caravan already prepped up and ready to continue its journey and Nue crouched besides her, mask and cloak ready for the long day ahead.

"I waited until everything was ready to wake you up" he explains when Voa looks around "You were sleeping very deeply, didn't want to interrupt any dreams"

Voa yawns and gets up, missing the warmth of her blanket the moment she stands. She groans and Nue snorts, she is sure he's smiling or smirking at her behind the safety of his mask and Voa glares at him without any anger.

She spends a few more minutes stretching before joining Nue as he pats Kimara's snout. Voa then gets an idea as she watches the lizard accept the pets with closed eyes and hums.

"Could I ride her?" She asks with hopeful eyes, fidgeting slightly "Just a little bit?"

Nue blinks at her with a tilted head and then nods, eyes filled with such warmth that Voa feels her face burn.

As he prepares the saddle and reins, Voa excitedly gives little jumps in place. She has never ridden a lizard, but she has always wanted to, scavengers only use mounts when they intend to travel far and Voa had never left the surrounding areas of Myrm.

"Have you ever ridden a lizard before?" Asks Nue in a calm voice and Voa shakes her head.

"Never" whispers Voa with her eyes on Kimara.

"Well, lesson number one: you'll be sore tomorrow" says Nue as he helps her on top of Kimara.

"Ha!" Snorts Arsu as he passes by on his way to Rubellus' cart, making both of them flinch, with Voa frowning without understanding whatever the joke was and Nue glaring at him for a second before returning his gaze back to Voa, but with a slight redness to his visible face.

"Ignore him" he huffs, then he pets Kimara in between the horns "Lesson two: if Kimara gets spooked, she'll pull at the reins, so you never let them go, if you do and she runs, you'll fall"

Voa nods with absolute seriousness and grabs the leather reins like they'll save her life, which by the way Nue speaks, it could very well happen.

"This reins are what connect you to Kimara, them and the saddle" continues Nue, eyes and voice soft, he is good at this, at being understood, Voa feels like she could ask him a thousand questions and he would never lose his patience. "They work both ways, if you get scared, Kimara will feel it and scare also"

She passes her hand through Kimara's moss fur softly, like a caress, and the lizard makes a keening noise deep from her throat, making Voa giggle, she scratches, making a claw out of her hand to make sure the lizard is scratched as it's clear she wants. It's so instinctive, the petting of an animal, like her body already knows the places and how to do it to make it pleasant.

"And third and last lesson…enjoy the ride" Says Nue, eyes crinkling in a smile, the red marks under them more pronounced than ever.

"Thanks" smiles Voa, then she has a moment of weakness, she lowers her eyes, suddenly nervous "you…you'll be close, right? Just in case?"

"Yes" says Nue simply and pats Kimara one last time before walking slowly towards the carts, he looks back at Voa "Well? Come on, kick"

With a deep breath Voa does, a light kick at Kimara's side that immediately makes the lizard move and Voa yelp in surprise. She can hear Arsu laugh from where he sits at the cart. She glares at him and he must at least feel it because his laugh gets louder.

With Kimara, Voa reaches and passes Nue just as the caravan starts to move. She looks back worriedly, but Nue just waves at her.

With a decisive inhale of air, Voa pulls at the reins and kicks again, making Kimara pick up the pace.

She reaches the first cart and teasingly waves at Arsu where he sits next to Rubellus.

After that, the trip is a breeze.

—

They travel through the entire day, not stopping even once, it's better than walking, Voa can just drink from her water-skin without stopping to do so and when her legs and thighs start to feel numb Nue takes the reins.

She doesn't want to dismount and Nue offers that she sit behind him. She immediately agrees, riding gives her leg muscles a well deserved rest and she isn't sure she ever wants to walk again after that experience.

They walk besides Rubellus cart where Arsu has taken over the driving to allow the merchant to rest. He smiles at her when they pass, his mask hanging from his neck.

"Sore already?" He asks with a knowing smirk and Voa nods. She had decided it hurt to mount Kimara like she was riding her before and she had seated sideways instead when Nue had taken over, legs thumping slightly on the lizard's side, her body seated in a way she could perfectly see Arsu and the caravan.

"Have you ridden before?" She asks genuinely curious. Voa often felt like she knew nothing about Arsu or Nue, but she was sure it was normal, they had met so recently…it wasn't like they could share all of their deepest secrets on the first day.

"Not a lizard" he says and at Voa's look, he continues "I have ridden Ibexes and Hisans"

"What are those?" Asks Voa with a frown. She knew some of the wildlife of Ifra, but not all, Ilex always taught them the kind that may wander into Ethe, like huntsmen or long-eared hares.

"The Ibex is a very big sheep" explains Arsu "And the Hisan is a type of horse, like those that they breed in Nash, but better"

"Whoah…are they better than lizards?" She asks with wonder, maybe, when they finally reach Ifra at the end of their quest, she could ride one of those.

"Of course! Much faster, you can travel all over Ifra in just a few days with one of those!" Exclaims Arsu with pride.

"Ohhh! Why didn't you take one when you left?" Asks Voa and then she bites her tongue, maybe she shouldn't have reminded him of that, she can see her mistake the moment Arsu's mood sours visibly.

"My father forbid it" he says curtly and returns his gaze to the front, concluding the conversation with just that.

At her front, Nue scoffs quietly and the rest of the way until they rest again is spent in silence.

That night Voa dreams of being back in Myrm, every gate to the outside closed and Ilex the only other person around. Not a good dream, it wakes her up before anyone can and leaves her restless and worried the rest of the day.

But they're closer than before, just half a day of travel before they reach Olympea.

—

The first indication that they're close is the mountains.

The Athos mountain range rose from the ground like an impenetrable barrier keeping Ethe and Nash separated. The red stone of the mountain was what built the city, camouflaging it from any untrained eye. There was also the walls that kept the city protected from the too-close outlaws that flooded out of Nash like multiplying rabbits.

And of course— how could Voa forget?—the greenery.

Voa hadn't believed it when the sand had started to disappear and, after a stretch of hard ground, she had seen the first tree. A small one, but with a green trunk and small almost invisible leaves. She shouldn't have been surprised—the city was close to the Nektar river—but she still gasped, jumped from Kimara and prodded at it like a magnificent treasure.

Nue had laughed—or what Voa could consider a laugh coming from him, a short but loud snort that had made her blush in embarrassment—and while Arsu had called her an excited child, his eyes had looked back at the small tree with the same wonder as her.

The caravan doesn't stop, but Voa pulls at Kimara's reins to stop her when she first glimpses the city. Her breath gets stuck and her eyes dry when she doesn't blink. She just has to capture everything she can see, and with every pass of her eyes over it, she can find new things.

Ilex had told them once, to her and the other new scavengers, about Olympea—he actually told them about every city he had been to, and since he was Master scavenger that was all of them—how at first you didn't see it, you saw the Athos mountains and then, when you were closer, you would start to see the city.

The buildings, spiraling towers of the royal palace and the high outside walls, all would appear like a mirage of the desert, one by one, until the hidden city finally showed itself.

And there, the hidden city, the capital of Ethe, the grandiose city of Olympea, appears right before her eyes.