They rode for a few hours. The uncomfortable silence since Hrafen's entrance prevailed inside the carriage. Saga didn't mind. She would happily sit in that uncomfortable silence for the entire journey to the capital. It was better than the alternative.

When they made a stop for food, her father exited as if the carriage had caught fire. Embla followed after one more glance at Hrafen. She had thrown a lot of them during the silence. Saga wondered what they could mean, but the neutrality of Embla's expression made it impossible to know.

Hrafen also didn't linger in the carriage, but left straight after Embla, and Saga hurried to follow. She needed a word alone with him to ask him for help in convincing Viggo to let her join further than the capital.

A hand reached for her as she took a step out. Her eyes fell on Audun, who gave her a tentative smile.

"Is the Lady fine?" he asked in a whisper while helping her out of the carriage.

"Yes," she nodded.

"Did Hrafen behave?" Audun asked next.

Saga smiled; it came automatically as she thought back to what Hrafen had said. "No," she answered.

Audun's smile grew. "I hope the Duke does not die from being too infuriated during the journey. It would unfortunately be a difficult situation to explain to the King."

Saga stifled her laugh just as Viggo came up to them.

"Whatever books Hrafen wishes to purchase when we arrive in the capital, you ought to buy them," Audun told Viggo before giving Saga a nod and leaving them alone.

"I take it all is fine so far?" Viggo asked, a thin wrinkle barely visible between his eyes.

"It is," Saga confirmed, and even that small wrinkle disappeared completely.

"I have to see to the food." Viggo looked over his shoulder, then back at her.

"Go. I'll be fine," Saga urged him. Really, she would be more than fine. She needed him occupied so she could find a moment to speak with Hrafen.

"Don't wander alone." Viggo gave her hand a squeeze, then went to join the knights preparing a light lunch.

Saga's eyes scanned the camp. She caught Kai's eyes briefly while he carried some wood for the fire they would light. They both smiled at each other. Then someone said something to him, and he had to look away from her. So Saga's eyes kept scanning.

The blue fabric of his robe waved in the wind from behind a few trees, and Saga walked around the camp to him. He moved grass with his feet while his eyes travelled over the forest floor.

"Hrafen," Saga said.

The mage didn't look up. "Does the Lady need the expertise of Sinkbek's mage for something very important?" he asked. What he said wasn't out of line for him to say, but Saga noted a difference. His voice hadn't been as bored as usual. There had been traces of bitterness in it.

She swallowed. With how he had acted in the carriage, Saga had hoped he had forgiven her for their last conversation. But it appeared he hadn't. He only saved his displeasure for when they were alone.

But she didn't know how to apologise to him. To others, it was easy. Or rather, she was used to apologising for faults in the moment. But to apologise for a conversation which had happened so long ago was an entirely different thing, and she found no words to do it.

So she hoped he would understand how she hadn't meant what she said by the fact that she approached him.

"I do," she answered.

He huffed. "Make yourself useful while we talk then." He straightened himself and held a page from a book out for her to see. It showed a white flower with green leaves. "I'm looking for this flower, or rather, I'm looking for the leaves. It is a bit early for them to grow, but the spring has been warm so there might already be some."

Saga nodded and looked to the ground to help him look. In a way she was thankful for the task, for a reason to not look at him as she talked.

"I want to ask for your help regarding something," she started, then paused. Waited a moment to see if Hrafen would say something, but he only continued to kick the grass around. "It's about after we've reached the capital." She paused again. "About where Viggo might need to go next." Another pause.

"Will the Lady keep me in suspense all day, or will she get to the point?" Hrafen finally said.

"I want to follow to where there might be a battle. And I want you to help convince Viggo to allow me to come," she rushed to say.

Hrafen stopped his kicking for a beat before he continued again. "I can do a lot, but if the Lady thinks me capable of such a feat, then she truly believes I can perform miracles."

"Please, Hrafen. I have to come," Saga begged, not caring if it was appropriate for her or not. She needed to come. She needed to be there. She needed to help protect them all.

"This is about more than convincing the Lord. Only those who are essential will be allowed to come, and since the Lady has refused to learn magic, she does not possess any skills which would be considered essential." Hrafen straightened himself, looked away from the ground to instead stare at her with narrowed eyes.

Saga also stopped the search for the flower to look at him with her head high, while doing her best to look unwavering.

"That's why I want your help. Can't you convince Viggo to allow me to come as your assistant? You've taught me some about healing wounds," Saga pointed out.

"So the Lady wants me to lie for her again," Hrafen sneered.

I shall remember this the next time the Lady wishes me to lie for her.

His words from before echoed in Saga's mind, and from the glare Hrafen gave her, the same words echoed in his.

"Give me one good reason I should lie for you," Hrafen challenged her with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Because I have to come! I've dreamt about it for months. Or... I think that's what I've dreamt about. It's been several of them, all happening in the same place. A city that's had its houses and such destroyed. In the dreams there are tents around. And I've seen Viggo ride out from that city armed for a fight. I can't stay behind, Hrafen. I can't know you all are heading for danger and dream about what will befall you with no way of warning you." Saga's breaths came out short. Her heart raced. Almost as if she already was there, already in the middle of the fights.

"Well, the Lady should have started with this. Would have made for a much more efficient conversation," Hrafen said while his arms slackened and his eyes softened. Then he stretched out the book he held. "Tomorrow during the mid-day stop, I'll be testing you on the various flowers and herbs in this book."

Saga frowned, but took the book. "Why?"

"The more truth there is to a lie, the more convincing it is," Hrafen shrugged. "Besides, if the Lady comes, then she will be expected to tend to the wounded. And as she does not have any practical knowledge on this matter, it is better she learns as much theoretical knowledge as possible before the time comes. I will not allow her to taint my reputation by claiming to be my student but not even know the basics."

"Thank you," Saga said and hugged the book to her chest. As grumpy as always, as rude as ever, but he believed in her, treated her as someone capable, someone to listen to. He hadn't even questioned the validity of her dreams. All he had needed was to hear her claim her reasons for joining.

"This seems to mean the Lady has started to see the use of her magic," Hrafen pointed out next.

Saga bit her lip. "I suppose the dreams can help," she admitted.

"I do not know much about prophetic dreams, as it has never been a kind of magic I've tried to learn myself. But I could guide the Lady a bit in how to better use the ability." Hrafen's eyes narrowed again, but it was a different kind. Waiting, shining, instead of judging, darkening.

"Perhaps. When there is time," Saga agreed, and the muscles in Hrafen's face relaxed. He even smiled slightly.

"I shall try to find an opportunity for us to do that then. But now I think there is food." He nodded toward the rest, who all gathered by the same spot.

After some food, it was time to get into the carriage again. This time, Saga was the one to enter first, followed by Hrafen. She took the book he had given her out and began reading before her father and Embla joined.

The uncomfortable atmosphere from before the stop had dissipated. Instead, the space was filled with tension, like the air before thunder. Saga did her best to ignore it by continuing to read the book, but she found herself rereading several sentences to understand their meaning.

"What book is sister reading?" Embla asked after the carriage had been rolling for quite a while.

Saga looked up to see Embla's eyes on the book, but they snapped to Hrafen as the mage spoke.

"My birthday gift to the Lady," he answered. "It pained me to think the Lady only received one gift."

Embla's eyes narrowed minutely. "And what is the book regarding?"

"Herbs and flowers and their different uses when healing wounds and curing sickness," Hrafen replied.

Embla hummed and turned her eyes on Saga again. "Is that a topic which interests sister?"

Taking one slow breath, Saga answered, "I find it a good topic to learn more about."

"It is not a topic for noble ladies to learn about," her father scoffed. His eyes burnt with ice-shards.

"Why does Duke Pheigr think so?" Hrafen asked and tilted his head in what Saga thought looked rather mocking. Something her father seemed to agree it was, as his face turned redder.

"Ladies only need to care about those things necessary to be a good wife. Filling their heads with other nonsense will make them less adept at being good wives," he huffed.

"An interesting opinion. I wonder what the Duchess of Rivborg would think of this opinion; last I heard her daughter was in training to become a mage. Or the Earl of Orea; isn't his sister a skilled healer?" Hrafen countered in the calm he always had, and though Saga paid close attention to the two men's discussion, her eyes strayed to her sister. To Embla, who didn't let her eyes leave Hrafen even as their father spoke. To Embla, whose lips broke the neutrality of her expression through a slight upturning at the corners.

"And both are unmarried," the Duke answered. "Particularly unfortunate regarding Lady Disilde. She had plenty of suitors before, and now, none. And she isn't becoming any younger. Twenty-five and unmarried. I can only imagine the shame the Duchess feels."

"Perhaps Lady Disilde has no interest in marriage. But that is something we can only speculate in," Hrafen said with a wave of his hand, as if waving away the topic. "I find the Duke's opinions interesting. It would not appear as though he thought women knowledgeable in areas unrelated to being a wife was an issue when he married Lady Alva."

The effects of Hrafen uttering the name were instant. All emotion disappeared from Embla's features. The Duke's hold on the cane tightened. Saga found it impossible to keep her head up, but bent it. A tear fell from her eyes, landing on her hands, which now fisted the fabric of the skirt instead of lying flat. She wanted to tell Hrafen to stop talking, to not mention her mother again. If the topic was a difficult one in normal circumstances, then it felt dangerous now.

"What would a creature from Vander know about the intricate reasoning behind Ranriki marriages?" the Duke spat.

Saga heard the insult toward Hrafen, and a flicker of anger lit in her like a candle. But it was overpowered by echoes of her father's gaze on her as she had kneeled by her mother's dead body.

"From what I've heard, your people don't even hold any kind of respect for the union between a man and a woman, and that you even lay with monsters as if you are one yourself. Which I suppose you are. A bunch of half-breeds."

The anger in Saga flickered stronger, for how dared her father talk about Hrafen as he did? But the memory of her father sneering at her and for the first time saying the words which weighed the heaviest in Saga were louder than her father's present words.

It is your fault she is dead.

"You are a depravity in this country. A stain! That the King allows you to live and spread your monstrous seeds within our country has always baffled me. You ought to have been driven out or killed a long time ago."

The anger in Saga roared. How dared he wish death upon another? Upon Hrafen, who had done nothing wrong except having been born on the other side of a border?

Saga looked up again. Her eyes fixated on her father. He did not care about meeting her eyes, but glared at Hrafen. Though as Saga did not look away, a wrinkle formed between his eyes, and he turned to her. His face was red from anger, but the light in the carriage must have changed because the colour looked to disappear.

"Lady Saga ought to remember the object she has hanging around her neck unless she wants an accident to happen," Hrafen said.

Her head snapped to stare at Hrafen instead. Though most of his face was stone, the intensity of his eyes, the burning intensity, made Saga pause and feel her own body.

It burned with anger. With magic. And looking down at her hands, she even saw it. A glowing light on her skin. Ready to burn the carriage down.

She could not believe she hadn't even noticed it happen. Could not believe how close she was to creating a disaster.

Taking a deep breath, she focused on the storage stone pressed against her chest. Felt how it warmed as it allowed the magic buzzing in her to slip inside, calming the rest of her body until the anger dulled. When it was done, her eyes swept over the carriage's interior. All was fine; nothing looked to have been harmed. Though her father still looked pale, and Embla did not stare at Hrafen anymore, but at Saga with a tilted head.

The only one unaffected was Hrafen, who looked away from her again and talked to her father as if there hadn't been a pause in their conversation. "The Duke seems very knowledgeable in the sexual habits of Vander. Pray tell, does the Duke have some firsthand experience on this topic?"

Saga's eyes caught Embla's, and to Saga's surprise, Embla fought a smile, and she was losing. In the end, she looked out the window, averted her head, so only Saga could see the smile.

And Saga wasn't sure what to feel herself. Other than exhausted, emotionally drained from the vastly different emotions tugging at her. The anger, the fear of her magic, fear of her father, grief for her mother, confusion over Embla's behaviour. Exhaustion. Exhaustion which had her ready to fall asleep inside the carriage when it came to a stop in the evening.

Her father rushed out of the carriage again. Embla lingered for a moment, her eyes darting between Hrafen and Saga, before she left as well.

"I did not know the Lady felt such strong protective feelings," Hrafen said, not moving to leave.

"He wished you were dead," Saga mumbled.

Hrafen's eyes became the softest she had ever seen them, and it felt as though stones had cracked to reveal a kitten hiding inside them.

"He will need to do much worse than what he did today to truly insult me. So there is no need for you to feel anger on my behalf when I don't even care about the words he says."

"All the more reason for me to become angry on your behalf. He should not talk about you like he did," Saga countered.

Hrafen shook his head. "If only the Lady would exert a little bit of the kindness she shows others on herself," he said and left before she had time to answer.