The Unseen Road

Chapter Seven

It was some time until the girls felt that they had reached a safe distance away from the village that was almost completely engulfed in flames. With all of their energy, they had tried their very best to keep running, and more importantly to not look back- so they ran, and ran, over hills and through fields, keeping their eyes trained only on the ground below their feet and the horizon up ahead.

At last they stopped. They took a moment to catch their breath, not quite feeling safe but secure enough, and turned around to spare a look at the village. Even from afar, the settlement looked out of place amongst the silent trees and soft blue sky. It was an incomprehensible sight; however, all three of the girls were able to put their full faith in Elric and the other soldiers who they had not gotten the chance to meet. And they were all glad that they themselves had escaped safely.

On all of their minds, now, was Beatrice. Did she fall victim to the flames? Or was she captured?

Huddled together atop the hill that they had stopped on, the only sound that any of them dared to make till that point was that of their own breathing. So, Kylie at last decided to speak up.
"Should we go look for Beatrice?" she asked.

When no answer was immediately given, Mina looked desperately at Celeste, who shook her head. "No," she said, "We were told to go find Agrelind. Whoever's there, maybe they could help us find her. But we can't do this on our own."

"But we made it this far on our own!" Kylie wrung her hands anxiously together.
Celeste sighed. "You have to stop thinking of other people all the time. We have to get to safety first."

Slowly, Celeste's words began to sink in. Her sister was right- and Kylie, too, knew that she had to be mature. If she kept acting this way, it wouldn't get her anywhere. She had to keep going; Celeste saw it, so why couldn't Kylie see it so clearly as well?

The best she could do was try from then on.

"Fine," Kylie said. "We should just keep walking in this direction, then."

Celeste looked up at the sun. "What time is it? Past noon?"

Mina looked up at the sun as well but didn't say anything. Being around the older girls, in addition to the carnage she had witnessed and all she had experienced, seemed to have pushed her into her shell.

"I think so," Kylie nodded. "We should have a while- but I doubt we could walk for seven hours straight..."

"You're right," Celeste agreed with her sister. "We can walk for a while and then set up camp again, wherever we find shelter."

Having reached a unanimous decision, the girls continued to make their way away from the village, trying to put as much distance they could between the site and themselves at a walking pace. To their surprise, the long-sleeved tunics they were wearing were also cloaks, so, lifting their hoods, they shielded their faces to avoid not only the sun's rays- however gentle they were- but also the notice of possible strangers. Wherever they could, they kept to the shadow of the trees that lined the foot of an occasional hill.

Eventually, they reached a point in which they were so shrouded by trees that they were able to let their hoods down and walk at a slightly slower pace. The girls were all still worried, so they tried to take comfort in talking to each other.

"So, where did you come from?" Celeste asked Mina, hoping to get to know the younger girl better. She had been so silent ever since they had left Glenia behind.

"Hartsville," replied Mina, making Celeste realize her mistake in asking such an obvious question, for that conversation immediately fell short.

But Celeste continued: "I know this all is hard- but don't you want to stay strong?"