Felicie's Subterfuge

Lloegyrian Castes

Lloegyrian Castes

Vasconia was a country mostly composed an inhospitable, flat grasslands dotted with the occasional mountains and areas where it was possible to live. Lloegyr, by contrast, was a rather hilly country dotted with cities at seemingly random intervals. Felicie hadn't been far away from the border the last time she had come through here and was impressed by the number of cities she saw now that she was traveling through the foreign country.

Lloegyrian land didn't inhibit their ability to expand. As a result, their cities had become sprawling, oddly shaped, and placed wherever someone decided to build their city. It was actually rather interesting to stare at from the rail of the Cacher.

"What are you thinking about?" Ferrant's soft voice asked at her elbow.

"It just... keeps going on, doesn't it?" She murmured, staring at the horizon.

"What does?"

"The horizon. No matter how far we go, it never gets any closer."

"Feeling rather existential today, are we?" Ferrant smiled kindly.

Felicie smiled back, but hers was noticably sad. "I suppose these are the sorts of things you think of when everything else is put into proper perspective."

"Hm?" He gave her a curious look.

Felicie, however, didn't answer the unstated question.

Addie had been missing for weeks now, accounting for the time it would have taken for the scarlet message to arrive in the castle and how long it was taking them to fly to Lloegyr's capital, the supposedly massive city of Duhghlas. Plenty of time for Felicie to accept the reality that she was most likely dead.

No matter how much it hurt.

Felicie couldn't see it yet, but Cy had promised her that they would be arriving at the capital today. It was getting late in the evening and she had yet to spot any city on the horizon. However, as she had been gazing expectantly forward, her thoughts were on Addie.

Part of her knew that Sybille was right and that, more than likely, Addie was already dead. However, until Felicie saw her corpse with her own eyes, she wanted to refuse to believe it to be the truth.

And, even if she did see her corpse, she wasn't going to rest until she saw those who killed her dead and buried in their own unmarked graves.

Either way, she needed to know what had happened to Addie. To that end, she wanted them to reach Duhghlas as quickly as possible. Once there, she could wait for Wallis to arrive and question him about what he knew. Once she had that information, she could track Addie down. It was therefore annoying that, no matter how fast they flew across the rippling landscape, they didn't appear to be reaching the city as promised.

"Felicie?" Ferrant frowned at her tight expression. He didn't know her primary reason for coming or what was on her mind.

To put him at ease, she forced a smile. "Sorry. Just thinking. Don't worry about me."

"If you say so." He shrugged, turning his eyes back forward.

The sound of boots on the deck alerted them that someone was approaching. They both turned to see Cy, smile in place and hands behind his back, walking with a calm expression.

"Keeping your eye out for Duhghlas?" He asked, voice friendly.

"You promised we would get there today." Felicie responded, keeping her impatience from her voice as best as she could. Instead, she adapted a sweet pout.

"And we will." He put his hand to the small of her back, the other pointing forward. "See that ridge there? Duhghlas is right beyond."

"That near ridge?" Felicie frowned. "Why can we not see it?"