“Figure it out?” Kitalia asked from behind him.
Kre wasn’t sure how long she has been watching or if she had already decided how they would travel and was just waiting for him to come up with the same plan. Maybe she wanted to make sure that he felt he was in control of where they were heading. Either way, it really was the only choice.
“Southwest to the Red River,” he said, tracing the line in the dirt again. “Follow it to the mountains and then I head south to the Gind River. Then, float that one to the Wyrth border and head south along the road, away from the Rangers and all of this.”
“All of this, meaning me? I notice you said ‘I’ and not ‘We’. Are you planning to leave me behind when you head to the river?”
Kre shifted uncomfortably. He hadn’t planned on separating from Kitalia, but he knew deep down that he needed to, for her sake more than his. Her life was at risk just by being around him, considering his status. The Rangers would never leave him alone and he couldn’t put her into that kind of danger again.
“I just thought that you might want to continue west, back home.”
“You think I live in the mountains?”
“Well, don’t you? I thought all of the Ylveryans from this area moved west when my people… uh… moved in.”
“Moved in, huh?” She smirked at him though the corner of her lips were turned slightly in a sharp, angry way. “You must have meant, when your people violently expanded and pushed my people out of our ancestral home, taking our fertile lands for your own. That is what you meant, right?”
He shifted again, unhappy at the turn of events and upset at himself for opening the conversation up to such a sensitive topic. “I’m sorry. You’re right, of course,” he admitted grimly. “I shouldn’t have brought it up.”
“I shall think of an appropriate way for you to truly make it up to me while we travel.” She started to kick the rocks off of the map and paused. “By the way, this first river is called Rosengan and if we start walking now, we might hit it in three or four days.”
“I’m not getting rid of you, am I?” Kre asked with a shake of his head, already knowing the answer.
“You would be dead before the first morning’s light. You are untested in the wilds and too trusting of other people. It is… endearing, in a way, but it will also prove to be your downfall most likely.”
“That’s a bit harsh,” he muttered glumly. He knew she was right though. If one were going to travel through Ylveryan lands, one should really have an Ylveryan guide. “… but true. I would be grateful for your company and will endeavor to be a worthwhile companion.”
Kitalia smiled and held her hand out to help him up from the ground. “Excellent. Now finish wiping the map away. No sense in giving anyone the opportunity to know what we are planning.”