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"Unpleasant company" Jillia watched the sun rise slowly above the horizon. She was awake before dawn, unlike that useless excuse for a soldier, Rowd. But Jillia was too tired to even insult him any further than that, even if he'd been awake to hear it. No, she'd woken from a dream sometime before midnight and been unable to fall asleep again. It was another of those dreams she'd been having lately, the dreams too real to be her imagination, but too far fetched to be anything but that. And, worst of all, they were enough like dreams that they faded into annoyingly vague feelings as soon as she woke up. She shivered as she remembered those feelings. The dreams had not been pleasant ones at all, visions of some distopia that couldn't possibly occure but felt real. All the people who had been in the dream were just blurry shapes, nothing recognizable at all. Time passed and the sun rose higher in the sky. About the time it was bright enough to see clearly, Rowd woke up. Jillia sent the thoughts out of her mind; she couldn't let anyone see her in a moment of weakness, much less _that_man_. "I want to be in Jowston by tonight," she said plainly, knowing that it would be a difficult task to get there so fast. She put away everything that belonged in her pack away and stood impatiently waiting for him to catch up. Stupid Rowd, for taking so long to get ready to go. Stupid Ruka, for landing her with this incompetent. Jillia was not likely to be pleasant company this day of travel. It was nearing sundown when they neared where the boarder guards would be. They would not be allowed to pass, even if they could convince the guard that they were natives to Jowston. There had to be another way to get into Jowston. On the side of the road, Jillia noticed an overgrown path, if it could still be considered a path. It had to lead to Jowston, it was too far from the nearest Highland city to be a trail used by herders in that area. If she remembered her geography correctly there was a village not far south of the border. If it lead there, they'd be in Jowston in no time. "We'll try this path here," she informed Rowd. "It should lead to a Jowston village to the south." "B...but Lady Jillia. With all of this growth, it will be quite hard to get through" Rowd studdered. "Why else would you be here? Obviously you aren't capable of doing much of anything else with that sharpened stick you call a sword, or else you'd still be in Kyaro and this wouldn't be necessary. Now get to work, or else we may have to go back to L'Renouille. I'm sure neither the King, nor Ruka would be pleased with your not doing your job." Jillia knew she was more than a bit on edge, reflected in the sharpness of her words. Immediatley Rowd un-sheathed his sword and started hacking at the growth and Jillia followed at a reasonable distance. She wished this mission was not necessary. Who knew what Ruka would be up to at home. With the current trend, half of Jowston might be burned to the ground by the time she was returning. She was quite sure the King would not be able to keep Ruka from his war, even if he were to try. Maybe she was the only person in Highland willing to stand up to the mad Prince. The overgrown path continued south. On the way, Rowd was forced to 'save' Jillia from small and un-experienced monsters. He thought of himself as a hero, while Jillia thought of him as an idiot. It wasn't as if the pathetic creatures would be able to harm her. It had gotten very dark, so Rowd was forced to put up two tents. Rowd went out like a light, but Jillia stayed awake a while. Jillia sat outside her tent for a while, staring at the stars in the sky. What was that legend about the stars? She couldn't remember much of it. She'd only heard it from the nurse who took care of her shortly after mother died. A hero would gather the stars of destiny and... something. She couldn't remember what exactly he was supposed to do. Right wrongs and triumph over evil, or something to that effect. Eventually weiriness overtook her and she crawled into her tent and went to sleep. Her dreams were not so unpleasant this time. This time there was a Hero, though she couldn't tell what he looked like. And he ended the horrible things that were happening.
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