Jostled from her sleep, Zandrianna awoke to find the caravan was once again on the move, the night having passed quickly. Sitting up, she groaned as her back complained about the movement and, brushing her hair back from her face, she looked over at her daughter who was awake and staring up as she diligently tried to catch her small feet with her hands. Shaking off the vestigages of sleepiness, Zandrianna began tending her daughter, a smile on her face.
When she was done, Zandrianna remembered the man she had tended the afternoon before and, sticking her head out the front of the wagon, she greeted the driver and asked about him. "Oh, Egeorn you mean?" he called back to her, keeping his eyes on the road. "Aye, he was doing fine when I last saw him. We left him behind in Budgeford, so he could get some proper rest and have his wounds looked after. The healer there said you did a fine job of patching him up, that all he needed to do would be change the bandages and watch for any infections. Was quite impressed with your skills, I do say." The man briefly glanced back, nodding at Zandrianna, the look in his eye one of respect. "Egeorn's my cousin, by way of my mother, so I'd like to thank you myself for keeping him around a while longer."
Casually brushing the praise aside, Zandrianna smiled. "It was only my job, though I'm glad he'll recover. He was lucky enough to have his armour, any deeper and I might have already been too late."
"Aye, there's truth in that, sure. But if you hadn't been there he would have died regardless," the man replied, as he steered the wagon past a dip in the road. "Something like that I won't be forgetting any time soon."
Seeing the man return his concentration to the road, Zandrianna nodded as she pulled her head back into the wagon and settled in for the ride. The lay was sunny, but cold, so she covered her lap with the blanket and laid the baby in it, covering Althessia with her own small blanket to keep her warm. Leaning back, she made them both comfortable as she looked out the back, watching the landscape go by.
After a brief stop in Stock to eat and refill the canteens, they were off again and soon crossing the Brandywine River into Breeland. Looking over the familiar landscape, Zandrianna's smile widened in the knowledge that she would soon be home. Confident that the meetings with their trade contacts had gone well, she was eager to tell Rastellion of the meetings, and give him updates on the situation on the vineyards, which was still in the back of her mind.
Feeling more at ease knowing this, she closed her eyes and rested.
