Making her way under the pale moonlight, Barza was pretty thankful for even this much light.

  The sky was cloudless, with stars shining brightly.

  The village girl however didn’t have much time for contemplation of nature - knowing that she had until sunrise to make it towards the nearby small town of Iv, until they began searching for her, she had to hurry.

  The expensive leather boots lined with fur that she had still didn’t protect against extended winter walks however, and already a layer of frost had formed upon Barza’s eyelashes.

  Still she pushed on, even attempting to break into a run for short amounts of time in vain attempts to feel less cold.

  The idea to call this all a joke and return back to her village and family crossed the girl’s mind, however she was still young and idealistic - betraying her own honest thoughts and feelings seemed inimical to her very nature.

  Frankly however, as Barza almost lost the feeling in her extremities, several hours into her journey, she wouldn’t know what would have happened were she not to have stumbled upon some unobscured campfire, visible from the distance.

  The light of a full moon shone brightly, as otherwise, Barza wouldn’t have been able to sneak upon this gathering in the middle of the wood.

  She didn’t know why exactly she turned back from the road, trundling through heaps of snow not pressed down by the passing horse sleds and carriages.

  Maybe it was because of the feeling of adventure that she suddenly got to experience, finding excitement where there would likely be none.

  However it may be, Barza crouched behind a tree and a pile of snow that formed around it.

  In the distance, several figures could be seen, illuminated by a large campfire they were standing and sitting around, talking and drinking.

  There shouldn’t have been bandits around these parts, since not that many merchants passed by.

  And even if these were some sort of highwaymen, down on their luck, they must have been not good ones, considering their campfire was visible to anyone out on the road, and if Barza came to investigate, then it was likely that sooner or later an errant kingdom patrol would catch this lax attitude.

  Skipping forwards to hear more what the possible ne’er-do-wells could be discussing, Barza hid behind a carriage parked on the outskirts with some goods peeking under the covers - it had a familiar design, maybe Barza could have seen a similar looking one over at Iv?

  “Hey, Gregarius, ain’t this cloaks and daggers stuff a but too much? I get your wife roasts you every time you descend into a drinking spree, but starting out this early, even before your daughters’ wedding?"

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  “There ain’t no method other than this one, Ulmth - ain’t you having the similar problem with Odan, considering you don’t want him to end like you, glued to the bottle?"

  “I dunno about you men, but I am just happy that my weak-spine boy is getting hitched to someone with strong of a character as your girl, Gregarius - Odan’s already all grown up, and I am not too old yet for a daughter this time around, Ulmth - so pour a few more drinks, will ye?"

  “You know, Arzila, I am suddenly very happy that married whom I married - no offense, haha!"

  Cringing, Barza finally understood what was happening here - her own father, and the parents of her groom, despite being slated to have had arrived early this upcoming morning, have instead decided to stop for some reason in the middle of the road, and start partying way, way early.

  Barza really loved her family, but really? Did they think her some sort of a general, to be so readily commanding of Odan?

  Sure, he followed her like a puppy and always did whatever she told him to, but it was no big thing, right? Any man of her age and a decade above were tripping over themselves to get in her good graces, so it wasn’t like Barza was unused to all of this attention.

  Though, now a challenge presented itself, to both extricate herself without being seen, and also, send some sort of a message to her mother once she reaches Iv about the absolute fool that their head of the family was.

  Barza thought that she saw her father glancing in her direction, as she couldn’t smother her distress at first for finding perhaps three of the four people she didn’t want to meet in these exact circumstances, this soon into her flight.

  Perhaps the instincts of a former adventurer despite the loss of an arm were still a thing for Gregarius, however surprisingly, Barza could see Arzila, Odan’s mother, steadily outdrinking two other men, as almost half of the beer barrel they broke out was already gone.

  Perhaps she was more nervous about her son’s future than it showed - Barza prayed she wouldn’t be too angry when she learns about her flight.

  Feeling something wet and large on the nape of her neck, Barza smothered another sudden shriek, as the redhead turned around, to see her own family horse, Tumbly, nudging her into the open cranny of her coat.

  The absence of the family’s steed did throw a wrench initially into Barza’s plans, when she was just planning to be leaving her home, however, now that she thought of it...

  Throwing all caution to the wind, green eyes blazing with determination, with one hop she got onto Tumbly’s saddle, and flicking the reins, willed the former warhorse that Gregarius used even back in his adventurer days, took off in a fast gait, her red hair being covered by a hood of her coat.

  “Hey, what’s- a horsethief! Get him!” - all of the sudden, shouted her father, being too preoccupied previously by nursing his drink to pay any real attention.

  Barza already made it to the road, turning right for the nearby small town of Iv, as she heard her father’s pained shouts for Tumbly to throw off the rider, or to resist and stop.

  The adventurer’s daughter could guess that were this any other rider, Tumbly would have been neighing and raising up in protest, however since Barza knew the horse since she was a young girl, had no problem scratching behind Tumbly’s ear just like he liked it, as they went forth in the night, the aged but still lively horse significantly shortening the time it would take for Barza to travel to the next town over Iv, just to be certain.

  Besides, thanks to the heat given off by a large horse that was used to even carrying heavy barding, or just agricultural implements as of late, Barza was no longer freezing - she just had to figure out a way how to return the horse later to her family, and how this whole sudden meeting with her father and groom’s parents advanced the timetable.

  But hey - maybe Odan wouldn’t have time to be all mopey, were he to indeed suddenly become an older brother with a toddler to take care of.