By the time they saw the city in the distance, Aleksandra felt awash with relief. The travels they had made over the flats were filled with tension, and she could tell by their earlier conversation that he had some apprehension or concern about returning here. As they entered the waiting area, she looked around at the merchants and others around them, but continued to follow Maleki until they came to a place they could leave the horses. She had never seen a city quite like this, there were sometimes walls around the capitals, but usually, those lacked truly rigid gateways unless they were in a tumultuous area. Tents sometimes still went up outside the cities, but not quite like this. Aleksandra did not keep her hood up, once they were inside, she took it down and allowed herself to get a full view of the area around them. The faces did not look familiar, but some of the folks here definitely still wore clothing in the style of her realm. It was hard to expect to find friends here, but she got the sense that the opportunities for allies might be great.<br/><br/>Tommen yawned behind her. They had not gotten much sleep in the last two days and while Maleki seemed to tolerate it, the young man's weary expression was mirrored by her own feelings. She was not sure what to hope for, that they could sleep here, in relative safety...Or that they could get into the city and perhaps find an inn with a somewhat soft bed. She still wanted to believe there was hope somewhere in the middle of all of this, Storka always knew more than she let on and if she had allowed Aleksandra to travel out here, there had to be something useful at the end of it.<br/><br/>"I'm going to pitch the tent, if you manage to talk the Captain into letting us in, wake me up." Tommen commented, yawning again, which this time caused Aleksandra to yawn in turn, but she did not follow the young man as he went back to where the horses were stored.<br/><br/>"Is there any way I can help you while we're here?" Aleksandra asked after a few moments. It was possible he would just tell her to occasionally do what they did back in her tent, but she sort of hoped that he might actually confide her or ask her for what he really needed. He was so solitary, walled away like the city they were now trying to get into. "This has to be difficult. I-I don't even know what I'll do if I ever get to return back to Fallspire." The castle had once held all her memories of her family, but now it also housed the horrors of watching their slaughter, one by one. She was not sure that she would ever be able to purge her mind of those memories.