Dawn was used to taking Moonlight for short trots around the village, always bareback, but the ride to Mist’s Hollow was many times longer than those. Anton had insisted that she use a saddle for the longer trip. Even though it had taken her a while to adjust to it, it had only taken her a few hours of riding to be glad it was there. Moonlight, for her part, didn’t seem to mind either way, and hadn’t complained about their pace until late in the evening the first day.<br/><br/>“You’re a natural,” Anton had said. “I’ve never seen ‘er take to anyone so quickly.” But that wasn’t really it. She wasn’t naturally good with animals at all. She couldn’t talk to them like a druid could. She just… guessed at what they wanted and tried to go along with it. Moonlight liked oats, trots through the woods, and good brushings. She didn’t like heavy riders or whips. She wasn’t hard to get along with.<br/><br/>They’d only passed a few other travellers on that long road. There had been a few merchants with horses dragging wagons full of goods headed to the outlying villages. There’d been a family living in a covered wagon that moved from place to place; they’d shared a meal before going their separate ways. And she’d seen one other traveller like herself that had tipped his hat as he passed before disappearing around a bend in the road behind her. Other than that, she rode in silence, other than the sound Moonlight’s hooves pounding into the dirt beneath them.<br/><br/>No bandits. The militia was doing its job, then. It was for the best, because she was tired of playing the scary mage. In Mist’s Hollow, they wouldn’t know who or what she was. That would be refreshing before it got frustrating. It was harder to get information when you were ‘just’ a petite, dark-haired girl.<br/><br/>They stopped for the night near a small pond a little ways from the road, partly because Dawn missed the wilderness and partly because she wasn’t sure how close they were to a settlement besides a small hamlet they’d passed way before sunset. Dawn sent a small spark of magic into the water, but it didn’t uncover anything other than a few frogs, and Moonlight seemed to approve of the spot, because she had a drink and settled down almost immediately after Dawn unsaddled her.<br/><br/>Dawn stripped off her robes with innocent glee and quietly slipped into the pond for a starlit swim, naked except for Muse’s ancient jewel, which hung between her dainty breasts on a silver chain. Until she found the ashen-skinned elf, it was her anchor, a constant warm reminder against her chest. Those whispers of magic that danced around the gem were the proof that Muse was alive out there somewhere.<br/><br/>She fell asleep almost right after getting out of the water, curling up on a big blanket she’d pulled from Moonlight’s saddlebag. She slept soundly, dreaming of her past adventures - a lot like this one, really - with Muse, Verita, Tyora, and the others. Slowly, the dream took a less-than-wholesome turn mostly involving the adventures of Muse, her tail, Verita, and herself. To her frustration, she woke just as things were getting heated, but the sensations didn’t go with the dream. She let out a small mewl that was half shock and half bliss, and looked down to see a pair of naughty fairies completely oblivious to her being awake. One fluttered from one pale breast to the other, teasing one small pink nipple at a time as the other hovered dangerously close to her sex.<br/><br/>With a sigh that was part annoyance and part regret, she flicked each one with just enough magic to scare them off and wrapped herself snugly in the blanket. Fairies, at least, were still the same saucy troublemakers they’d always been, even now. It was hard to say whether they’d wanted some of her mana or were just playing around, but she couldn’t really take the risk.<br/><br/>Dawn and Moonlight were back on the road just before ten, after they’d both had some breakfast and she’d had another swim. This time, they met absolutely no one, and it was almost evening before they wandered into the telltale fog that marked the hills around Mist’s Hollow. It deadened almost all sound, making even Moonlight’s hoofsteps seem distant and empty. Dawn wasn’t sure how long they walked through that fog before she could see the lights of the town in the valley below them, somehow bright and clear even while the hills around it were shrouded in mist.<br/><br/>After the silence of the fog, the evening bustle of the town was a relief. Though she was a stranger to them, they greeted her warmly enough and found a nice stable for Moonlight, along with instructions (and a small amount of coin) to have her taken back to Vale if anything happened.<br/><br/>There was only one tavern in the town, and it wasn’t hard to find, windows aglow and muffled music coming from inside. Dawn smoothed out her dark, silver-embroidered robes, simple as they were, opened the large, creaky door and stepped inside, eyes bright and curious.<div class="messageTextEndMarker"> </div>