And after that, we rushed home. It felt like a rush, and we were in a rush, because now we really wanted to be home before the Feast of Naigha. Of course… There were still villages to visit, and there was larger village, almost a town, where we stayed a couple of days and met people from the surrounding villages. There were several Eraday manors where we stayed. We sent people on in advance, accepted new apprentices — and one day, Atash went north with Roushan and a bunch of other people, because we had found a well-travelled road, but no inn or any place where people could explain to us what’s at the end of that road.

Personally, I suspect charcoal burners, an iron mine and a smelting operation. The road was wide enough for two carts to pass each other, and deeply rutted. And all the iron for those Idanyas stoves must come from somewhere.

We’ll have to wait until the expedition returns to be sure, I guess.

It still took three weeks to reach Selday! The first night, we stayed with Maille’s mom, so the town could prepare for our reception. It was nice, and cosy, and Maille’s mom, Aine, she was quite happy that her daughter was six weeks pregnant (or thereabouts)!

And she was happy for us, too.

In the meantime, our Army returned to its barracks, all three of them, our apprentices were divided over the White House, the Temple of Naigha and — there were also plenty of people who opened their house to the guests. In fact, there were already plenty of our apprentices who had gone to Selday in advance who had found lodgings.

So… Now we’re mixing the mix-up of all Idanyas with the people in Selday. Moyri and I are still enjoying ourselves enormously!

We’d already seen that Doctor Cora and Captain Aidan were in Selday, with a large regiment of soldiers. And I’d greeted them politely, with semsin, but Cora had told me that they weren’t in a hurry, that we should make our entry into Selday, have a bath, go home, and that we only should start having our official meetings the next day.

And that’s what we did. We went on horseback from Aine’s farm to the White House, with people lining the road and shouting out their welcome. Soldiers, too, standing stiff as guards. It was all very embarrassing, especially since Roushan was still up North, and we had to do our own prettifying.

From the White House we went down, still being greeted by all the people, whether we knew them or not, to the Temple of Mizran, from there west to the Fish Market, up to the Town Square, and finally east to the Pink House.

There we were welcomed by Tylse and the rest of our household, and changed into simple dresses, we got a basket with fresh clothes and soap and stuff, and we went down to the bath house. Bath! Shaving! Pampering!

And we were in luck, because our Sithi friends from Veray had arrived, and had come to an agreement with the owner of the baths, and they took care of us!

And we took care of each other, and we knew we were home…