A Forest of Secrets

By the time they got to their first destination, the sun was rising. People were getting ready to tend to their crops and animals, fishermen were unloading their cargo, and the air smelled like fresh bread and coffee.

"Welcome to Lake Silverstone," said Jo, almost in a sigh. She put her grandmother's map away. "At least it's a nice looking town," she said mostly to herself, as she gazed at the pristine white and blue wooden houses and firedust lit lampposts. The streets were made of dirt so packed it looked like they were made of granite. The lake was the centre of it all, and it did, indeed, look like it was made of silver; there were merchants setting up their stores by the shoreline, in neat wooden cubicles- maybe in other circumstances, she'd run there to browse their wares, maybe buy a trinket or two-  and then return it out of guilt, exchanging it for something useful.

The map said to look for a fellow named "Ulfric", who lived in a... white and blue wooden house by the lake. She cursed her grandmother's vagueness. They'd have to ask around for guys named Ulfric; hopefully, that name wasn't very popular or they'd have to spend all day hunting for him. She stumbled upon a dog napping on the street, she was too tired to watch where she was going. Gerard shooed the dog, which was ready to bite her ankles. She didn't blame the mutt, nobody liked to be woken up with a shoe on the ribs.

"It would be wise to find somewhere to rest our heads for a couple of hours," Gerad said, containing a little smirk- apparently her little incident had been funny to him. She was about to protest, but she was too tired to do that, he was right. They hadn't slept at all, and she was starting to feel cold and nauseated. At that point, even a sack of hay would've made a wonderful bed, she thought as she was led to the nearest inn.  Ulfric could wait a little longer, right? Besides, he was probably still sleeping. 

The Pork and Ladder was a far cry from what her inn had been. The name was a little rustic, and more than a little puzzling, but it was the cleanest inn she ever saw. Some people were having breakfast and chatting politely as the maid refilled their mugs with freshly brewed toasted hay coffee- most people in her village started their day with a mug of ale. The innkeeper was a wiry man, neatly dressed and incredibly jolly for someone who had to be up that early. She let Gerard take care of the talking, she knew she wouldn't have been able to say a word in her state of mind, and just sat down on a chair and decided to close her eyes for a bit, just a few seconds...

She woke up five hours later, wrapped in a cozy blanket and not knowing where she was. She sat on the bed, and then remembered everything as if it had been a bad dream. But it couldn't have been, her room wasn't as nice as the one she woke up in. She had no means to know what time it was, but she knew she must have been out cold for a long time: she felt rested, and famished. She looked around for a water basin to clean herself up and then realized the room had an actual bathroom and running water coming from actual plumbing. She jumped a little in excitement, then looked around embarrassed. Of course none saw her, she was alone in there. She thought she could spare some time to take a nice warm bath before going out to fetch Gerard and Alaric, she had earned it. There were even scented oils and soaps, she felt like a queen. She filled the bathtub with warm water, and got in spilling it everywhere- she'd filled the tub to the brim. After she deemed herself cleaned and wrinkled enough, she got out. Then, she realized she had forgotten to get a towel: of course something had to go wrong, she thought as the water started to get cold on her skin. She got out of the bathroom, then quickly started to open the drawers of the wardrobe looking for a towel to cover herself up. Again that feeling, she could swear someone was watching her. She shook the thought off, she was being silly. Maybe hunger was making her paranoid, a nice hot meal was what she needed. Her stomach grumbled.