A strangely-dressed person is found, unconscious, on the rocks below a remote mountain road. When the stranger recovers it soon becomes apparent that nothing will ever be the same again...

Somewhere Else Entirely

by Penny Lane

1 - Alone on a mountain

Disclaimer: The original characters and plot of this story are the property of the author. No infringement of pre-existing copyright is intended. This story is copyright (c) 2010-2016 by Penny Lane. All rights reserved.

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Consciousness was not there, but something was. Awareness, input of sensations. The mind was a simple sponge, drinking in all that the body experienced without attempting to make sense of it. The heat of the sun on bare skin. A soft, warm breeze that blew gently across. The press of something sharp against a part of the body. The eyes were closed so nothing was in view, and if they had been open, the mind would not have understood what it was seeing. The ears listened to the wind, and then something else. The sounds were faint at first, gradually increasing.

"Yes! Down there! I did see something!"

"Can we get to him? Suppose we go down that way and then round that rock?"

"Aye. Let me lead the way. Do you suppose he's still alive?"

"Careful! That big rock doesn't look stable. Don't put your weight on it."

"I'll have you know -"

There was a sharp intake of breath.

"It's not a man, it's a young woman. I think she's still breathing. Come on!"

Voices, close now. A finger touched against a neck.

"She's definitely alive. Now, how are we going to get her back up to the road?"

"She doesn't look all that big, I should be able to lift her up on my own. If you stay behind me and make sure I don't put my foot somewhere I shouldn't we should manage between us."

A hail from a distance.

"It's a young woman. She's alive, Berd thinks he can lift her. She's dressed all strange though."

A sensation of motion, of being picked up and carried. At some point during the journey back to the road, the sponge stopped accepting sensations and darkness came.

"What's that you've found, Berd?"

"A young woman it seems, Master Tanon."

"Merina, fetch a blanket out of the wagon! Quickly!"

Merina came with a blanket, closely followed by Silna, her maid. The two spread the blanket out on the edge of the road and Berd lowered his burden onto it.

"It is a woman. Where was she? How did you spot her?" Tanon asked.

"It was the bright blue of the trousers, Master Tanon. Down below the road, by those rocks there." Berd pointed. "I hope I did right."

"Of course. It would not be charitable to leave someone alone out here, especially at night." Tanon tilted his head to look at the stranger. His wife and maid had crouched beside her to find out as much as they could. "A good looking girl, well looked after by her appearance. The clothes look... strange. Why is she dressed like a man?"

"Are there any injuries, do you think, dear?" he asked Merina.

"Not obviously," Merina replied. "I can't see any blood, from this angle. I wonder if she fell off the road?"

"She must have been with a caravan, surely. If so, they wouldn't leave her, would they?"

"They might do, under certain circumstances," her husband replied. He switched his attention to an older man watching them. "Jaxen?"

"Master," he acknowledged, nodding. "Bait for an ambush, perhaps?"

As soon as he said that, the other men who had started curiously gathering around dispersed, their eyes back on the mountainside above and below the road. One of the wagoneers climbed back into his seat and checked that his crossbow was in its rack and readily available. Other men fanned out ahead of the line of wagons as well as behind them. Jaxen approached Tanon.

"Master, this isn't really a good place to stop. If we carry on a little way, there's a passing place about seven hundred strides or so which would be more defensible. If you remember, it's where the road doubles back to go up over the pass. Could we carry her in your wagon?"

"Aye, that would be best. Then we can examine her properly for injuries, find out what state she's in. Berd! Would you mind lifting your find into our wagon?"

The unconscious woman was lifted carefully inside the last wagon and laid on a padded surface on top of the contents. The maid, Silna, was told to remain within and watch, to call out if anything changed. There were shouts, and the line of wagons moved off, the animals straining to pull them up the gradient that led to the top of the pass.

Eventually the turn was reached and a well-practised maneuver was performed: the wagons were circled in the flat space just beyond the turn and the men formed a defensive perimeter. Merina climbed into the wagon to rejoin her maid.

"Anything happened?"

"No, Mistress. She's not moved at all. I mean, I can see that she's breathing, but that's all."

"I think we'll have to try and get those clothes off, to see if there are any injuries," Merina said, eyeing the strange garments. "Besides, those are not proper clothes for a woman of any sort. I suppose that top garment just lifts over the head. If I raise her up, will you work it off?"

The two worked together, pulling the soft, thin garment up and over the stranger's head, Merina's mouth pursing as she realized that the woman was wearing nothing underneath the outer garment.

"Hmm. I don't think that anything of mine is going to fit her. She's more your size, Silna. Is there anything in your chest you might be able to lend her until we get to Palarand? It would only be for three days, after all."

"I have a thicker gown, Mistress, that might fit. You know, the brown and green one. It might get a little warm once we get down off the mountains, though."

Merina nodded. "That will have to do, I think, especially as she has no under-things. If we can get her to come round, it might be easier to do a little mix and matching as required. Now, what about these trousers?"

She leaned forward and worked the large metal button at the front over the buttonhole. There was a flap below and Merina raised it curiously.

"Will you look at that!"

"I've never seen anything like it, Mistress."

"Is it some kind of decoration? It's most unusual."

"There must be some way of removing the trousers, Mistress. Can we look at the back, see if there are ties or buckles there?"

"Of course. I'll roll her, look you underneath."

Merina lifted the slight weight with her hands and Silna peered beneath.

"No, Mistress, there's nothing. Except more of these pockets."

Her mistress released the woman's body and contemplated the strange decorations below the flap.

"What does that loose thing there do?" Silna asked. "Shall I try and pull it, Mistress?"

"Aye, try that. We're not going to get them off her if we don't try everything possible."

They both watched, mouths open, as the slide worked its way down over the tiny brass decorations and separated the two parts of the trousers.

"I never imagined such a thing!"

"Nor I. So now, we can pull - Oh. First we have to remove her shoes. I've never seen the like of those, either."

"No. Strange materials. Very soft. She can't have been walking in these for very long in the mountains, can she, Mistress?"

"I don't know what to think, Silna. Look, at least the laces look like they work the same as ours, even if the material is strange. Here, pull at the heel and it should come off now."

The shoes came off, followed by the trousers. Underneath the trousers was a small undergarment of a kind neither woman recognized. This was also removed before Silna dug out her brown and green gown. Once they had managed to dress the woman in it Merina climbed out of the wagon and joined her husband in the central space between the wagons, the stranger's clothes on her outstretched arms, the shoes balanced on top.

"Tanon, we need to talk."

"Of course, my dear. How is she? Has she recovered yet?"

"No, she's still out, but it seems more like she is sleeping now. We changed her into one of Silna's gowns and put her under a blanket. While we were tidying up she moved a little, as people do when they are asleep. But we still haven't been able to wake her."

"Did you find any injuries at all?"

"Only a bruise on her back near her waist, about here," she replied, indicating the position with her thumb. "It might just be from the way she was lying on the rocks when she was found."

"These are what she was wearing?"

"Aye, and a more unusual set of clothes I have yet to see. I'm beginning to realize that there are some disturbing aspects to this whole situation. Look at these shoes, for example."

Tanon removed one of the shoes from on top of the pile his wife held and inspected it.

"Amazing quality and colour. I don't understand how they could have made something so white. And soft, too." He flexed the shoe. "How is this sole fixed to the upper part? I can see no stitching, although there is stitching on the top. If it is glued, I know of no glue that can be used this way. I don't even know what substance this is." He peered closely at the sole. "Jaxen? Have you come across anything like this?"

Tanon passed the shoe to his Wagonmaster.

"No, Master Tanon," Jaxen said after a close examination. "As you say, incredibly soft to the touch. I've never seen anything even similar to this." He passed it back to Tanon, who placed it and its mate on the top of the steps leaning against the back of the wagon.

"What's this?" he asked picking up a small object next. "Some kind of bracelet?"

"I assume so. It was buckled around one of her wrists. Her left wrist, I think. I've never seen a piece of crystal like that before."

"There's a strange design under the crystal, and three fine... One of them is moving!" Tanon held the item up to the light, close to his face, to get a better look. "One of these wires or whatever they are is moving." His face stiffened, and he held the thing up to his ear. "It makes a noise. It must be some kind of mechanical thing, but I can't imagine what it does."

A cold feeling settled in the pit of his stomach. Whatever had they run into here? The bracelet joined the shoes on the step as he reached for the next item, which was a small flat folder. Tanon opened it with trepidation to find internal pockets in each side. One side was thicker than the other, and the pocket was covered by a flap. He lifted the flap and shook the contents out onto his palm.

"Hmm. Money, I imagine, although nothing like I've ever seen before, and I've seen coins from some pretty distant places in thirty years of trading. Jaxen?"

Tanon held out his hand with the money and Jaxen came and looked, picking up several of the coins, even testing one with his teeth.

"New to me, Master. What could they be made of? Not gold, silver, copper or bronze. Nor those pottery pieces they use in the Kittrin Empire. They are well made, though."

"Aye, indeed. I'd like to meet the man who made the dies for these coins."

Tanon released the coins from his palm back into the little pocket and closed the flap, his attention changing to the pockets on the other side. Finding them empty, he realized that the whole thing had a slit running round from one side to the other. Opening it with a finger, he extracted... something.

"What's this? It's very heavily decorated. Look, there's a man's face on this side. Extremely well drawn."

"I don't think it's vellum, Master," Jaxen offered. "Or parchment, the material's too flexible. The drawing is so fine, and in more than one color, too."

Tanon passed the flat, flexible rectangle to Jaxen and pulled out another.

"Here's another! They look exactly the same. These can't possibly have been drawn, surely?"

"If they weren't drawn, then how were they made?"

The two men and Merina puzzled over the strange things, making very little of them. Finally Tanon put them back into the folder.

"They might be some kind of money," Merina speculated. "There were symbols on those... whatever-they-ares... which might have indicated values. And there was what might have been signatures, too. A promissory note, perhaps."

"Our mystery woman has a tale to tell when she wakes up, hasn't she?"

Tanon placed the folder on the step and reached for the first garment.

"Tanon, look at the cloth," Merina said, noticeable tension in her voice. "It wasn't woven, it was knitted, and there must be a thousand stitches in each of those rows."

Tanon started and held the garment up to the late afternoon sunshine to get a better look.

"Maker! You're right. Those stitches are so tiny! How could someone possibly make something with so many stitches and so even? And with such a fine thread?"

"You haven't seen the worst of it," Merina continued. "Turn over the hem at the bottom."

Tanon started as he examined the hem fixing at the bottom of the garment. What had seemed like two rows of simple stitching on the outside had turned out to be something immensely more complicated when reversed.

"Amazing. The amount of work that must have gone into just securing this hem. Think of it!"

"I am. And it has me wondering, if this is the kind of workmanship of a simple shirt where she comes from, she must be of noble status, surely? I can't imagine common workers wearing clothing like this, can you?"

"I'm beginning to get an unsettling feeling about this whole business, my dear. But let me examine these other things before we start speculating."

Tanon put down the shirt and picked up the small undergarment, finding it made of similar material and workmanship to the shirt. He was about to add it to the pile when he noticed a small detail inside. Turning the garment inside out, he gazed in wonder at the small rectangle of material fixed to the inside of the top trim.

"What's this? Some kind of mini tapestry? Look! It's covered with all kinds of strange symbols. If it is writing, it's nothing like I've ever seen." He peered closely. "The fibres are so small I can barely see them. I don't know what they might be, perhaps some kind of silk. Imagine the loom that this was woven on! It must only be the width of my thumb, and yet there might be a hundred threads in that strip. What do you reckon it might be, dear?"

"I don't know," Merina replied. "There's a similar tab inside the shirt, and another inside the trousers. The only guess I've had is it might be some kind of owner's label. But the expense! Imagine weaving a label for each item of your clothes that said 'Tanon'. Unbelievable. That's why I think there might be another explanation."

The undergarment joined the pile and Tanon turned his attention to the trousers. He held them up by the waistband and felt a small measure of relief. The material was substantial, and while Tanon hadn't seen anything exactly like it before, he knew enough about cloth to know what he was dealing with. In fact, one of their six wagons was piled high with bolts of cloth he was taking to Palarand to be sold locally. Unfortunately, the cloth was the only thing that Tanon could find familiar about the trousers.

"What the..! Look at this stitching! It's sturdy enough for this tough fabric, certainly, but it's so regular! I don't know anyone anywhere who can do stitching of this quality. Especially through this kind of cloth. How is it possible? So many pockets! And there are... rivets. What for? Do they serve a purpose, or are they just decorative? Rivets through cloth! Who ever thought of such a thing?"

"Pull open the flap at the front, dear," Merina instructed.

"Maker! What's this?"

Merina demonstrated, and Tanon marvelled at the strange mechanism.

"Look at all these tiny metal bits. What are they, brass? Gold? And you can't see a tool mark on any of it." Tanon shook his head. He turned to Jaxen. "Does any of this make sense to you, Jaxen?"

Jaxen took the trousers and looked at them, finally shaking his head.

"No, Master. I have never come across anything like this, and I've been travelling Alaesia with you for near fifteen years now. But we might ask D'Joril, he hails from K'kjand in the remote west, he may know of peoples who can do works like these."

"Fetch him."

D'Joril came, and inspected the clothes and accessories.

"No, Master, there is nothing like any of this where I was born and brought up. Mind, it is many years now since I was in those places, and things may have changed. But I do not believe they have changed that much."

"Thank you, D'Joril. It seems clear that the clothing is of a very high status, and therefore -"

"Begging your pardon, Master," D'Joril interrupted.

"D'Joril?"

"I don't doubt at all that this clothing is of a quality and workmanship that no-one in Alaesia has ever seen before, but these trousers, if you don't mind me saying so, are working trousers."

"What? What do you mean?"

"Look at the toughness of the material. The double stitching, the overlapped seams. The rivets at the pocket corners to prevent the material from coming apart. Master, I believe these trousers were meant for a worker, not a noble. Now, you know me, that I prefer to wear leather."

It was true. Everything that D'Joril wore was made from leather of one sort or another. Nobody knew whether that was just his personal preference or a custom from his home lands, but everyone knew that he did and accepted it.

"If I had a pair of trousers like that," he continued, "I'd be quite happy to wear them on the road. They look quite comfortable to me. Maybe a little warm in the summer, but otherwise, aye. I think that they are the sort of thing a shepherd might wear, or a country smith maybe, or a drayman, a fisherman, something like that."

"You're right, D'Joril. Yet another puzzle to add to the list. Now, Merina, Jaxen, what do we make of our latest discovery?"

"The questions are, how she got on that mountainside, and what she is doing wearing clothes like this," Merina said. "Where does she come from, that they can make things like these?" She indicated the bracelet and folder.

"More important to my way of thinking, Master Tanon," Jaxen said, "is that we have a deadline to meet. This business could delay us somewhat."

"Aye, you're right, Jaxen," Tanon said, "I have that in the back of my mind. In seven days we have to be in Viridor to meet the Golden Dawn." He frowned. "One of those days is an allowance against any unforeseen delays on our journey but I never anticipated anything like this. We cannot afford to miss her sailing, we've too much of everyone's money tied up in that consignment. What do you suggest?"

"I think we can still reach the regular camp-site if we start right away, Master. It's nearly mid-summer, after all, and there's plenty of daylight left. There's time enough to speculate once we've set up camp and got settled. We can think about the implications while we travel. Although we could spend the night here, I don't like the surrounding area and we would start behind in the morning. That would delay us all along the line."

Tanon nodded. "I was coming to a similar conclusion myself. Aye, let's be about it, then."

"What do you want me to do with these things, dear?" Merina asked.

"I suggest we put them in one of the hiding places for now, Mistress," Jaxen said before Tanon could reply. "As yet, we don't know if our travelling companion wants to be found or not. It might prove easier if anyone we meet along the trail has difficulty proving who she is, if you take my meaning."

Tanon and Merina looked thoughtfully after Jaxen as he walked off to get the caravan moving again.

"He's right, dear," Tanon said. "I hadn't thought through some of the implications of this. Let's keep our options open until we can find out more from our stranger."

The regular camping place was a wide, flat area just below the summit of the pass, sheltered from the prevailing winds when necessary. On a warm, clear, summer night it wasn't necessary. The wagons had been circled again, but a wider circle this time. From the side of each wagon facing the central fire an enclosed awning had been rapidly constructed. In one of these Silna and the unknown woman had been settled. This had been necessary because the wagon they had been riding in was the one that had contained all the travellers' food and access was required in order to prepare the evening meal. Tables, benches and cooking equipment were removed from the wagon and set up. A huge cauldron was set up over the fire to heat the last of the 'trail stew'. Bread was taken from sacks, water and beer made available. This was routine, everyone worked quickly and efficiently at tasks done every day for years.

"So, Jaxen," Tanon said as he munched some bread dipped in his plate of stew. "You obviously have some ideas about her." There was no need to ask which her was meant.

"Aye, Master. She might be a runaway. That might mean she had been kidnapped, or it might mean she just didn't want to travel with the party she was with for whatever reason. An abusive husband, perhaps."

"I don't think she has a husband, Jaxen," Merina said quietly. "When we changed her clothing, we could tell quite clearly that it is unlikely that she has known any man."

"Mistress?" Jaxen exclaimed, his eyes wide. "I have difficulty believing that about any woman of her age. However, you've seen her, I don't doubt that you state the truth. Master, Mistress, of all the strange things we have discovered about her, that is perhaps the most unusual one to my way of thinking."

"I know. I was surprised myself, so Silna and I double-checked, as much as we were able in the cramped conditions."

"Of course," Jaxen said, "there is one kind of woman who that would apply to, isn't there?"

"That being?" asked Tanon. "Ah, noblewomen, I suppose."

"I'd forgotten about noblewomen, Master. No, I was thinking of royalty. The daughter of a king is usually kept clean until she is married off, isn't she?"

"True," Tanon replied. "But, by the same token, noble or royal, most would have been married off by her age. Merina, dearest, did you notice any marks on her when you unclothed her? Brands, scars, that sort of thing?"

"Not a thing, Tanon. She's completely blemish free. I just wish that I had had skin like hers when I was that age. Her hair's a bit short, but that may be the custom where she comes from. I don't think she's a servant or a criminal, if that's what you're thinking."

"At any rate," Jaxen resumed, "there's no doubt that those clothes she was wearing aren't from any place any of us are familiar with."

Tanon nodded. "I agree. So, the owner of those clothes - who is not necessarily the woman - comes from somewhere else entirely, beyond the limits of our most intrepid explorers. Which means somewhere well beyond Alaesia, of course." His face took on a faraway look. "If we had access to more of just one of the things she was carrying, there would be several fortunes to be made."

Tanon had been a successful merchant for a number of decades, and his listeners could only agree with his sentiments. If it were possible to find the origin of those amazing clothes and source them in any quantity, they could almost ask any price for the cloth and get it.

"Whoever they are," Jaxen pointed out, "they obviously didn't want to draw attention to themselves by wearing unusual clothing, so I'm guessing these would have been hidden away at the bottom of a wagon, much like our valuables are. Why our guest decided to wear them and not some normal clothes, I can't imagine."

Silna poked her head through the flap of the awning and called. "Mistress!"

Merina scrambled up and hurried to the tent, sliding past Silna to lean over the pallet the young woman was lying on. She was moving as if just awakened, and her eyes were blinking in the dim light from the oil lamp hanging from the framework.

"Hello there," Merina said quietly. "How do you feel?"

The young woman winced and raised a hand clumsily to her forehead. She groaned, trying to clear her throat.

"Here, have a sip of water," Merina offered. She held up a goblet of water and the woman sipped from it, swallowing at first with difficulty. Finally she nodded and Merina took the goblet away.

"Thank you," she said. Her voice was clear now but the accent was... strange. "Ow. My head... hurts."

"You may have banged it when you fell," Merina said. "I didn't notice any injury when we found you, would you mind if I took another look?"

"Please."

Merina gently ran her fingers through the thick hair, her fingertips carefully probing for lumps or gashes but finding nothing.

"You don't seem to have an obvious injury. Can you tell us your name?"

"Yes, I'm..." she stopped. Her expression became first confused then distressed. "I don't remember," she said finally. She looked around at the inside of the tent. "Where am I?"

"You're in the encampment of Tanon the merchant, on the road from Moxgo to Palarand. We found you earlier today, unconscious, just below the road as it climbs up from Blayvardis Vale. What were you doing, alone on the mountain?"

"Mountain? I don't know. None of those names means anything." She seemed upset because nothing made any sense. "Can I have a little more water, please?"

"Surely." Merina passed the goblet and the woman took it, drinking slowly. "My name's Merina, by the way, I'm Tanon's wife, and this is my maid Silna. Do you think you could manage a little food?"

The young woman winced again from a twinge in her head, but managed a reply.

"I think I might, please."

"Silna," Merina instructed, "go and get a bowl of stew from the pot, please. There should be just enough left. Try and make it more liquid than solid, I think."

"Aye, Mistress."

The woman squirmed on the pallet.

"It hurts down here, at my side."

"Aye, you appear to have a bruise down there. It's probably from when you tumbled down onto the rocks."

The young woman frowned. "I don't remember anything like that. In fact, I don't remember much of anything at all. Perhaps that's why my head hurts so much."

Silna reappeared with a bowl and a spoon. Merina took both and began feeding the woman from the bowl.

"That's nice," the woman said. "The taste is a little strange, but then I expect everything to be strange just at the moment."

"Some of the meat's a bit chewy," Merina cautioned. "This is 'trail stew' and it's been going a few days now. If there's anything you don't like, just spit it out and we'll clean up any mess."

But everything that went in stayed in, and Merina could see the woman's eyes glazing over. After a while she stopped accepting food and drifted off back to sleep.

"Have you eaten yet?" Merina asked Silna.

"No, Mistress, I've been in here all the time."

"Go out and feed yourself, then. I'll stay here and sit by her until you've filled yourself up."

"Thank you, Mistress."

Some time later Silna resumed her watch in the tent and Merina came out to rejoin the men.

"She's fallen asleep again," she reported. "I did manage to get most of a bowl of stew into her, though. Interesting. She seems to have lost her memory. I don't think she's faking it, either. It looks like she somehow took a bang to the head, even though there's no obvious sign of injury. She has an accent I can't place, although the few words she spoke were recognizable and of the common tongue."

"You mean we're not going to find out where she - or her clothes - came from?" Tanon seemed disappointed. He let out a sigh. "What are we going to do with her?"

"I don't see we have a choice, husband," Merina said. "She has to come with us, at least as far as Palarand. If necessary, you can go off to Viridor without me while I stay in Palarand and try to find out what's going on."

Jaxen said, "I think, if you'll pardon my suggestion, Master, that you'll have to take her to the palace. There's more going on here than just a chance to make some more money, much though I wish it were not so. Supposing those who she was travelling with were spies? Supposing she knows something - and doesn't know she knows it, because she's lost her memory? That makes her very dangerous, to us and to Palarand. We don't even know which way her party was travelling, they might be ahead of us on the road. If we hadn't been going down to Viridor, then I'd quite fancy a quiet investigation to find out what's going on, but we've too much riding on that consignment to change plans now."

Tanon nodded. "As always, Jaxen, your advice is invaluable. We'll have to take her with us, of course. We can't just abandon her on the road. Let's see what happens in the days ahead as we travel to Palarand. Who knows, she may remember something."

~o~O~o~

In the night she woke up, the demands on her body beginning to press. She looked around. Canvas walls, a small lamp with a flickering flame hung on one of the wooden supports. There was breathing nearby, as of someone sleeping. She raised herself onto one elbow and discovered the two women she had previously met wedged beside her on the floor of the small enclosure, both asleep.

"Uh, hello?"

One of the women, the older one, stirred in her sleep, moved and blearily opened one eye. Seeing the stranger propped up looking at her, Merina snapped awake and sat up.

"Um, hello, dear. Is there something you need? A drink, perhaps?"

"Er, no, quite the opposite. I need to go to -" She gently patted her stomach.

"Oh! Aye, of course. Um, do you think you can get up? It won't be very easy to manage things in here otherwise."

"I think I can do that, yes. I'm a little stiff and sore," she added ruefully. "It might not be a bad idea to stretch my legs for a few moments."

Merina stood, shrugging her clothing into place and smoothing the skirt of her dress. She held out her hand.

"Here, hold my hand as you stand up. You'll probably be a little wobbly."

The woman took the proffered hand and used it to pull herself to her feet, discovering that she was wearing a dress similar to that of the older woman. Merina leaned over and lifted a thick dark garment from a peg on one of the supports, wrapping it around herself. She then lifted a similar garment and held it out for the woman to wrap around herself.

"This is Silna's cloak, I'm sure she won't mind if you borrow it for a few minutes. It's not going to be cold outside, not this time of year, but it is still the middle of the night and we wouldn't want you to catch a chill."

"Thank you, er..."

"Merina. My name's Merina. I think you'd better put these on your feet."

Merina pulled out a pair of simple sandals from a corner of the enclosure and the woman slipped her feet into them. She guessed that they belonged to... Silna, was it..? as well. Then Merina slipped her own feet into similar sandals and opened the flap to the awning, emerging into the night with the other woman following her.

"Mistress?"

A man had joined them almost immediately from somewhere in the darkness beyond the circle of wagons. There was a fire in the center but currently it was just red embers, enough to enable the sentries to make their way about without destroying their night vision.

"Bargon." The man nodded. "Our guest needs to visit the latrine."

"Surely, Mistress."

Bargon walked off and returned carrying a small lantern. He then led the way between two of the wagons towards a canvas enclosure set a little distance from the camp-site. He handed the lantern to Merina and then stood back, his eyes beginning to sweep the darkness which surrounded them.

Merina took the lantern and guided the other woman into the enclosure. There was nothing inside except two planks laid a distance apart on the bare rocks and a small wicker basket in one corner. Merina hung the lantern on a peg and then turned to the woman.

"Can you manage here by yourself, do you think, or do you want help?"

"I think I can manage, thank you. I'll call if there's a problem."

Merina withdrew from the enclosure to stand waiting beside Bargon.

The cloak, while it provided warmth, was enveloping and so the woman removed it and hung it on a peg on one of the timbers supporting the roofless enclosure. Then she struggled to gather up the folds of the full skirt about her waist, finally trapping them against her waist by using her elbows. Her right hand drifted downwards across her belly, but before she got very far the urgency of her bladder made her crouch, one foot on each plank, so that the stream went straight down into the dark gap between.

She wondered what to do next, and then her eyes noticed the wicker basket. Awkwardly, for she still crouched, and still holding her skirts up with her elbows, she peered into the basket, discovering scraps of dried hay and grasses. She managed to lift out a small handful and wiped herself, discarding the grasses into the hole between the planks. She stood and arranged the dress tidily. Finally, she wrapped the cloak back over her shoulders and emerged to join Merina.

"Better?" The older woman smiled at her.

"Yes, thank you."

Merina thought briefly. "I'd better make use of the facilities while I'm out here, I suppose. Will you wait a moment here for me?"

"Of course, Mistress."

Merina looked sharply at her, but said nothing. Of course, she had heard both Silna and Bargon address her as 'Mistress', so it wouldn't be unusual for her to speak to her in the same way, she supposed. What a polite young woman! Merina moved off into the latrine enclosure to do her business while the woman and Bargon waited awkwardly in silence for her to return.

"There," Merina said as she reappeared. "That's better."

She handed the lantern back to Bargon and looked at the woman, whose attention was on the mountain range beyond the other side of the valley they had just climbed out of. There were a number of majestic peaks, some of the highest still snow-capped even during the warmest summers. All were plainly visible in front of them in the crystal-clear summer night air, their slopes glistening in the star and moonlight.

"It's beautiful," the woman said.

Merina looked and smiled. "Oh, aye. It's one of the main reasons I join Tanon on some of these summer trading trips. The scenery we pass on this route is some of the grandest in Alaesia. Of course, once the weather turns and it starts snowing, it's a different story. But Tanon won't send wagon trains out when the weather gets really bad, our cargoes are too valuable for that." She turned to the woman. "How are you feeling now?"

"It's a bit strange, really. I feel a bit fuzzy somehow, a bit confused. I get the feeling that things aren't quite how they're supposed to be, but I couldn't begin to explain what. I guess it must be due to the memory thing. Every so often I get a sharp pain in my head, so I must have hurt myself, but I can't remember doing so." She waved a hand across the view in an arc. "I certainly don't remember ever seeing anything like that view before. What are those mountains called?"

"They're the Palumaks, the greatest mountain range in Alaesia. You're saying none of this looks familiar?"

"Nothing, Mistress." She paused, a puzzled from on her face. "The moon... should it be moving quite so quickly as that?"

"Moon? Oh, you mean Tiede! Aye, of course, it always scoots across that way. If you mean Annis, Annis won't be up until nearly dawn at the moment. And Kalikan is up during the day this time of month."

The reply just seemed to confuse the woman even more and she raised a hand to her forehead. Merina took pity on her, while giving Bargon a meaningful look over her head.

"Look, it's the middle of the night, and we've both just woken from sleep. Let's return to our beds and try and get some rest, and I'll wager things will look a little clearer in the morning, all right?"

The woman gave her a small smile of gratitude. "Yes, that's a good idea."

Bargon accompanied the two back to their sleeping quarters and saw them inside, then moved off to quietly discuss the latest developments with his fellow sentries.