Goodbye

If I truly wanted a sign to make me feel like things would work out, I thought I had been granted one. Striking a path across the sky as if hung there just for my benefit was the most colorful rainbow I could recall seeing in a long time. And if I needed further proof, it appeared to bend and dip into the horizon in the two very directions that we all would be travelling on this day. The rest of the carnival caravan - that colorful energetic row upon row of canvas and people - would be heading toward the villages and cities that snuggled near the Thassa. I had never seen that body of water that it was said stretched to mingle with the sky, and I thought to myself that if I ever wanted to travel, I would find that carnival caravan again.

The smaller group of wagons, the ones I would travel with, would head deeper into the plains and further north. There were plans for a few stops for trading, with several groups of wagon peoples as best I could gather. I had never actually met anyone besides Vega that was of the so called wagon peoples. Except once when a Kassar rode up to the ranch with another man. A little bit of twitter had raced through the ranch like wildfire, and I recall crouching near the edge of one of the buildings with cousins to stare at him from a safe distance. From my vantage point, he looked much like a....man. The tales told about such people, however, were wild with fury and suspicion, not to mention the very real fact that they lived a life without comforts and ease. I had a natural curiosity, tempered with a bit of apprehension but the merchants I would be travelling with were marked long ago as favorable to barter with these people.

The goodbyes were said quickly, though the feelings were anything but quick. I had already spoken with Goldie while we all loaded up, but I had yet to see her for that last hug when she ran up quickly and drug me aside with a touch to my elbow. Her eyes were wide, clear with concern as she told me she had just spoken to Pike. It was heresay, she said, but nothing she hadn't thought of before herself. Jordian and Mag were not always thought of as the most scrupulous of merchants, and Pike had shared that the couple had cheated the wagon people more than once. Why they were still welcomed on the nomadic savages lands baffled Pike. His intention had been to assure Goldie of my safety, but it had only served to heighten her fear. Into my palm she pressed something, and when I looked down I saw a small dagger with a black polished handle. Clearly made for a woman's hand, it was light and easy to grip, the blade itself small and meant primarily for inflicting enough surprise and damage to allow escape. I thanked her, though I had never used such a thing in protection. Sentiments swelled and then all that was left was goodbye.