It had been a few days since our travels picked up. We walked in the forest and ate whatever nature had made available. Luu slept for the most part, and Mubarak and Amrak were quite chatty. Overall, today was not a special day. The sun was shining, and the birds sang their generic songs. The old man, Mubarak, spoke:

  "There are still a few weeks left until we reach the Imperial capital." He said.

  "Would have been much faster if we had horses." Added Amrak.

  "Luu!" added Luu before promptly going back to sleep.

  The scenery of the forest had grown repetitive and boring by this point. I was used to long walks as a caravaneer, so I didn’t complain. But the forest landscape felt oddly boring. In retrospect, the journey had made the party grow closer. Although I still did not know much about either Mubarak or Amrak. The mystery of this party was not being helped by the dragon sleeping in my backpack. Luu slept for the most part, usually with his head looking out of the bag through a small opening. He had grown a lot, even though he was only a few days old. Mubarak said this was normal for a dragon of his age.

  Another point of concern was that we weren't using the highways but were following them at a distance through the forest paths. Growing sick of the greenery and the unending changes in elevation, I asked Mubarak:

  "So, why don't we head to the highway?"

  He looked at me for a second, sighed as if I were a hopeless student, and spoke:

  "With the dragon, you mean?"

  I paused for a second and continued walking. The fact that people would attempt to steal or even kill Luu wherever we went had slipped my mind, if only for a second. For a while, I suffocated under the burden of my useless question. The eerie silence was unyielding to my thoughts, its silent song being louder than ever. Not being able to stand it, I asked:

  "So, Amrak, why do you never talk about yourself?"

  "Really, I'm no one of concern." She replied.

  "But you are a great mage! Surely you would have been appreciated wherever you went, no?" I added.

  "This one humbly thinks you should stop questioning her. It is one's duty to show hospitality even in the unknown." Remarked Mubarak.

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  "I feel as if you have been the one who saw the most hospitality, though," I added, looking back at him. He briefly chuckled and continued walking. I turned my head to Amrak, who had gained speed.

  "So, Amrak, will you please tell me?"

  She sighed and started explaining the tale of a land far away, a Kingdom of the East. People there harmed no one. They ate only what nature provided and what they grew. They always spoke the truth and added nothing more.

  Mubarak hijacked the conversation to add:

  "The 3 seals, they call them if this old one's memory serves him right."

  Amrak affirmed and added:

  "The seal of the mouth is the first. We do not speak lies, and we do not eat meat. Secondly, comes the seal of the hands. We may not fight, we may not kill, and we may not harm the Earth."

  Mubarak spoke once more:

  "And third is the seal of the breasts. This one experienced it firsthand as well." He said and smiled, clearly thinking back to a memory.

  "Weird, one might mistake you for a proper person from the outside," Amrak said to him. I thought that something might have happened while I was unconscious.

  "So, why did you leave?" I asked Amrak.

  "You saw her use magic to save me, no? That type of disrespect for the soil would never be appreciated in the Eastern Khaganate. " Mubarak commented.

  "It was not the second but rather the third seal," Amrak responded. She seemed uncomfortable with the conversation, while Mubarak was keen to discuss his past love life. So, I decided to let it be.

  Soon we sighted a village from afar. I asked Mubarak if we could visit it, and the answer was surprisingly positive. Luu was sleeping soundly in my backpack, and I decided zipping it up for a while wouldn't be an issue. I dreamt of finally sleeping in a proper bed after so long. The journeys had tired me out, and I would, in all honesty, much rather be in my hometown, sleeping in my own bed. Alas, for now, an inn or even a bed of hay would suffice.

  The village was surrounded by a short palisade that would be easy to jump over. The gate was equally uninteresting, and two guards guarded it. They appeared to be no more than 14 years old. When we approached the gate, they stopped us and asked for our identification. I didn't have any proper ID on me, so I was hoping Mubarak would be of help. After looking through his pockets, he spoke:

  "Ah, this old man appears to have lost his identification. But surely two young men like you would not trouble this one for such things." The sound of gold coins hitting each other in his pocket was audible. Intentionally so. The child-guards were practically drooling. The dreams of what they could buy with even one gold coin were likely emanating in their minds. Sadly for them, however, their dreams were cut short by Amrak stepping in. She moved closer to the guards and showed them a token of some sort before commenting:

  "Country boys like you probably don't even know what this is, do you?"

  The child-guards first looked at each other. They hadn't wiped the drool off their faces before one of them stepped forward and asked:

  "What might you be? If you must know, my father is the lord of this village!"

  "Good, call him because otherwise you will have a big issue," Amrak replied. The child-guard who appeared to be younger looked intimidated, whereas the other stood his ground. He looked at the younger one and said:

  "Fetch my father, will you, Memo?"