Katherine approved of his pace. It was quicker than before as if to catch up after the rather long break or as if he’d finally caught the hang of it. She hated to disturb him since he’d been so intent on his work. Besides that, he was the boss in this endeavor and then she’d got lost in her own work but such breaks were luxuries they wouldn’t be able to indulge in too often, not if he wanted to arrive in Avantshire on time. 

But she would watch him, he’d moved stiffly before he’d got himself back in the saddle and she could see very well in the lines of his body that he was going to be in pain come the morning. She’d let him push now but tomorrow, she might insist on leading to spare him some. She had his measure for the most part now. 
For her part, her muscles sang pleasantly as she swung up into the saddle and she felt rather pleased with herself. Her form wasn’t too badly off as she’d moved through the exercises and she’d only had just a few swallows from her flask as she’d worked and that just to steady her nerves. She had good feelings about this journey despite the dark forest that suddenly seemed to be looming over them.

“I’ve traveled this leg of the road often enough but never to Avantshire. I usually broke off at the coast road and traveled along that. Not many people approach Avantshire from this direction.” 

Most of what could be got in Avantshire could be got elsewhere and would not require travel through a nasty swamp. But she’d agreed to take him and just because most people avoided the route didn’t mean it was impossible. She’d seen the road on the map, it was as simple as that. 

She wiped at the cooling sweat at her brow, surreptitiously sipping her flask which she tucked back into her pouch before going on.

“But the woods I know well enough, the swamp too. Maybe not this exact wood, but this type of wood if that makes sense. I know what to look for, to spot typical dangers and how to find a comfortable camp.”

Despite her airy, confident tone when speaking about survival in these woods she looked around cautiously as the dimness of the trees settled in around them as they entered the woods Proper. It was odd, she had to admit to herself. The temperature had dropped, but that could be accounted for by the shade. But the prickle along her skin hinted at more, a hint she brushed off by straightening in her saddle and clearing her throat authoritatively, certainly not nervously. Woods were woods, she’d been in these before, albeit not for a few years. They hadn’t felt so last time, but then she’d been more whole last time and in the company of trusted friends, friends who were now dead and not in the company of a skinny, ink-stained scholar. 

“Have you been before? To Avantshire?”

She kept her eyes open, sweeping around them as they moved and she noted that they were approaching one of the many intersections that dotted the king’s road as it moved through the woods, intersections with roads that took people to places other than Avantshire, roads much more frequently traveled for example. She noted with interest that the hoof-marks left by the messenger did not veer off down the side road but continued on the King’s road. For amusement’s sake, in her mind she scratched off a few of the places the messenger could have been going. There were a few more roads ahead, little offshoots and she amused herself by trying to predict which one he would take.