[h2][color=purple]Juna[/color][/h2]

The three of them set off, riding off into the distance, towards that house that Juna had seen Lothren come out of. That was where Juna led them, as she rode in the front, ahead of the two others. She led her companions towards it. Then Juna felt great silence, which to Juna was palpable. The only sound was that of the horses’ hooves against the grass, and that was no sound at all, merely another part of the atmosphere like the chirping of the birds or the sound of the grass whistling against the wind. Annara had been quite right to say she hated how the villages feel.

Juna dismounted along with her companions when she arrived. Her expression, a slight mischievous smile, remained just as it always had. Arriving here, Juna really did not have any idea what to expect, at least specifically. Generally, she knew what was here. A captive Aretan knight was here, and Lothren was hesitant, Juna might say afraid, to approach him by himself, and he likely was still in his bounds and in his cell. Knowledge of the specifics, however, were what would stop everything from going bad, and Juna definitely did not have that.

Annara started to get ahead of herself, and started to rush headlong into whatever struggle that would ensue. Juna had no doubt that something would go wrong, and it would make this whole thing disastrous. That’s what always happened when you needed things to go well. Juna rushed to catch up to her.

“It wouldn’t vex you to slow down now, would it?” Juna said. “Why don’t you let me have the honors of going first?”

Juna assumed she would refuse.