“Hee hee... I have nothing to worry about if I have such reliable guards by my side,” Helvetica said, smiling.
Angeline giggled. “I guess so...”
After reaching Bordeaux, Angeline’s party had naturally dropped by the estate of the countess. They were friends, and she’d felt it was appropriate to pay her respects when passing through. That was all she had expected their brief stay to amount to, but Helvetica had suddenly demanded to attend Turnera’s autumn festival no matter what, forcefully arguing down Ashcroft, who was less keen on the idea. Without hesitating, Helvetica had arranged a caravan, invited Angeline’s party to join her, and set off.
Marguerite clasped her hands behind her head and chuckled. “What was it again? ‘Would you rather I slip away later instead of when I have such reliable guards around? What are you going to do if I’m attacked?’ That one was a masterpiece.”
“Well, I could imagine Ms. Helvetica sneaking out in secret,” said Miriam. “Ashcroft probably permitted it because he was afraid she might actually do it.”
“Perhaps... But she’s got Sasha, so I’m sure she’d be just fine regardless,” Anessa reasoned.
Sasha, who was sitting beside Helvetica, fervently shook her head. “What are you saying?! It would be presumptuous to compare me to all of you!”
It seemed that Helvetica had initially intended to take her sister with her as a guard. With Angeline and her friends around, Sasha hadn’t really needed to come along—but Sasha had seemed to just assume that she would come along for the ride, and no one had had the heart to tell her otherwise. In the end, they were all traveling together, and Ashcroft was left holding his head.
“Still, that means all the Bordeaux sisters will be in Turnera. Isn’t that a first?” Anessa asked, taking out a box of sugar candy.
Sasha nodded. “Yes, come to think of it.” Before now, they’d only ever visited Turnera alone or in pairs, so it would in fact be a first for the three of them.
This year’s festival will be the most fun ever! Angeline thought to herself delightedly.
Helvetica cheerfully helped herself to some of the offered candy. “Come to think of it, we returned from Turnera with almost this same lineup last spring. It feels like just yesterday, but I guess it’s already been that long.”
“Ah, that’s right—though it was Seren back then, not Sasha,” Miriam corrected.
“That was right after the spring festival when Helvetica was shot down big time, huh.”
Helvetica puffed out her cheeks. “Oh, Maggie! Please don’t bring that up!”
Everybody else broke out into laughter, except for Sasha, who put a hand to her chin and nodded.
“I hear that Dame Satie is an old flame of Master Belgrieve. She’s beautiful, kind, and skilled, so it feels like he was never taking my sister seriously from the start!”
“H-Hey now! That may be true, but you could be a little more tactful, Sasha!”
“Huh? Oh, sorry, sis!” Sasha apologized profusely, but the damage was done, and the fact she had said it without any ill intent only made it worse.
Helvetica placed a hand to her forehead and sighed wearily. “I know Ashe is around to help, but leaving this girl on her own back home would be a bit of a problem... Perhaps it was a mistake to send Seren to Turnera, even if it affords her the opportunity to gain some experience.”
“Sounds rough,” Anessa consoled her, feeling a strange affinity for the noblewoman.
They expected to reach Rodina today. Unlike a cheaper wagon, the lord’s carriage was furnished with reliable wheels and axles, and the roadwork from Bordeaux to Rodina made it quite an easy and comfortable ride.
The two sisters and Angeline’s party filled the carriage, so Yakumo, Lucille, and Ishmael were following in another. They could hear Lucille strumming her guitar from behind them and could faintly make out the lyrics of some sort of traveler’s tune.
Angeline leaned back into her seat. It was cushioned, covered in leather, and very comfortable to sit in; her posterior didn’t ache if she stayed seated for too long, and she did not need to make conscious efforts to adjust her posture periodically. Even the rhythm of the wheels rolling over the road was comforting enough for her to start to feel drowsy.
Helvetica was gazing out the window when she began to speak again. “The first time I went to Turnera was during the autumn festival... I was welcomed to join in on the festivities with open arms, and I enjoyed myself very much. It’s hard to believe it now, but though I had traveled all over the county to survey the territory, I’d never been to Turnera before.”
“This is going to be my first autumn festival! I’m looking forward to seeing what it’s like!” Sasha exclaimed, gesticulating eagerly.
Angeline giggled. “It’s nothing too special. We all sing and dance and eat delicious food...”
“But that does sound special!”
“Come to think of it, we’ve been to the spring festival a couple times now, but this is going to be our first autumn festival too,” Miriam mused.
“That’s right. Whenever we tried to return this time of year, something would come up...”
“But we’ll be fine this year, heh heh... The very first thing I’m doing when we get there is gathering cowberries,” Angeline said with a proud smile. The most delicious cowberries of all were the ones she would sneakily scarf down while filling her basket. She hadn’t eaten them like that in years, but the memory of it alone was enough to make her drool. No other fruit could ever compare to that bittersweet bliss.
Miriam nodded. “Uh-huh, you’ve been going on about that this whole time. You’ve got my anticipation all built up, Ange.”
“Cowberries, huh... I’ve eaten them dried or jellied but never fresh.”
“They’re delicious! I’ve had some myself!” Sasha gushed.
Angeline pouted and pinched her cheek. “That’s unfair... Receive your punishment.”
Sasha’s eyes were spinning from the painful measure of justice. “Ow...”
Marguerite laughed. “We’re in the homestretch. Keep it together now,” she teased.
“I am keeping it together,” Angeline protested—so she said, but her words were undermined by the drool in her mouth. She swallowed it down and pressed the back of her hand to her mouth. “Anne, mint water, please...”
“Sure.” Anessa rummaged through her bag for the beverage.
After they settled down again, Angeline sipped mint water and lost herself in watching the scenery slowly drift by out the window. The sun was getting lower, but the sky was still blue, and the handful of wispy clouds looked like they could have been put there with delicate strokes of a paintbrush. The sky was radiant at this time of day.
Her musings were interrupted when one of the mounted guards rode up next to the window frame. “Pardon me. We will arrive in Rodina soon.”
“I see—well done. Could you ride ahead and reserve an inn for all of us?”
“Yes ma’am!” He saluted to Helvetica before spurring on his horse.
“Just a little farther...” Once they left Rodina, it would only be a half day’s ride to Turnera. Angeline would go to sleep tonight and be there by noon tomorrow. She could already picture trees adorned with red and gold leaves under the shockingly blue sky above and chimney smoke fading away into it. She could already imagine herself sitting in front of a flickering fireplace late into the night with a warm drink in her hands and the feeling of bedsheets over rugged straw rustling beneath whenever she would roll over in bed. That sound had been a lullaby to Angeline when she was little. It wouldn’t be too long until she could experience it all for herself, but the memories made Angeline smile, and when she closed her eyes, it was Turnera she saw in the dark behind her eyelids—and the face of her father in the center of it all.
“Just a little longer...”