Fourteen

"Yes. I think so too," he said, finding that he was thinking about it in religious terms at first. "This is just our own perception, of course. I still can't imagine how people are content with telling themselves there is just "one" horizon, though..."

"Well, if you look at it another way, there is one horizon for everyone. What it looks like for you depends on where you are."

Sylvie shook her head. She could feel the rough shape of an idea, but it didn't quite fit together.

"Everyone will know in their mind that the world is big, if they think about it, but that's different from knowing, hm, in your bones."

Sebastian, on the other hand, looked pleased. "If you look at it like that, yes, that sounds about right. There is only one view of everything for any one person, I suppose?"

"Looking at things from different angles is not so difficult, but if the different views don't give a coherent image it gets confusing."

"Well, no. I almost prefer to just think about one angle at a time before moving onto another one when I feel the first one's come to a dead end." He paused for a moment, glancing at the streaming water. "It's nice that it isn't easy, though."

"Gives you something to do, hm." The last traces of playfulness had disappeared from her voice. "I sometimes wish it were easy, in important matters. Always wondering if you're on the right track, or missed or misjudged something important and ruining your life..." She laughed and shot Sebastian a look, genuinely amused. "Well, that's life, I guess."

To the first, Sebastian replied with a nod.

"It is," he said to her after her laugh. He was smiling. "I wish those things were easy, too. But it's life. I think we're on the right track no matter where we're going - after all, it's the way we've decided to go."

Sylvie sighed and her smile turned ironic. "Unless circumstances or someone else force us on a certain course. It happens." She had been thinking of events in her past, but as she said it she remembered what Sebastian had said about his Lady Luck.

"Ah, those things... they're out of our control," he said, not the least pertrubed. His smile remained. "They're not worth worrying about. The way we react and the decisions we make are more important."

"Right..."

Sylvie fell silent for a while, mulling things over.

"So you never suspect your Lady Luck might reach into your mind and make you make certain decisions directly?"

A single grey eyebrow rose as Sebastian considered this thought. Then he laughed. "I wouldn't ever forgive her if she did such a thing. No, I don't think she'd do that," the half-elf said as he tipped his hat backward a little, bright eyes watching for Sylvie's reaction. "I doubt she would find much interest in anyone's action if their every thought and move were just pure puppetry.

"Plus, she's not that powerful."

"I didn't mean every thought and move; more like a nudge every now and then. But if she can't, it doesn't really matter." She was relaxed, and smiling a little, enjoying the conversation - particularly since that question hadn't turned it to the bad.

He set his hat's angle again, inhaling deeply as the a short-lived, still gentle gush of wind rushed past them toward their destination. "Ah, right. Sorry. My mistake." Sebastian sighed, but kept on smiling nonetheless. "But like you said, it doesn't really matter. She's rarely straightforward as it is."

And that begged the question how she did work usually. However, Sylvie stopped herself as she was about to ask. She didn't want this to turn into another interrogation, like yesterday.

Apart from that saving some breath for walking was not an entirely bad idea.

Sebastian began to hum a while after they fell silent again, occasionally turning his head to feel the coolness of this new wind or to smell the scents it brought. There was no sign of worry and no tension colouring his countenance, nothing to hint that the weather or any of the problems he had alluded to earlier bothered him.

Some time later the humming stopped and he began to think of the different ways the trip to Canyet might turn out. He laid out plans, tried to remember details, names, locations. If this was what he thought the place to be, the memories would match reality. Partially, anyway. None of the decisions he made were ones he would regret or be unable to put off - but there weren't many decisions to make, after all. With that done, his mind moved on to recent and present details and problems.

Throughout the process, he would suddenly smile for some time or grow slightly more serious. His good mood remained.

Sylvie's plans for now were simple enough - finish her job, and otherwise see what happens.

Paying attention to their surroundings, particularly noises that were out of place or a bit louder than they should be, left a bit of room for mulling over the general topic of trust in the back of her brain. She neither came to any world-shattering conclusions, nor spotted a sign of the dragon.

Eventually her thoughts turned from half-philosophical to more practical issues.

"Say, if you hope to stay incognito, are you going to go by a different name?"

The thought had crossed his mind, but he hadn't really come to a decision yet. It wasn't as if it was a given that someone would put two and two together - sometimes it seemed as if people could count as far as one, two, many, lots... "I suppose I should."

Sylvie shrugged. It was his decision.
"Just don't forget to tell me when you know for sure."

"Oh, Kai should do well enough," he said unhurriedly, stretching his arms and crossing them behind his neck. Almost as an afterthought, he looked around. "He'll be fine, you said?"

"Ayu-Asra? Well, he found me every time, including when I tried to leave him with someone else and travelled quickly. He'll turn up eventually, it's just a matter of time."