After several days of travel, Dawn spotted a smudge on the horizon, slowly resolving into an utterly immense wall and several towers as they approached. While the size was staggering, at least this pce had a proper wall, well beyond proper even, into the realm of absurdity.
Hours ter, the two finally ended up being able to distinguish gates along the wall, which appeared ically small pared to the great barrier. Remembering that her mother told her Morris would try to let her know which gate to use, she vinced Farah to let them rest for a while, and begaing up camp.
Less than an hour ter, she spotted a hawk diving towards them, and jumped to her feet, startling Farah with her sudden movement. As Farah rapidly stood and began searg for any threat, the hawk swerved, and, with much fpping, mao nearly stop midair befently nding on the ground beside Dawn.
She hadn’t been sure at first, but up close she could reize the markings, revealing that it was indeed Kel. As she reassured Farah that the haho they were waiting for, it dipped its beak beh its feathers, rummaging around for a moment. As it straightened back up, it held a tightly folded piece of paper with its beak, and hopped over to Dawn before dropping it into her hand as she k down.
After gently rubbing Kel’s head, she unfolded the paper ahe message. Apparently Devon and his men had been assigo the same gate every day, and it was not too far from the closest gate, so they should be able to reach it retively quickly. Additionally, Morris had written that he would go there to meet her as well, once Kel let him know she had arrived.
Remembering that it was more difficult for birds to take flight from the ground, she offered her hand to Kel as she thanked him. After tilting his head for a moment, Kel nodded and hopped onto her wrist, careful to keep his talons from biting into her as she lifted him up as high as she could. Nodding to her one more time, Kel dipped forward and dropped, quickly gaining altitude as he did not have to avoid hitting the ground with his wings from such a vantage point.
Dawn turo Farah and shared the dires with her, and they began trekking towards the indicated gate. Along the way, Farah mentioned she was actually heading to visit friends most of the way across the city from where they were headed, but she did not mind taking a longer route to make sure Dawn made it safely inside.
Upoioning why entering safely was a , Farah responded, “Well, as I’m sure you have heard before, foxes in particur are typically kill-on-sight everywhere, to begin with. And the Red Church hates Awakened, hunting them whehey think they get away with it. To enter Arrival, you have to pass through two sets of guards. The town guard mostly cares that you don’t intend harm to anyone, but beyond them is a sed checkpoint the Church operates. It isn’t unon for them to cause problems fes, or ahey sider weak.”
Farah shook her head sadly before tinuing, “Unfortunately, you are quite young, and thus retively weak, a mage, carrying an Awakened, and sheltering a fox. Four different reasons for them to cause problems for you.”
Surprised by the revetion, in addition to the city’s name, Dawn realized she hadn’t fully expined what was going on. Deg to correct the ck of uanding, she replied, “That is somewhat w, thank you for letting me know. Luckily, we had a rather unique meeting with a group of warriors from the Church of flict back at our vilge, and Niphru impressed them quite a bit, some of them even apologized for how they treated him at first!”
Smiling at the memory, she then tinued, “They also said that since he was my friend and had not harmed them, they would leave him alone, and then after he helped, their leader offered to help us get into the city to meet with my mother’s old teacher. We were waiting for Kel, his panion Awakened hawk, to let us know where Devon and his men are so we make sure to run into their group, not one we don’t know.”
Upon hearing this, Farah let out a deep breath before smiling bad exg, “That is good to hear, I was worried about trying to find some way to hide him from the guards, and they do take their jobs seriously. But if you are fident iing past this Devon safely, the town guards will be far easier to pass. Being a mage is almost enough on its own, but if yoing to be trained by a known mage… Actually, you said he was going to meet you inside, right? If so, there will not be any problems, most likely. They may have an issue with your friend, but if you direct them to your teacher, he should be able to vouch for you.”
Dawn nodded in response before she responded, “I also have a letter from Jerald stating that I have his thanks for helping the town, and that I have not caused any problems for him, so that might help too, I think?”
“Oh, I was unaware of that! A letter from a noble voug for you will certainly help, with all this, you shouldn’t have any problems at all. I will still follow you in, however, I did accept it as my duty, after all. But I must admit that all these things make me feel much more at ease. Thank you for expining, otherwise I might have taken a to trick people when it would actually make things worse,” remarked Farah, as she turned back towards the gate they were approag.
Upon arrival at Arrival, they joined a short line of less than a dozen people, watg as each traveler roup was escorted into a buildi into the side of the wall, emerging a few moments ter and passing through a small doorway set into the gate’s immense sbs of stone.
Soon it was their turn, the young man who greeted them looking anxiously towards Niphru before looking back at Dawn. Seeing how rexed she was, he seemed to calm down a bit more as he motioned for them to follow him. As their eyes adjusted to the gloomy lighting inside, Dawn and Farah noticed an older woman sitting at a desk, a spear leaning against the wall beside her, and a small crossbow sitting beside her hand.
After taking a quice at the man whht them in, she asked him to remain there before turning back to Dawn, a curious look in her eyes. A few seds ter, she spoke in a rough voice, “Well, this is certainly unusual. What is your purpose in our city, and why are y t a fox inside, of all things?”
As Dawn started to bristle at how she referred to Niphru, the woman sighed, shaking her head slightly, and tinued, “Look, it is clear something is going on here, you didn’t seem worried until I asked about the fox. I’m not stupid, I know there must be a reason for them to be around you, I just o know why. I must admit, however, to being curious beyond just doing my job, and I would appreciate it if you would be willing to say more than the minimum.”
Hearing that the woman wasn’t actively trying to be hostile, she reminded herself that most people didn’t i with Awakeo begin with. F the annoya of her mind, she answered, “This is Niphru, I’m sorry fetting upset, but so many people have problems with him without getting to know him. From what I heard from my mother’s teacher, he is both the first fox, and the first wild animal to bee Awakened. I was reeo e learn from Morris, since my mother trusts him, and he should be here waiting for me, acc to a message brought to us earlier. Niphru was also injured in a strange way while proteg me, and our healer said we might be able to find help here.”
“Well, that is indeed iing. So long as you are telling the truth, it should be fio enter, provided you are willing to abide by the standard rules fes,” the oke, nodding at Dawn’s staff. Turning to the man, she requested that he check for a mage waiting outside, watg as he left before tinuing, “Now, please wait a few moments until he returns. I will assume everything is in iven your reas, so then… If this is your first time iy, you may not know the standard mage rules. In that case, you will o be registered as well, and your sponsor will take care of both the paperwork and ensuring you uand the ws.”
Fog on Niphru and frowning slightly, she remarked, “I ’t help you get Niphru into the city, however. After us, you have to be sed by the damnable Church’s men, and they will likely demand to kill him. I would reend that you find somewhere he wait for you outside, perhaps a friend help?”
Dawn smiled, happy at her trying to warn her about dao NIphru. She reached up to scratiphru’s head and excimed, “Thank you very much for the warning! I don’t think I though, Unless something has ged, we know the people waiting for us, and they already said they would let us pass as thanks for helping them before.”
“Well now,” the woman replied, her eyes wide, “I must admit I have never heard that one before, despite being here so many years! Don’t tell anyone else about that, or there absolutely will be problems with the Church as a whole, even if this group cooperates with you.”
As Dawn o her, the young maered again, quickly rep that he didn’t find a mage at first, but just before he headed back, one showed up asking about a young dy and a fox. Notig he was in a rush, he calmed down for a moment, taking a deep breath, then speaking, “Sorry, I haven’t met any of the great mages before. He said his name was Morris and he was waiting for Dawn, and would be willing to verify her identity if we requested, then sat down to wait just ihe gate.”
“I see, it looks like my assumption was correbsp; Dawn, is it? You are free to tinue, I wish you the best of luck, hopefully you don’t ,” the dy stated before nodding to them.
Farah then spoke up, “I am here both to escort Dawn, ensuring her safe entry, as well as visit some friends. You should already have me in your records, Farah of Granitehill, and I have my identification here as well, if you require it.”
The woman shook her head, and responded, “As you are in the pany of a mage, so long as they may enter, you as well. I still remember you from st time as well.”
Farah nodded in thanks before the two of them left the room. Dawn noticed several of the uards looking at her with surprised expressions, seeing that she was not escorted away, though most of them just shrugged and turo face outward again. Gd that no oried to stop or dey her, she tinued iowards a bright red inner gate, blocked by several warriors in crimson armor.
