A Journey Begins

[Raychel]

Raychel lay in bed for quite some time, listening carefully for any noise in the house. It sounded like everyone was fast asleep. Her heart was pounding and she had a sort of queasy feeling in her stomach.

Am I really doing this?

Lying in silence was almost intolerable for Raychel right now—she was growing more and more anxious and nervous. Deciding that she had waited long enough, she noiselessly rose from bed, dressed, and took up her carefully packed backpack that had been stowed under her bed.

She eyed her lute in the corner of the room, the moonlight streaming on it. How she would miss it. A pity that her backpack was not magical, and that she could not somehow condense the lute and have it fit inside.

Raychel exited her room as stealthily as she could, taking great care that the floor boards did not creak. In the kitchen she stopped to place her note on the table.

Mom, Dad, and Luke,

Please don’t worry or be upset, but I’m going to be out of town for awhile. I will be careful and it isn’t that I won’t come back—I will—but I need to leave for some time. I’ll find a job somewhere, and I’ll see some new places, and follow my destiny so to speak. Don’t try sending anyone to look for me— even if they find me, they won’t be able to convince me to come back right now. I’ll send you some letters periodically to let you know that I am okay. I still love you and I hope you will come to accept my decision. I won’t be a disappointment to you. But I have needed to leave our town for quite a while. Luke, good luck in the fencing tournament. You’ve practiced well and I bet you’ll win, and you’ll have all the girls after you. In any case, I know you’ll do admirably. Mom and Dad—once again, please don’t worry. I have thought about this for quite some time, and I am sure that it is what I want. I am prepared for it and I really think that it will be good for me.

Love,
Raychel

Raychel thought the note was awful, and was disappointed that she hadn’t written something better. It was really hard to express herself to them. She knew they would be upset and worried when they read the letter, even though it asked them several times not to worry. She really did hope they would listen and not send someone after her though, because she wouldn’t put it past them to do so.

They simply don’t think I can be treated like an adult, capable of making adult decisions.

Without too much delay, Raychel left the house and started down the road. The night air was brisk and pleasant. Once Raychel had begun steadily walking on her journey, her nervousness evaporated. This was probably because now that she was actually leaving, which she had dreamed of doing for so long, it felt sort of surreal.

Raychel felt dumb and unprepared in a way, because she had no concrete plan of where she was going or what she would do. This might be foolish. But then, it might be genius. Living in Burgantaia, a village on the outskirts of Agyron, had grown old to her. The place was everything to her family, but it held nothing for her anymore. Even if she was making a mistake by embarking on her journey, it would be something different from the dull existence she had in Burgantaia.

[Raychel]

Raychel had lived in Burgantaia, a village on the outskirts of Agyron, for her whole life. Agyron is one of the three cities on the island of Myranthia, a small island off the western coast of Corone.

Agyron lies in southern Myranthia. The environment there is temperate, with adequate rainfall because the prevailing winds blow from the coast towards Agyron. Sometimes in the summer they bring hurricanes, but there are no faultlines on Myranthia, so there are no earthquakes or volcanoes.

Rather than a true city with a defined downtown, Agyron is more of a sprawling mass of homes and businesses. Burgantaia is a village on the west side of Agyron. It is a relatively stable, peaceful, conservative place. The homes are of modest size and design and are constructed of wood and thatched or shingled roofs. People generally stay in the town and work jobs similar to those their parents did. If there is a family farm, then the children will continue farming. If the father of a family is a doctor, then it is expected that his eldest son will also train in Agyron to be a doctor. Most people start looking for serious relationships in grade school, and as soon as their schooling is finished, the majority of the graduating class gets married and starts families.

The landscape in the area is that of a temperate woodland. The trees in the surrounding forests are about half evergreen and half deciduous, so that although there are beautiful fall colors, the forest does not look completely barren in the winter. There is not much snowfall in the winter—the average is to have perhaps one or two snows of about three inches each.

To the northwest of Agyron are the Wyndsong mountains. These mountains are of moderate elevation and are forested. To the northeast is Greenwood, which has similar vegetation to the woods surrounding Agyron but it is denser due to less human disturbance.

The Wyndsong mountains create a rain shadow so that, while the Agyron area is well watered, north of the mountains there is a desert. Both the desert and the small city located in it on the northwest part of Myranthia are called Namagova. The people here live in homes made of adobe.

On the northeast side of Myranthia is Parasia, the largest of the island’s three cities. Parasia has a port where all sorts of goods come in from Corone. Because of its contact with Corone, Parasia’s citizens tend to be more trendy and conscious of culture outside of Myranthia than the people of Namagova and Agyron. The architecture of Parasia is more extravagant, with many of the city’s wealthiest citizens importing stone and marble from the Jagged Mountains of Corone for their manors and villas.

Raychel’s parents, like many of the other most conservative, hard working families of Burgantaia, did not like Parasia all that much— they thought that the people there were frivolous and lazy. The few times when Raychel’s family had traveled to do a little sightseeing outside of Burgantaia, they had not gone to Parasia. They would visit the Wyndsong mountains, which had some very scenic mountain lakes and some nice inns run by friendly people from the Agyron area.

Raychel’s parents had respect for the people of Namagova, wondering at how they managed to live in the harsh desert conditions. They did not visit there, however, because it was too dry and rugged to be a fun place to visit, and anyway the people of Namagova were not accustomed to many visitors. Just because Raychel’s parents respected the Namagovians did not mean that they really understood them. Still, if Raychel’s parents had to choose between visiting Namagova or visiting Parasia, there is no doubt that they would choose Namagova. For although they did not feel drawn to Namagova (they never really felt any draw to leave the Agyron/Burgantaia area at all, save for weekend trips to the Wyndsong mountains), they did not despise it like they did Parasia.

With Raychel’s parents disliking Parasia so much, it isn’t surprising that this was the first place she wanted to visit.

[Letho]

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