12. End of a Journey

Agatha couldn't be thankful enough for Nerea's help. Being allowed to ride the cart was already a gift from the earth, but the company? That was the actual blessing.

Her companion from the village, Cristobal, left the caravan the next day and instead of spending the rest of the journey in exasperating silence, she was now surrounded by warm conversations.

"I must say, your agate is the most beautiful," Nerea commented as they had stopped for lunch and the caravan formed makeshift kitchens on the side of the road. "And certainly powerful."

Agatha contributed to the cooking like any other woman in the caravan, though she had even more reason to contribute as her food reserves were rather limited and any extra – and more importantly, free – food she could get from helping was almost mandatory. Whilst she wasn't the best cook, her agate made cooking way faster.

"Yes, the Heat command works wonders with my agate," the girl responded as she stirred the pot of stew. "Though unfortunately, it's the only agate to my name."

She stirred mostly so her little sapphire didn't burn any contents inside by being in touch with them for too long. Cooking was done the traditional way at home, but when traveling one couldn't always afford to build fires, so dropping agates with the Heat command into pots was a very valid way to cook one's meals. Though it led to burnt food more than once.

"Ah, you know what they say. Blessings and curses go hand in hand."

"I'd prefer if they didn't," Agatha sulked.

"Don't we all?" The matronly woman chuckled. "But life is a journey. You need both the mountains and the valleys, otherwise we would get bored out of our minds by walking down the pastures."

"That doesn't seem too bad," the dirty-blond girl took the ladle from the pot and took a sip to taste it. Her azure eyes shone after a sip. "Mmm~ I'm getting better."

"Lemme see," Nerea took the spook out of her hands and consumed the rest of the contents. She smacked her lips together as she savored the stew. "That's quite good, darling. If the thingy with the academy doesn't work, try finding me. I'm more than fine with having you as our cook."

"Oh, you do far better than I, Nerea," Agatha replied with a blush.

"Considering I've been cooking for my children for two decades already, I'd say it's quite pathetic you are already at such a close level when you are… fifteen, right?" The girl from Malachite nodded. "See? And it's not even that I started cooking only when I had my children. If you progressed this much in a handful of days – weeks already – I fear for the cooks of this kingdom what you can do in a handful of months."

"I think I won't be able to do much cooking in the coming months," Agatha said with a hint of lament.

"Oh, that's a shame," Nerea started serving the stew in bowls. "I know I'm no one to step into your life, but try cultivating that talent. Not many people are that good with ingredients, especially subpar ones. Or maybe it's your agate?"

"I doubt my agate can make things taste better," she responded with an awkward chuckle before starting to serve the stew too.

"Really? Maybe you are using a hidden Taste command, and you haven't told me."

"I doubt a Taste command exists."

"And that's why it would be hidden," Nerea told with an all-too-knowing smile.

Lunchtime swiftly came to an end amidst the trivial conversations, and soon the caravan was on the move already. Life in Malachite had been so dull that Agatha no longer minded the grueling lifestyle of the caravan; it felt like a part of her that she had needed for a long time. She didn't fit in the village, and she knew it since she was young. She hadn't managed to make any real friends even after living there for fifteen years, and it was a constant feeling of loneliness that oppressed her whenever she was there.

The same couldn't be said for the caravan.

Yes, her feet and legs ached, but a feeling that was agonizingly fleeting most of the time now drowned her heart.

Happiness. But also satisfaction.

Or perhaps satiated is the right word. Like a hunger that had always been with her, Agatha felt now that her stomach had finally stopped grumbling. Alas, she knew all of this was temporary. Fleeting. Ethereal.

She had to make it to the Skyscraper Academy. There was no denying that fact. Not only did she owe that to herself, but also to her mother. Perhaps Esmeralda wasn't the most enthusiastic woman about going to Knight's Ascent, but she wanted her daughter to get a good education, and Agatha knew it. She couldn't betray those expectations.

But most importantly, satiation wasn't enough for her. She had lived through many years of bullying until she learned to control her lone agate, and now being satisfied didn't cut the deal. It wasn't about having her stomach empty anymore, but about having it burst from the greatest of feats. No more, no less.

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She ached to show the power and the greatness that rested inside of her.

She had to free it.

Once she started using her agate more freely after meeting with Nerea, so the caravan started reaching out for her. Perhaps it was a sole agate, but most of the time one was more than enough for most applications, so why settle for a mediocre agate when you could have one of such outstanding quality?

Her efforts were the most notable when she was actually asleep. As she had no use for her agate during the night, whatever cart led the caravan during each night would ask her for her agate to illuminate the way. Whilst the lighting produced from the Light command could be stacked with multiple agates, Agatha's light was so concentrated that it cut through the night when put on a simple contraption that focused light forward. It wasn't about quantity, but intensity, and she was a clear winner at that.

Thanks to that, she was finally freed from walking. All the members in the caravan were more than happy to have her on their carts. I can't believe it has taken me this long to use my agate, she would constantly think while she rested at the front of the caravan, her legs dangling from the cart and rocking with its movement. Yet another reason why she was so thankful for Nerea's intervention. It had given her that push forward that allowed her to demonstrate her worth to the caravan. Without her, she would have still been working with feet laden with blisters.

But her journey was inevitably coming to an end. It had been weeks since her departure from Malachite after all, yet she couldn't help but feel a sense of unease. Agatha was unable to tell if it was because she had enjoyed the journey far more than she had thought, or maybe it was the growing nervousness as she was bound to start taking classes soon.

The more the days passed by, the more she realized it was the latter. She didn't feel prepared at all. And that was considering that with her new cart-riding privileges she had actually been able to study.

"Oh, nice one, Cristian!" Nerea clapped as her young grandson completed an exercise.

"Hehe…" the five-year-old boy giggled proudly.

Homeschooling wasn't that popular in Malachite – mostly because no villager was suited to do so – but also because the statal examination that would allow even the worst of examinees to partake in crash courses at some state-sponsored schools. That was to say: Agatha was just thankful that these caravanners didn't follow that tradition.

Whilst it was quite pathetic being schooled with a five-year-old, Agatha had been painfully aware of some critical lagoons in her knowledge and abilities. She could read, but her speed was pathetic and her vocabulary even more so. Writing wasn't a problem as she knew how to read, especially after realizing that her calligraphy was far better than she had realized.

The accounting and inventory books didn't make for the most interesting of readings, but they helped her, nonetheless. Especially in the math department. Travelling with merchants had proved to be the greatest of blessings as her arithmetic had been severely lacking. If it wasn't for the fact that Nerea's whole family – extended at that – helped her and that she personally was a quick study, Agatha wouldn't have wrapped her head around the concept of 'fractions' this fast.

"I was going to make a comment about how I doubted that you made it into an academy with that surface-level knowledge of yours, but after seeing how fast you are grasping things, it makes sense to me," Nerea commented after Cristian fell asleep.

Agatha frowned. "You still made that comment by mentioning it."

"Oh, have I?" The matronly woman smiled. "Maybe I have," then giggled.

As she felt like her eyes were going to pop out of her skull like her little sapphire did from her necklace, Agatha put down the book she was currently studying from and made a sigh. Temperatures had been steadily dropping these weeks as autumn approached, and she felt it even more now than ever.

"Do tell," the girl started, "I know caravans never really stop or die, but where will you and your family personally get off?"

"Oh, that's hard to tell, darling," Nerea mused as she looked from the front of the cart and into the rather gray skies. They had had luck so far, and it had never rained harder than a drizzle since they joined the caravan, but it seemed like that fortune was about to change. "We are definitely crossing the border and passing through the mountains of Grwcia, but who's to say where we will stop? The deserts of Secto, the jungles of Sanaar, the turquoise waters of Intak Solfan… they all call for us. Especially those latter ones. The beaches of Crocheta are fine and all, but I've heard wonders about the ones at Intak Solfan."

"Whoa…" Agatha was left speechless. Not only were these names she had never heard in her life besides Grwcia, but the accent when Nerea pronounced the names of those countries was enticing. "Well… you do make them sound amazing. I have never left Crocheta – this is the first time I went farther than the barony – and I haven't heard about most of the countries you've mentioned… The world truly is big, isn't it?"

"You're right about that," the woman's eyes lingered on the horizon with wanderlust. "There's money to be made by moving products, but the true spices we carry are those of discovery and experiences."

"I wish I could travel the world," the girl found herself sighing.

"Oh, you are still young and have a life before you. And you've seen how far you can make it without anything to your name with the right company."

"You are right about that," Agatha nodded with a smile drawn on her face.

The girl and the woman shared a moment of comfortable silence as their imagination were flown to faraway places, only for a cold caress to greet them.

"Oh," Nerea mused as a drop of water fell on her nose. "I guess luck has finally run out," she jested.

"Yeah, this doesn't look like a drizzle," Agatha said after having stood up and looking out of the cart. "Do you think they will need my agate to illuminate the way?"

"Hmm, depending on the weather we will stop at a caravanserai. Mud completely wreaks havoc on the wheels. Or maybe we will continue marching for a while longer considering how close the next city is. Inns are a good solution from time to time to weather a storm."

"Which's the next city?"

"I think you can already see it from here," Nerea pointed at the dark horizon. "There it is. The capital of Crocheta."

"Ah," Agatha clutched her heart as a massive pain assaulted her. The end of the journey and the start of another weighed down on her more than the luggage she had been forced to carry for endless hours every day for weeks.

A lone lightning bolt illuminated the skies and revealed the massive metropolis lying underneath the clouds. It wasn't the most welcoming of arrivals, but she had finally made it after what felt like ages.

"Knight's Ascent," whispered the azure-eyed girl as the heavens broke and the downpour started.