(Isla)
The settlement looked different with Caius beside me.
Not the place itself. The streets were the same, the noise was the same, the smell of food from the stalls carried the same way it had the first time. But something about moving through it with him changed how it felt. Nobody here knew what we were but they felt something when we passed. People stepped aside without knowing why. Conversations paused for a second and then resumed.
Caius noticed. He didn't say anything about it.
We'd come without guards this time. His decision, not mine. He'd said two people moved through a settlement without drawing attention. A group did not. I hadn't argued because he was right and because I didn't want anything about today to feel like an official visit.
This wasn't official.
This was min
