The Southern Gate [POST HERE FIRST]

Freyja's eyes narrow, but she nods. Without further adieu, she departs, striding off toward the Citadel.

A rider approaches the grad gate of Isra, out of place in his dessert garb. The Gate is opened for him and he sees a grand city sprawled before him.

Can you ever truly return home?

The question echoed in Kate's mind as she saw the daily life of regular people through the aperture of the city gate. It made her think.

Sure, the streets looked the same, but the people who walked them were different. Many had passed, many had come and then passed since she stopped calling this place home.

The memories lived here still, as long as she could recognise them. That bench, where they were sitting, eating, laughing, kissing. From there she had walked to The Midnight Sun that first night, innocent, scared, but excited. So many memories. When the streets would be gone, when Kate would be gone, so would the memories.

So why not make a few more?

But how could she explain it to all these wonderful and people she had met and befriended, and then tossed aside like she didn’t need them anymore?

If only such a way existed.

For a long time, she was searching for something that may not have even existed. At many points she felt leaving was a mistake, that if she turned around now, she would not amount to much. That she never really amounted to anything.

How silly is that, after all she was with someone with all the power. All the charm too.

Eventually she realised that she was looking in the wrong places. Going in circles. Nothing was being found. Kate blamed her inadequacy. Why was something that was so easy before suddenly impossible. It made no sense!

Except it did, and she didn’t want to admit it to herself.

Sharing her time with someone she loved was what made her flourish. It made everything shine that much brighter, even the things impossible to grow. The love she received was what fermented the soil.

Of course there was no study, no empirical method that could prove it to be fact. But she already felt ready to face the impossible.

It was time already to belong somewhere.

Home. Isra was home.

"The end is coming for me! I'm a dead man walking I tell you."

Disheveled and dripping with sweat the man appeared to be a beggar coming to the city in search of better luck. Obviously crazy, "It's been following me so long and I am tired. I can't run much longer. The hospice took me in once perhaps the Brothers will help me again."

The ragged clothes could have once been fine material, but now they were torn and covered in dirt and bodily fluids. Resting both hands on his cane the man explained himself to the guard, who probably wouldn't have even thought to question him. The stick he used for balance was partially carved with a skyline that looked somewhat like Isra. A battle scene was taking form in the wood but it was not yet complete. A sword was perhaps concealed within, but the man was obviously no danger to anyone but himself.

"They'll come for me. You'll see. I ran. To war, to the bottle, to the sea, the woods, but you can never escape from your own memories. Never! I am guilty. What I have done to my family, my friends, the ones I loved. So full of guilt! He fell and I... I just left him. I fell too right here," He pointed towards the wall to the west, "The Brothers took me in. As they took me from the bottle once..."

The diatribe continued. Whatever the man had claimed he was running from it apparently wasn't all that close, if it existed at all. Perhaps the guards would usher him along or make him leave. If not he would eventual get the words off his chest and continue into the city.

The journey had not been so long and, as Aya predicted, rather uneventful. Jochi was rather flummoxed by it, as his travels had been teeming with danger and interesting individuals for as long as he could remember. He preferred not to give it much thought, as it partly vexed him to think this woman was so powerful by accident.

As they approached the gates, the man smiled gently. He held a hand out. "And here we are at last!" he announced. "The gates of the city! Many have spoken about them. Less grand than I would have expected, but they are just gates, yes? I await the city itself! Come, come, this should not be so difficult."

If he would have asked her, she would not have called herself powerful at all... More like lucky. Luck had everything to do with it. She could be killed just like any other, she had just not really had any encounters thus far. Not that she knew what he thought about. She was just glad to be close to civilization again.

"They are gates indeed," she murmured tiredly. "I, for one, am looking forward to resting my feet." She chuckled.

And then there was a weird guard asking about chickens. "No chickens, just kittens."

The scraggly guard glanced between the strange pair, wondering if the man was trying to make some sort of joke. Who did he think he was, implying that the border guards, the guardians of the empire, were underfed? He considered making some scathing remark, but decided against it. He had never been known for his wit, after all, and he was loathe to inadvertently make himself look foolish in front of the woman. Better to play things safe and stick with what he was good at, namely doing his job.

"Please do not, sir," he said. "No poultry allowed through this gate, but especially chickens. There's no toll to come through, so long as you're not bringing any sort of contraband."

He turned to the woman and offered her a somewhat nervous smile, displaying just a couple of missing teeth. It wasn't often that pretty women like her found their way through his guard post, and he was glad that he'd polished his armor yesterday. 

"Kittens?" he asked, somewhat puzzled. "I don't know if kittens are allowed...there might be a rule against it. I'll have to check. One moment, ma'am."

Turning over his shoulder, he shouted back towards the guardhouse.

"Hey Sergeant! Are cats allowed through the border?"

There was a pause, followed by some muffled swearing within the guardhouse. A few moments later, a red-faced sergeant of the guard came storming out through the gate and made a beeline towards the young guard. Stepping to within a hair's breadth of the unfortunate man, he leaned forward to tower over him, glaring into the suddenly terrified man's eyes.

"Jenks," he said, his voice shaking with rage. "Turn out your pockets. Do it now."

Jenks blinked, confused, but did so. The contents of his pockets included a half-eaten sweet roll, a few coins, and and a small charm in the shape of a turtle. The sergeant nodded and jabbed a finger at the coins.

"Tell me, Jenks," he said. "Tell me, what do you see on the front of that there gold coin?"

A droplet of sweat rolled down Jenks' forehead as he contemplated the question, not sure what the sergeant wanted but not wanting to give the wrong answer. After a long, uncomfortable silence, he finally supplied his answer in a trembling voice.

"T-the empress?"

"That's right," said the sergeant. "The empress herself. Now, tell me, Jenks. What does the empress have on her head?"

The unfortunate guard glanced down at the coin again, still unsure as to where his sergeant was going with all of this. This whole situation didn't seem to make much sense, but the one thing he knew was that he didn't like it. Nobody liked getting a tongue-lashing on the best of days, especially in front of the travelers.

"Uh...her ears, sergeant?"

The sergeant nodded, picking up the coin between thick, sausage-like fingers and raising it up before the younger guard's face. Jenks looked at it, his eyes crossing as he tried to focus on the coin almost touching his nose.

"Her ears, Jenks. Cat ears, specifically. The empress is a damn cat. With that in mind, Jenks, do you think that there are any laws against cats in the Empire?"

Jenks' eyes widened as he realized where the sergeant was going with this. Of course, it was so obvious! How had he been so dumb? He broke into an uneasy smile again, stepping around the sergeant to address the pair once more.

"I'm terribly sorry for the trouble," he said. "I'm afraid cats aren't allowed. Imperial law. You'll have to leave them out here."

After all, he thought smugly, cats were terribly territorial. It made sense that the empress wouldn't want any entering her land. He nodded to himself, glad that he was so smart, until the sergeant's hand lashed out and smacked him around the back of the head hard enough to spin his helmet backwards and make his ears ring.

"Get out of my sight, you stupid turnip-digger," growled the sergeant. "You can forget about going on leave tomorrow, and I hope you like midnight patrols in the woods. No fires, no torches, march till dawn. Maybe you'll learn how to be less dumb."

Turning towards the newcomers, he sighed and shook his head. As Jenks hurried off towards the guardhouse, he gestured towards the open gates with a wave of his hand.

"Please forgive his idiocy," he said. "His mental abilities are not indicative of the guard as a whole. Your cats are absolutely permitted through the border, and you two are free to pass. Please enjoy your stay within Isra, and may the Empress' rein last a thousand years."

Jochi's chest heaved, as though he had a hiccup. Then his shoulders bobbled. His cheeks puffed with air and he did his best to bite his lips and hold his tongue but as the guard was thoroughly scolded for his idiocy, he simply could not help himself. His head lashed back laughter as he slapped his knee. Tears spilled out of his eyes as he gasped for breath, then stumbled away for Amaya to speak to the guard. He soon dissolved into giggles and coughs, patting sergeant on the shoulder as he followed behind the woman.

Very much in contrast to Aya, he was not dignified, no, not today.

"So it's the truth!" he exclaimed. "The Empress is cat-kin! Why I never thought I'd see the day!"