Inch by Inch

"Ah Jay. Are you all set to go then?" Vasily asked.

The man that Vasily had been speaking to shared a nod with the caravan master and left.

Jay stepped forward, bringing his heavy drawstring bag and weapons with him. He’d stopped a few steps away from the two men, wanting to wait for them to finish before approaching, but the caravan master made that decision for him.

Vasily was an unassuming man. His features were common, brown hair and eyes, and his facial features a blend of so many ethnicities that you couldn’t tie him to one, and none stood out among the rest. He was also a little on the short side. 5 foot 4 inches, as Jay’s mind so unhelpfully supplied, but he had a presence that would draw your eye even if he stood in a crowd. Jay could never decide if that presence came from being the leader of a large caravan, or if his position was the product of that presence. It might be a chicken and egg problem.

"Still waiting on two of my team, Caravan Master. I wanted to arrive first and help with the preparations."

Jay had been very lucky to secure passage for his team to Lauchia. It’d been two days since the granting ceremony and Vasily’s would be the first caravan of any kind leaving Kavakar. Arriving early or even first to the city state would make all the next steps so much easier. After the solstice, new adventurers would descend on all the cities. Competition for accommodation, provisions and work was going to be high. Not that arriving early was all good. It made things easier in the future, but more difficult for Jay in the meantime. His last forty-eight hours had been a frantic mess of last-minute preparation - for both himself and his team, organization, research and... dodging family.

His father had not given up on trying to convince him to abandon his plans yet. Adrien had stalked him through the town and waited in ambush at important stops. He’d ended up avoiding the better shops and taking winding paths to avoid him. All in all, between all the work and avoiding his father, he’d only returned home to sleep and barely at that. There was too much to do.

Some of that was Jay’s fault. He’d spent more time than he should searching for a missed aspect of his Word. It was foolish, but he had to try. He wasn’t looking for much. Anything active that might have multiple uses, an interaction with the world, something he could improve.

There wasn’t. All he saw was numbers, distances. Physical measurements.

Jay tried shouting Measure out like he was a hero from a legend. He tried to make and enforce rules; he visited Kate’s brother to listen to music; he stared at everything he bought to try to learn more. At one point, he even snuck into a kitchen and tried baking. Nothing. It was time wasted that should have been spent elsewhere.

Thankfully, Adrien hadn’t thought ahead or realized that Jay both knew the caravan schedule and was willing to act fast on it. Oddly, his father’s mental block around his actions was coming in handy. If he took Jay seriously, using his own status as a caravan master to block him from leaving town wouldn’t have been too difficult.

Vasily waved him down. "You can still call me Vasily for now, Jay. You might as well enjoy your last few moments of freedom." He leaned forward and held his hand up to his mouth. "I’m told I’m a bit of a taskmaster." And with that egregious pun — Vasily’s Word being Task — he burst out laughing.

Jay couldn’t hold back his groan. It wasn’t the first time he’d heard the pun. The caravan master found an excuse to use it every time he came to visit. It didn’t get better with age. However, Vasily was right about enjoying the last of his free time. Part of the deal Jay’d worked out with him for transport was that his team would be working as porters. And sentries. And cleaners. Pretty much anything the caravan needed.

Vasily slapped him on the shoulder, still chuckling. "That’s better. You’re too young to be so stiff. And too young to think you can fool me. ‘Help’ with the preparations!" he scoffed. "Don’t think I don’t know who you’re avoiding and why."

The arm on Jay’s shoulder tightened even as his mouth hung open, excuses eluding him. The older man steered him around.

"Luckily for you, there’s someone I’m more afraid of in Kavakar and you, my young friend, are far, far too young to be fooling her," Vasily said, finally loosening his grip as they turned towards one of the towering wagons.

Sitting on one of the large wheelhouse steps, sipping a hot cup of kava and looking as comfortable as if she were sitting in an armchair at home, was Mika, his mother. The multistorey vehicle should have dwarfed her. Instead, it seemed small in comparison, solely a backdrop.

"Ah," Jay said, excuses falling even further away.

"Ah," Vasily repeated, giving him a shove in the back and turning to leave.

Jay started his walk with heavy steps, steps suitable for the path to a hangman’s noose. Strangely, they lightened as he walked until he may as well have been floating as he hopped up beside his mother.

"Have another cup?" he asked into the silence.

Mika sighed, took another snip and then snorted. "Since when do you drink kava?"

Jay didn’t drink kava. He didn’t care for the peppery taste, and local pride for one of the few Big Bush products aside, wasn’t a fan of the calm after-feeling it left. But sitting here, about to leave Kavakar, it felt right to ask.

"Now’s always a good time to start?"

Mika snorted again and passed him her cup. As he took a hesitant sip, she began to speak. "Give your father some time to process. He always wanted one of you to follow in his footsteps. It took him a long time to accept that none of you would and then, with your word... it all came back." She scrunched her mouth a bit. "His choice of words, I have... discussed with him. He’s been listening to a little too much Pono talk."

"There’s always Sam," Jay complained. "He’s always been so perfect at-"

Mika whacked his shoulder. Not hard enough to bruise, but enough to smart for some time. "Be nice to your brother. He’s upset enough as is."

"Ow! What did I do to him?" he whined, regretting it as soon as the words left his mouth. Why was he acting so childish?

"Ah. Isn’t that the question? Sam’s not like you or your sister. He’s never wanted adventure. He loves the business, but he loves it from Kavakar. We both know he’ll never be interested in following your father’s path," she said, placing a hand on the shoulder again, this time to rub where she’d smacked him. "That’s why Sam was so happy after your granting. Your word gave him hope that he wouldn’t have to follow your path either, something he hasn’t had since your sister."

"Oh." Well now Jay felt like crap. He looked around at all the movement. There might still be enough time before he was needed here. "Should I go back and...?"

She gave him one last pat before stealing her cup back. "No. It’s fine. He understands that as his dreams became possible, yours became all the harder." She took a deep swig before hopping down from the wagon step and turning to face him. His mother held her arms out, gesturing him forward. "I didn’t come to steal you back but to say goodbye."

Jay’s shoulders slumped, and he slid down after her. He was going to miss her.

His mother wrapped him in a hug and clenched tight.

Jay hugged her back just as tightly. He would visit. Much more often than his sister. Suko hadn’t been back in ages. And write letters, a couple every-

Mika’s grip tightened and she activated her Word. His feet left the ground as she picked him up.

Weightless, he hung in her arms. He hated when she did this. "Mom. Put me down."

"Oh, what happened to the kids that used to follow me everywhere asking to be carried," she asked the air, sniffing.

"You can help carry all the goods into the wagon," Jay complained. "Or even the wagon itself." And she could. After a lot of badgering, Suko and he had gotten her to pick one up once. It was a fond memory. A stowaway had been terrified when the world shifted around them, but when they’d gotten caught, it’d only made everything funnier. Afterwards, they had to do twice the number of chores while she recovered, but that was fun too.

With a final sniff, Mika put him down, the effect of her Word fading away. She pulled him in for a kiss on the cheek before turning and walking away.

Jay would never admit if he watched her go or not.

| i i i ¦ i i i | i i i ¦ i i i |

Vasily wasn’t too hard to find again. The loading field was a mad orchestra revolving around him. The caravan master pointed Jay to a woman he introduced as Tasia, before striding off to manage more aspects of the departure. Tasia would be his team’s supervisor during the trip.

Tasia was helpful but didn’t stop moving as she talked. Jay had to dodge, duck, dip, dive and dodge again to get out of the way of moving goods and people. Unlike Vasily, Tasia was clearly from near the coast with the characteristic wind swept skin and hair. Her clothing confirmed that assumption, a loose baggy outfit that tightened around her neckline, wrists and waist. She had a very soft and approachable face, but it was marred by the way she looked at you. It felt like she was judging exactly what you were worth your weight in.

With Tasia’s directions, he was able to store his drawstring bag and weapons in the closer of the two crew wagons. With that done, and with Ana and Kane not having arrived yet, Jay had some time to look around the caravan. It was a medium-sized caravan with eight wagons. Two for the crew, one for passengers and five for goods.

The wagons themselves were tall, bulky things. Word crafted wheels alone reached above Jay’s head. The roof of the caravan was out of sight, several stories above. Every part of its construction was made of thick, hardened wood. Each wagon needed to be able to withstand blows from Oddities the caravan might encounter outside the protective range of Wonders like Big Bush.

Around these mammoths of transport swarmed the caravan’s crew, furiously packing bags, crates and chests of goods into each one. One in particular stood out to Jay as a focus of the activity, and he cringed, realizing that it was the one that his mother and he had sat on earlier. Vasily must have redirected the traffic for them.

Amongst all the chaos, two mismatched figures caught Jay’s eye. His team had arrived.

Ana and Kane made for an odd pair. Ana lugged two drawstring bags over her shoulders, which were at the same height as Kane’s ribs, with another smaller bag around her shoulders. She wore billowy red overalls of some kind.

Kane on the other hand, had only one bag and a blade of some kind strapped to his waist. His outfit was the same one he always wore to the training. If Jay hadn’t seen him yesterday in slightly different clothes, he would have suspected that Kane hadn’t changed his outfit since before the granting ceremony. Ana’s bright red overalls made the plainness of Kane’s light gray and tan brown clothing stand out.

Every couple of seconds, Ana would shift her bags in an exaggerated motion, obviously hinting to and expecting help from Kane. Kane didn’t notice. He was too busy staring around them as they walked, paying little attention to where they were going.

"You didn’t bring a spear?" Jay asked when they met.

Kane shook his head. "I won’t need it."

Jay glanced at the blade at Kane’s waist, a little surprised. Guards weren’t supposed to teach anyone how to wield bladed weapons, but then again, Kane was a captain’s son. Maybe the rules were different for family? Still, having an extra spear wouldn’t hurt for some jobs or Oddities...

"You didn’t say anything about weapons yesterday," Ana said, suspicious.

Jay shivered at the reminder of his visit. He had gone to check on her, mostly to ensure she didn’t have any more questions about adventuring or any second thoughts. What he had found...

His sister, Suko, had been a bad packer. Insisting that she needed to bring her baking equipment - heavy oven pot and all. The guild she’d signed with was enthusiastic enough to allow her. Only with his mom’s gentle coaxing did they talk Suko down from trying to bring the entire kitchen with her. She still left the house with two heavy bags, and he was sure no one had seen the rolling pin since.

When Jay arrived at Ana’s mother’s shop yesterday, Ana had ten bags already packed. At first, he thought that Sofia, her mum, was shipping some of her work with Vasily’s caravan. Only later, when Ana held up two identical dresses and asked if ‘Shift’ or ‘Princess’ cut would work better in the city, did the horror fully dawn on him. A long and tense discussion later, she reluctantly agreed to reduce the number of bags. He had not been persuaded to pay for the extra baggage at the newly formed team’s expense.

"Do you know how to use any weapons?" he asked.

Ana scowled, and it was the only response that he needed.

"Then there’s not much point in you bringing one is there?"

"How else am I going to learn how to use one?" she scoffed back.

Jay shrugged. "Using a weapon will not be the first thing you do. And you can learn with mine."

She wasn’t exactly impressed with the answer, but didn’t voice any more complaints.

Jay looked to Kane for his opinion. He was hoping that Kane would help train Ana. The man was a prodigy, and the best out of all the trainees.

Kane was deeply fascinated by one of the wagons off to the side. It looked like he had been for the entire conversation.

"Kane."

"Kane."

No response.

"KANE!" Ana shouted, earlier annoyance with their companion overflowing.

The tall man jumped, turning to them in surprise.

Jay indicated the wagon. "Let’s store your bags and start helping out. We’re working under Tasia for the trip and I want to make a good impression."

"Working?" Ana asked, staring down at her billowy clothes and then back at Jay.

"Yeah," he said, indicating to the three of them. "How did you think we were able to afford passage for the three of us?"

"I..." Ana began but shut her mouth quickly. She settled for glaring at Jay and throwing both of her bags at him.

Jay caught one easily but stumbled trying to catch the second. When he looked back up, Ana and Kane were already halfway to the wagon.

"Form a team I said," he muttered, starting after them. "It’ll be-"