Roads: Another Departure

I found it hard to sleep. Worries chased themselves around my head. What was I doing, leaving alone in the company of a strange man? What if I couldn't make it this time either? What if I am wasting my life? What if it wasn't worth chasing anyway?

Frustrated and filled with a weary restlessness, I rose early and took some porridge from the pot on the stove. The innkeeper gave me my collected pay with some kinds words and a sad smile. Just another farewell, for him. It wasn't his first; wouldn't be his last.

My new companion came downstairs, layers of heavy cloth moving with his motion. His name was Mark, and before the journey he had been a guardsman in a city by the coast.

I told him about the plains, about sun-backed mountains and the pale coolness of baked-earth houses. I told him of the family I had left behind. I told him how my nerve had failed, and stopped when the tears choked my breath.

He was kind enough to turn away at first, and kinder still to hold me while I cried.