Amelia PoV
Vadim glanced over at me as we rode toward the capital. We were still a good distance away. I wondered if he wished to visit his village. It was on our side the Valley of the Moon, nestled not too far from the border with the lands the High Priest oversaw. It's position made it a peaceful town where the currents of the civil war often flowed around, rather than through. The villagers were farmers and artisans, simple folk who valued their quiet lives, protected by the neutrality of Kaguya's sphere of influence. It was, in many ways, an oasis in the storm that raged across Kuroriku.
"Your thoughts are far away, my Queen," Vadim said, his voice soft, pulling me from my reverie. He must have seen the longing in my eyes, a fleeting wish for that simpler life that often tugged at my heart.
I smiled, a little wistfully. "Just thinking of... home. Of your village. It's so close, and yet so far. A world away from the politicking and the battles."
