Jinwoo stuck to his word, asking very few questions for the rest of that day. Instead he rode his horse and watched everything and everyone, occasionally allowing the grey animal to pick its own way as he took out his book and wrote in it. Amber was curious over what he could be writing about: the landscape they passed was so flat and boring that she couldn't imagine what it was he saw. She began to try and find things and realized, with a flash of embarrassment, that one of the mountains in the distance that he seemed so fascinated by did resemble a person! She had never noticed it before, even on her many trips along this trade road, and she was determined to not admit that to Jinwoo.

Most of the questions Jinwoo decided to ask were, unfortunately for him, things that Amber did not know the answer to. Like who the mountain figure was supposed to be, or if she had ever been to the depths. That last part she had never even heard of, and when she told him so, his brow had creased sharply and he made several notes in his book. But when he asked if she had ever seen a dragon, she could not help the way her hands tightened on Stoutheart's reins and her brow drew down.

"I'm from Osal," she said stiffly. "It was destroyed by dragons."

It had been a rainy night, with a light drizzle coming down over the Lake city. They were in the North were it was green and lush, with mountains to one side and a lake to another, with forests and fields all about them. And yet, when the Emperor of Answar sent his dragon riders, everything had burned: houses, trees, people. Even the lake had caught fire from the dragon's attacks, burning and making escape across the lake impossible. It was only through luck that the north gate hadn't been attacked, and through luck that Amber had made it out alive and not as a slave.

Jinwoo leaned forward in his saddle to catch her eyes. "Who was it destroyed by? Answar? Is Answar the only one still with dragons?" His voice was intent then, almost compelling, his eyes boring into her's with a depth she hadn't seen before.

And yet all she could do was nod her head. "Yes, it was Answar, and yes he's the only Emperor with dragons still. But I don't know much more," she added to forestall any more questions. "And you're down three questions."

His brow furrowed then as he settled back with a pout. "That's not fair, you only answered two. So I'm counting that as two questions, and here is my third. I know that Insoo is the current Emperor of Answar. Was he the Emperor when they attacked Osal?"

Her lips twisted in a slightly amused smile: he was right, after all, in that she had only given him two answers. "I don't know, actually. Emperor Insoo isn't that old, so if it was him then he would have been only a teenager when he ordered the attack. But I've met some nasty teenagers," she added with a sideways look at the boy.

He laughed then, outright and loud and startling in the boisterous sound. "I'm not a teenager," he finally told her as he settled down, his smile still stretching wide over his lips. "I am more than halfway through my third decade."

More than-! Amber gave him a sharp look, trying to reconcile that age with the face she saw. That would put him older than her! Jinwoo couldn't keep the smile from his face as he watched her looking for signs of age on him, and when she finally shook her head in disbelief he only laughed again. "I swear, by all the Nine, I am twenty and six summers."

"Well you don't look like it," Amber said in her defense.

Jinwoo nodded somberly, brushing a strand of dark hair from his face as he did so. "I know. It is actually very frustrating because no one takes me seriously. But I really am an adult," he added with a slight smile and a glint to his eyes.

Amber shook her head once more, giving him a sideways look as she did so. "Why are you here in Obarsan, then? Just to go look at ancient cities? That's not something adults do," she added with a slight grumble, thinking that he ought to be working if he was an adult.

Yet Jinwoo pursed his lips, studying her for a short moment before he nodded in agreement. "Yes, that's what I'm here for. I am looking for a city in particular, one that the location was lost