Amber and Jinwoo didn't speak during that first day, the Magician keeping to his books and allowing the warrior to keep to her thoughts. And oh, what a mess those were. Her mind went back and forth between trying to decide if she was making a mistake or if she was doing the right thing, until finally she just had to accept that she could never know which until it all played out. She went to sleep that night to fitful dreams of her home village burning.

When she awoke in the morning, she could at least tell herself that they were just dreams and that no dragons would bother a farming village. Yet even that reminder didn't settle her nerves. The refusal to give answers about Jinyoung's reasons made her nervous, and she found herself watching the caravan leader closely thorughout the following day. It was during one of thes times that Jinwoo finally spoke to her.

"You know, you should have become an interrogater," he mused quietly. She turned to look at him, wondering what he meant: he peacefully flipped through yet another of his tomes as they rode side by side. He seemed absorbed in the book and yet a smile crept along the edges of his lips as he spoke. "The looks you're giving Jinyoung could make even the most hardened criminal confess!"

She let out a soft laugh, though she didn't totally feel the amusement. "Yes, well, will it make you talk?" she pressed, to which the Magician finally looked up.

His eyes were practically twinkling with amusment, and he shook his head slightly, making his dark hair fall into his fair face. "Not at all."

Amber dipped her head in acknowledgement and turned away, though she couldn't help but to say, "Then you're tougher than the most hardened criminal, I suppose."

Jinwoo laughed out loud at that, drawing a few looks from other caravaners - and not many of the looks were friendly, Amber noted. Apparently money could buy cooperation, but it wasn't going to buy loyalty. Her mood soured at that thought and she shifted in her saddle as she reached back to touch her weapon. A reminder that it was still there, for sure, but also a check on her confidence. Since the previous night's revelations, she couldn't help but to wonder if she wasn't doing the great thing some sort of disservice by using it!

Then Jinwoo's book snapped shut and he motioned ahead of them. "Incoming," he said tightly, and when Amber looked to what he meant, her heart dropped.

Three shadows in the distant air, growing rapidly as they approached the caravan. Dragons! Shouts started about them as people saw them coming, and everyone began to scramble to try and ready themselves for battle. Amber's heart thudded so loudly in her chest that she wondered that no one could hear it, and she gripped her reins tightly as she dismounted from her sweet horse. No need to draw the poor animal into an unfair fight.

Jinwoo seemed to agree, or maybe he just couldn't cast from horseback, because he dismounted in a hurry after stashing his book into the saddlebags once more. The usually graceful Magician very nearly tripped over his ropal as he took the first few steps in the sand, but then he gained his footing again and hurried to Jinyoung's wagon. Amber was right behind him, though she had thought to find Dongwan first. No sense leaving Jinwoo alone at a time like this.

"Three days!" Jinyoung shouted as they drew near, the older man buckling on a sword belt aroound his none-too-small girth. "It took them three days to reach us, and they came from the south-west."

"Answar, then?" Jinwoo asked, stepping up to the man and holding out a slender black stick in his hands.

Jinyoung didn't hesitate to take the offered stick, turning it over in his fingers and inspecting it. "Yes, it is in that direction. Your guess that Insoo would send someone for you was right, it seems. How do I trigger this?" he asked, looking to the Magician.

Jinwoo whispered a word in his ear, and Jinyoung nodded with a smile. "Thank you," he said, motioning with the stick before he hurried away to meet with Dongwan. Amber turned to Jinwoo with a look of suspicion.

"Is that a magic wand?" she asked almost accusingly. When he nodded in easy answer, she asked, "So do I get one?"

Jinwoo grimaced and shook his head. "I'm sorry, I only have the one with me. And I would have offered it to you before him if I thought that you would use it."

He was right, she wouldn't have used one, the idea of magic still being a bit too foreign to her for comfort. But still, "It would have been nice to have the option," she grumbled.

Jinwoo grinned then, his face lighting up and making him seem almost boyish in his delight. "Amber, you have me. I am infinitely of more use than a stick that has one trick to it."

She supposed he was right, but she wasn't going to admit that to him. "Come on," she told him instead, motioning for him to follow. "I'm going to guess you will need an advantage point?"

He nodded grimly, his smile falling away just like that. "Yes I will. By the Nine, I expected a battle, but i didn't expect dragons!"

She didn't answer him, though she had the thought that of course they would send the creatures to fight a dire sorcerer. Instead she led him to a nearby hill, not too tall but enough that he could see in a wide arc around them, and then looked to him for his lead. "What do you want me to do?" she asked him bluntly. 

He was busy drawing in the d