{Vessa}
Following somebody at night was harder than Vessa thought it would be.
She'd figured it'd be easy. You just walk behind the person, right? But Samara was quick and quiet. She kept stopping at random to look behind her, so Vessa had to keep diving behind carts, behind barrels, behind one very surprised goat. By the time they got past the last houses, her heart was going so hard she was sure Samara could hear it.
[Okay. Okay, stay calm. You're a merchant's daughter out for an evening stroll. A totally normal, casual stroll. In the dark. Way out past town. With no good reason.]
She winced at herself and kept going.
The town lights fell away behind them. The road turned into a dirt path, then thinned out into not much, just dry grass and the odd scrubby tree. Samara never slowed down. She moved like she'd walked this exact route a thousand times, which, Vessa figured, she probably had.
Then, up ahead, there was a little light.
Vessa dropped flat into the grass and watched.
