The plains at either side defiant against the lone steel strip the sole memory of an age long past.  A lone vehicle was breaking the monotone drear of the dimmed steel, making is way between the dark crevices of the roadway, scars of its punishment at the vengeful hands of earth.  The engine’s hum the sole sound above the shrieking wind that tore the countryside.  
Garion sat down alongside Deir, he seemed to bounce with the vehicle as he motioned to seat himself.  “And you walked these Deir?” Garion asked wincing at the thought.
She nodded, “the Final Pilgrimage required it, but we often walked alongside the roadway as well Garion…”
“I shouldn’t imagine that moving slowly along it is of particular difficulty,” a voice from the front shot back, “after all that way one might be able to avoid some of the cracks…”
Deir was silent, dropping back into thoughtful prose to herself once more.
“Your father was glad to see you though?” Garion asked.
“As ever,” Deir returned distracted.
He nodded, desperate not to let her fall into brooding thought, “I’m certain it was nice seeing him after all this time…” he paused for a moment gauging her reaction, “perhaps you aroused a jealousy in him for your knowledge?”
Deir looked to Garion with the slightest of smirks, “He’d never confess it aloud…” she declared, “though I wouldn’t doubt it.”
Garion gloated inwardly, “We’ve hardly spoken since your return Deir.”
“Business as usual,” she returned.
“Quite right, but I was hoping you could let me know about how the final session under the Siaje went?”
Deir shook her head, “Particularly plain… studying day after long day.  Broken by the occasional mingling with the people…”
“As expected given the current state of Sagifex,” Garion shrugged in the dimly lit cabin.
“But,” she cautioned, “more often than not it was with the poverty stricken…”
Garion was silent, waiting for her to continue, as the engine hummed and the wheels raced atop the hard concrete.  
“It’s far worse there, the notion of poverty is burnt deeply into the people’s psyche, many of which act as though they’ve already died…” She shook her head, “It’s a sad state of affairs…”
“That’s why you’re going back then?”
Varrie laughed from behind the wheel, “doubtful.”
Deir shot a glance at her, turning back she shook her head with a sigh, “No, not exactly.”
Garion nodded enthusiastic for her to continue, though the darkness of the vehicle hid his face.  
“Father, has heard of the position in the Fallione Senate opening…” Deir could feel the sense of confusion well up in Garion.  “Please don’t ask anything further,” Deir added quickly, “let it suffice that there are informants within the government…”
“And we’re to communicate with them?”
“No,” Deir returned quickly, obviously louder than she had planned.  “I’m sorry,” she apologized realizing the tone she had taken, “I didn’t mean to be so harsh, we will not be dealing with any of the informants.  After all I don’t, and I suppose neither do you, know any of their identities.”
“Indeed not,” Garion nodded.
“And that is all I’ll say on the topic…”
“I should hope as much,” Varrie interrupted from the front, the sun rising on the horizon making her figure a silhouette.
There was a silence, save for the crushing of the rocks beneath the vehicle.  The horizon was lit too bright to gaze upon, casting its blood red crimson over the plains, reflected on the ruined road, and the overgrown grass.  
Garion turned towards Varrie, though quite impossible to see from where he sat, “So, Varrie?”
“What?” her tone harsh.
“Would you mind if I asked you about yourself?” he asked, maintaining his soft tone.
Varrie released a slight chortle, “There’s not much to tell.”
“Well then speak of what little there is,” he returned without pausing a moment.
Her voice paused, followed by a soft cracking and a bump as they passed over another cleft in the concrete.  “Well I’m uncertain as to what would interest you, I’m a weapon for hire, as you know.
Yet I’ve not seen her wield anything aside from wit, Deir thought silently, though unwilling to speak.
“There’s little to be said aside from that, I was born, raised by parents not my own, aged, and became that which you now see before you,” She spoke the tale with such lack of interest that the conversation seemed to wilt before she had finished speaking.
“How did you come to know Lord Kerinne?” Garion returned stubbornly.
“Well he introduced himself, how else does one come to know another?” Varrie replied without particular attempt to address the question.
Garion was silent, adamantly so.  Deir simply sat thoughtful.
Varrie sighed, “I can’t say that I personally came to know him… after all, it was he who approached I and appealed his case to me.”
“How much of it?” Deir replied quickly, her face turning instantly to Varrie.
“It doesn’t matter,” She waived, throwing her head back whimsically.  “I assure you that my vow of silence should be extinguished only long after the event, and I should think that even then my lips will be sealed as a manner of habit if no long bound by duty.”
“Watch the road Varrie,” Garion cautioned, taking concern with her head’s whimsical flailing.
“I’d hardly imagine I could do otherwise,” Varrie snapped.
The vehicle jolted suddenly, leaping off one cracked section of the decayed highway and onto the next.  Deir hardly caught herself from being flung from her seat, despite her seatbelt.  Garion shook his head.  “It’s still a ways yet…”
Deir nodded uncertain if Garion could see her, and too preoccupied with thought to care if he didn’t.  
Garion spoke up, breaking once more the silence between them, “Is that all you’ve got to say on yourself then Varrie?”
Deir couldn’t help but smile at Garion’s relentless attempt at befriending this shrouded figure of a woman.  “Yes Varrie, is that all your tale?”
Varrie was silent, but her discomfort was telling enough.  “Isn’t it enough?”
Garion paused, “Well – anything.  Certainly there must be more to yourself than what you revealed.”
“Certainly,” Varrie returned thoughtfully, albeit without further elaboration.
“Where did you grow up?” Garion returned cheerfully.
Varrie shook her head, “I’m doubtful that this is at all relevant…”
“Then elaborate further, on your dealings with my father.”
“Lord Kerinne?”
“Exactly,” Deir presented the word no more affably than a hiss.
“Well you see it was a pleasant day outside, although for most I suppose they’d propose it dreary, but I quite otherwise find the rain to be pleasant.  All the more so the thicker and darker the clouds…” Deir felt a shiver run through her.  “At any rate he approached me, most unexpectedly I’ll add.”
“Where was this?” Garion coaxed.
Varrie paused thoughtfully for a moment, “I believe it was a local inn, a far more apt pub I’d argue, in one of those southern villages… I can’t recall the name at the moment…” As she spoke the vehicle remained under control despite Varrie’s inherent attempt to maintain appearance that she paid steering no heed.  
“Please go on,” Garion smiled.
“Well,” she began reluctantly, “There were many people there, I had taken my leave of the busiest parts of the place and seated myself in the outer area.  The keeper of the inn, or the pub if you prefer my opinion of the place, was somehow aware of my trade without my knowing, a circumstance I detest.  Although perhaps Lord Kerinne had heard of me, and had simply asked…” she paused for a second, “no that’s irrelevant, I apologize.” She said this without a thought and her apology carried little meaning.  “Lord Kerinne approached me, having heard of I either from the owner or, more likely in my perception, another.  This approach was not silent, but all the same I found it to be surprising.”
“Surprising?” Deir scoffed.
Varrie’s silhouette curled its lips ruthlessly, “I don’t come cheap, thus am rarely recruited by who I believed at the time to be naught more than a common Town Lord.  His approach was businesslike in only the most desperate fashion, the desperation he approached me with made me turn him down outright.  Appealing to me repeatedly I refused repeatedly.  After what I could only believe to be many minutes of pleading did he break down and disclose in entirety to me the scheme he’d hatched, and the wages of success…  the likes of which undoubtedly requiring someone of my caliber.”
“Your ‘caliber’?”
Varrie nodded, the sun rising further began to illuminate the vehicle, “Strong words for your ears mayhap, but true all the same,” she paused for a moment, “You haven’t any idea what Lord Kerinne’s scheme is out to achieve, do you?”
Garion interrupted, “I don’t think speaking of schemes is a particularly polite type of casual conversation Varrie, do you?”
“Detesting conversation leaves me uncertain as to the norms it has set in place.”
Deir was quiet.  Swallowing softly she turned to Garion, “How much longer do you suppose…”
“I’m not sure, I don’t believe it will be too long now,” Garion interrupted thoughtfully, “Do you have a more proper estimate Varrie?”
Varrie shook her head.
Garion shrugged, “Not too much longer I’m sure, driving all night certainly covered some ground.”
“Are you to come with us Varrie?”
“Pardon?” as though surprised by the invocation of her name.
“When we arrive in Sagifex will you be pursuing us further?” Deir repeated, revising her initial question so as to barb it.
“No,” she replied with a slight laugh, “I will be taking my leave of you both immediately, I haven’t time to squander so ridiculously.”
Deir leaned out, peering out the front window, the sun’s light reflected brightly off it.  Squinting she could make out a small shimmering outline in the distance.  
Seeing her gaze Varrie nodded, “That would be Sagifex, though by best estimate we’re still hours away.”
“I’ve been to Sagifex before,” Deir snapped.
“Oh?” she replied with disinterested tone.
The vehicle caught another crevice, throwing it violently, Deir nervously imagined for a moment that they might be thrown from the fragmented road.  Varrie refocused on the road ahead, gripping the wheel tightly fiercely fighting the vehicle back onto the centre of the broken highway.  Deir released a soft sigh of relief as the thumping of the vehicle returned to a more regular pace.  Garion remained silent.
“Why so stoic?” Deir asked kindly.
“Stoic?” Garion laughed, breaking the stone that had seemingly melded his face in place.
“You looked like a gargoyle.”
“I can’t imagine I’d do anything of the sort,” Garion objected.
“Honestly,” replied Deir, “your face fell into solemnity like I’ve never seen it.”
Garion simply smiled back in the dimly lit cabin, the metal sides banging harshly with the rumbling of the vehicle.

The hours passed without event, the silence in the vehicle stifling as Garion succumbed to sleep, Deir to thought, and Varrie the path ahead.  Racing along the cracks in the road they vehicle made constant gains against the distance between themselves and Sagifex.  The sea visible just beyond the spires, dominating both sky and land, that rose up from the city of Sagifex.