Theron leads the way into the wilderness

Following the bloated river towards the north, Theron and Sofia spent the first hour walking through a landscape that had, until the flood had come and demolished a good part of it, been sleepy and pastoral.

Just as they were leaving the inn, Theron had been relieved to note that the woman was packing a good portion of iron rations, meaning that they would not have to deal with acquiring provisions before leaving for the wilderness.
It would be a good thing, not being delayed for a second more than necessary, particularly if Sofia was indeed being pursued.

As time went on and the two travellers sidetracked the many bodies of water that the fierce flooding had produced, the landscape began to change into becoming something much wilder.

The rugged nature of the land actually allowed Theron and Sofia to move faster, sticking to the many ridges and hills which had been left virtually untouched by the flooding, allowing them to keep a relatively straight path.

While they moved through this more strenuous terrain, Theron noted that Sofia, albeit nowhere nearly as adapt in the art of woodsmanship as he, was by no means unused to being in the wild.

This, along with her general posture and demeanour, made Theron relatively certain that Sofia was a country noble, probably the not the oldest child, but not having a baby brother.
He based this conclusion on two facts which he had become aware of during his tenure as a ranger: noble couples that do not seem able to produce a male progeny tend to focus more heavily on their daughters, but almost always make sure to give the eldest daughter a more “civilized” upbringing, making sure that she will make a prestigious bride.
The logic of nobles seemed to be that if you couldn’t keep the title within the proper family; always make sure that it goes to an outsider of good breeding.

As for the second, and possibly even the third, daughter, the father could use them as surrogate-sons, passing on to them most of the manly virtues and skills which signified a proper nobleman.

The sight of the ancient oak on the top a hill not more than a hundred feet away roused Thereon from his musings on Sofia’s background.

The dark tree was one of the most easily distinguishable landmarks of the region just before the proper borderlands, a leafless signal to any wanderer that he was either about to leave civilization behind him, or that he was about to enter into it.

Apart from the oak’s size and peculiar nature (unusually dark trunk and no leaves), the oak also served well as a landmark due to the fact that it formed a relatively straight line with a few other important sites in this area; there was one border station to the east, and one to the west. Dusk was now not far away, and it would be foolish to ignore the possibility of spending the final night before the proper borderlands in relative security.

There was no use in heading for the station for the east as it laid on the other side of the Uhlan River, and with the watermark as high as it was now, there would be at least one more day before they could find a good ford.
So, it was wiser to set out to reach the station to their west.

Then, it dawned on Theron that he had completely forgotten about the old ferry’s landing, run by old man Zack and his daughter Kaie, a red-headed girl who had been just about to turn 16 when Theron was shifted out of this area, two years and a couple of months ago.

With a bit of luck, Zack would let Theron and Sofia sleep in his barn.