The hours passed slowly, the steady rhythm of flight marked only by the measured beating of wings and the gradual change in the light in the sky. The vast blue dissolved into warmer tones, then into deep oranges, until the horizon began to fade into soft shadows. The world below them also changed—mountains giving way to plains, fields crisscrossed by small paths, and eventually, signs of more organized life emerging here and there.
Then the lake appeared.
Large, serene, reflecting the darkening sky like a mirror broken by slight ripples, and around it, a small but vibrant city, its lights beginning to illuminate one by one, creating golden points that twinkled against the dark blue of the forming night. It wasn't grand like the capital they sought, nor did it carry an imposing presence, but there was something welcoming there—something that invited rest.
