The sunshine is bright and the breeze caresses all those who stand outside to witness the love scene you only see at the end of books. A happily ever after.

I watched as Raike leaned down and kissed his porcelain-blushing bride before the reverend could even utter the part about kissing the bride. The towns folks who'd gathered to watch their union laughed gaily at his over-exuberant display of affection as did he and his bride.

Although not crying I could see Alicia had a slight smile to her usually moot and serious face. Raikes siblings stood on either side of the couple also laughing and whispering joyfully to one another. The huge tree behind them danced to the music of the rustling wind and laughter filling the hilly field. The reverend called out questioning if the couple should not get married and at that exact moment Raike raised his eyes to where I was standing at the top of the field. His smile dropped slightly at the sight of me to which my heart twinged at his expression. A red butterfly flew across our line of vision cutting our connection just as his new bride leaned closer to whisper something in his ear.

The Reverend gave a jolly laugh at the couple jugged up and down waiting for him to pronounce them as man and wife. The rocks under my feet shuffled at my turning away just as they leaned in for their first kiss as man and wife.

Birds chirped, animals scurried from one place to another, the sun shined, the trees danced, and my feet dragged as I walked to the town wagon station. My hands tapped against my leg as I fought against the tears building in the back of my throat. Married. Raike is married now.

"Miss? Are you leaving on this wagon?" The old man standing in front of me was sand colored with curly white hair and warm brown eyes.

He looked on at me in concern the longer I didn't answer before glancing back at the wagon where about 12 other people were waiting impatiently to depart. He reached out as if to touch my shoulder but paused when I abruptly started huffing and puffing.

"Miss?" He took a step back.

Forcing down the lump in my throat but unable to speak I nodded numbly before following him to the wagon. Somewhere in the distance the sounds of the wedding party traveling to the village town center could be heard, bringing the lump I'd fought so hard down back up.

A woman, her husband, and 3 kids who sat opposite of me stared in concern and confusion as tears fell. The old wagon man shouted that we were departing and to steady ourselves before the wagon took off into the sky. Shifting everyone into their seat backward at the unsteady takeoff. The glowing green of the air crystals gave the wood wagon a sickly moss-covered appearance.

Not too soon after the wagon took off I began wailing. Uncaring if the people around me looked at me in anger and disgust. Some even went as far as to shout at me to shut up. But no matter how much I covered my mouth or tried to console myself nothing worked.

All I could do was watch as the home I'd known all my life faded into a speck and the man I loved along with it.

The shaking of the wagon woke me from my tear-induced sleep. "30-minute rest and then we'll be heading to the capital!" The old wagon man limped down from the carriage shaking his legs as he went.

I'm assuming his legs were asleep from driving for so long. And I couldn't blame him because my neck and back ached from the weird position I'd been sitting in for so long. The other people in the carriage with us shot me dirty looks as they filed out. I made a point to stare back, unashamed of my actions. Sometimes people just needed to cry. They've never seen a crying heartbroken forgotten woman before?

Climbing off the wagon I mimicked the old man and shook my legs as I went. He looked like he knew more than me about sleeping limbs.

With my bag slung over my shoulder, I followed the others into what looked like a barn turned into a restaurant. Immediately the smell of fried eggs and turkey legs hit my nostrils making my mouth salivate. Crying takes it out of you it seems.

A pretty young woman with wild curly white hair and gold eyes came rushing up to me smiling hard and standing uncomfortably close. "Hiyo honey bunch what can I get for you? Would you like to sit with the others who have just come in? Or separately?" I made a glance over to the table she'd mentioned to see the people I'd ridden in the wagon with glaring at me and scooting over so that there was no longer space to sit. One man went as far as to shake his head and loudly call out for me to not even think about it.

I shifted from leg to leg still feeling the tingles of them being asleep and looked away from the table. Maybe crying in an enclosed crowded space for three out of five hours of travel wasn't the best way to make friends. The girl who was still uncomfortably close began speaking again, not taking notice of my continuous attempts to create space between us as she spoke. "Well, there's a seat over there if you want it. It's a bit secluded but there is a nice view of the farmlands Jericho has to offer?"

Shouts from the back of the restaurant notified me that the girl's name was Jem and that she had a new order that was ready for serving. Without waiting she grabbed my hand and pulled me over to a section of the restaurant that was a bit quieter but had a huge window for customers to gaze out of as they waited for food. "This is my favorite seat in the restaurant and," she dragged the word in a singsongy way while placing a menu that materialized out of nothing onto the table, "you'll still be able to see when your group takes off for the next part of your journey!" with that she walked away but not before reminding me she'd be back to take my order.