Charles and Kaira trudged across a grassy plain, the sun beating down on their heads.
Sweat dripped down their foreheads, and their tunics clung uncomfortably to their skin, damp and sticky.
Around them stretched green patches dotted with scattered trees, but not a single building was in sight.
The silence was almost total, broken only by the crunch-crunch of their footsteps and the occasional chirp of a bird—tweet-tweet.
Charles, exhausted, wiped sweat from his face with his sleeve and shot Kaira a look.
"Kaira," he said, half-joking, "is this some new kind of kidnapping? 'Cause I haven't seen a building or a person in forever."
Kaira, panting slightly from the effort, glanced at him and let out a short laugh.
"No, you dork. This isn't a prank," she replied between breaths. "The bank's far. Really far."
Charles rolled his eyes, stopping to catch his breath.
