Supper came and went for the two women. The rabbits were heartily devoured and the berries and mushrooms Aliana had gathered were eaten almost as quickly. Both agreed that it was the best meal they had eaten since before leaving the castle.

Afterwards, the sun having already gone to sleep, they began to settle in for the night. The shelter was roomy and comfortable, or at least as comfortable as a bed made of dirt and leaves could be. Despite the cold wind, the blazing fire kept them warm.

Aliana's belly was stuffed to the brim with meat and berries, and she was beginning to feel sleepy. She could feel her eyelids growing heavy and her thoughts beginning to slow. On her back she laid, face turned upwards toward the night sky. Beside her, Iora lay on her stomach, alert as ever, and studying the map intently.

"Iora," Aliana said after a while, "tell me about your childhood."

Iora didn't look up from her map as she uttered an incredibly curt "No."

Upon hearing those abrupt word, Aliana rolled onto her side and stared intently the guard. "Why not?"

"Because it is not something you need to know."

"Was it boring? Lonely? Tragic?" Aliana mused. "You seem like the kind of person that didn't have a good childhood."

Iora finally looked up. She fixed Aliana with a stern, disapproving stare. "Your highness, my backstory is not important, nor is it relevant to our current predicament. There is no need for me to tell you about it."

Aliana searched Iora's eyes, looking for a clue. She could see the hint of something, an emotion, buried deep under her serious facade. She stared intently, struggling to find a name for what it was. And then Iora blinked, right before turning away. For a brief second, for just a moment, her wall fell and it became clear to Aliana just what the emotion was: sadness. Plain and simple, sadness.

"I was right," Aliana whispered. "It was sad. Something tragic happened." She could sense Iora tensing up, closing herself off. The princess almost dropped the subject, but she made a decision to keep pushing. "Something bad happened. It's weighing heavily on you. Please, just tell me. Maybe I can help."

Iora sighed angrily and began to roll up the map. "Everyone has a tragic backstory. What makes mine so special that it should bear repeating?" She made as if to climb to her feet.

"It's special because whatever happened brought you to me."

"Ah, yes. It went from tragic to horrific. I suppose it did have something to aspire to."

Aliana laughed before feigning hurt. "Is it so horrific to be my guard?"

"Let's see: you have hated me since day one, you constantly belittle and argue with me, I'm on the run, if I get caught I will most likely be tortured before I am slowly and agonizingly killed for being a traitor (most likely drawn and quartered), an assassin is trying to kill you and would not let me survive either, I'm constantly hungry, cold, and tired...wait, what was the good part of all this again? Oh yeah, there isn't one. Maybe, just maybe, if we were somewhere more comfortable or enjoyable, I would relate to you my childhood, but not now."

"Please tell me."

"No."

"Please?"

"No!"

"Pleeeeeaaaaasssssse?"

"No."

"If you don't tell me, I'll keep asking every day, several times a day, for the rest of our lives together."

"Do that, and you will not live much longer." Iora unsheathed her blade and pointed it at the princess.

Aliana wanted to think that she was only joking, but the guard had a very dangerous look in her eyes; she obviously didn't want to talk about her past. Still, Aliana refused to give up. "Please just tell me. I have known you for what feels like forever, and yet I barely know more about you than your name."

Iora huffed, knowing she was defeated and better get it over with now before the pestering and whining ensued relentlessly. "Fine. I was born in the Frozen Lands, very near the area I am taking you to now. It is not a very hospitable place, but it does have some redeeming qualities."

"Really? Like what?"

"Like being able to hide there from an assassin. Now be quiet, or I won't finish!"

"It is very difficult to grow any type of food there most of the year, so if there's not a good harvest, the food prices go sky high, which means all of the poor go hungry except for whatever they can catch and eat themselves. Unfortunately, my family- my parents, sister, and I- were in that class of people. We had no money and the only way to survive was by hunting and trapping. My father taught me rudimentary trapping skills starting when I was but three years of age, I was setting my own traps by time I was six. Even with all of us setting traps, there were countless nights with little to no food to eat.

"Having little to eat means not having much muscle or fat on your body, and consequently it is harder to stay warm. The shack we lived in constantly needed repairs and therefore let in much cold. We had few animals, and even after pulling them in with us during the night it was sometimes a wonder that neither us nor the animals froze to death.

"My sister Adia, older by almost a decade, was the most beautiful person for miles around.It didn't matter that she was always clothed in barely more than rags; she was so pretty, so gorgeous, that she shone brighter than the fresh snow. Her hair was brown, but not ugly brown like mine. No, her hair was chestnut and glowed whenever light hit it. Her skin was flawless and her hands dainty, while I had blistered, manly hands by the time I was four. Adia was my parents' pride and joy, and they always doted on her.

"By sixteen, she was married. My mom always said that Adia would go on to marry a handsome prince before the age of twenty. I never doubted she would marry young, but I was surprised at who she married. One day, when I was six, a handsome stranger, claiming to be from the Arid Lands, rode into town. He wore fancy clothes and held himself like royalty. Adia was in love the second she laid eyes on him, and he was also enamored with her. After three days of knowing each other, they were married. The man, I can't even remember his name, gave a bag of coins to my parents before sweeping his new bride onto his horse and riding away with her into the sunset. With her gone, I was the only child left, and of course there was no chance of me being married off to anyone with even mild good looks.

"Mother didn't know what to do with me. She hated to see me unfed, crudely dressed, and constantly having to work, though whether it was because she cared about me or was worried about her image, I don't know. Father would not stop complaining that I had not been a boy and so could not contribute as well to the survival of the household. It did not help matters when Mother gave birth to a son who only lived a matter of days. Despite the odds, we lived in relative peace for another three years after Adia left.

"When I was nearly nine years old, a group of soldiers came to town recruiting. They were looking for children about my age to train for the military. A small monthly stipend was promised to families who would give up their children, to be paid until the child was sixteen years of age. That was it. As soon as father got wind of what was happening, I was taken down for examination.

"The commander looked me over, felt my muscles, inspected my teeth and said, 'She's scrawny, underfed, and does not seem to hold much promise. We'll take her, but if in six months we still see little promise, she will be returned and your stipend will cease.' Father signed the papers and left as quickly as he could without a single word to me, wanting to leave before the commander had a chance to change his mind.

"The Frozen Lands is not home to people who love their country. They would not sign their children up to be warriors if they were not desperate. But empty pockets with many holes, and empty bellies carry much weight. Your father the king, may his soul rest in peace, could not have timed things more perfectly recruiting when he did: that winter was more harsh than many in previous years had been. Even knowing all this, I would have never given a child of mine to such a life. I would have starved myself and fed my child before selling them of to the military when they were still a child.

"The soldiers that took us in were heartless. We were carted off to the military training camp, the one not too far from the castle. While they fed us better than many of us had eaten our entire lives, it still was not well. We woke each morning at or before dawn and rested only for meals before sundown, before going to bed on filthy cots in cramped quarters. The only games we played were designed to teach us military skills and prowess.

"It was many months before anyone took pity on me. I was in terrible condition: I had no muscles, I was always tired, I was beaten regularly, and I still couldn't understand why my parents gave me away. I was on the verge of being sent home when the commander, the very one that had said I did not hold much promise when he took me from my family, pulled me out of combat practice one day. He gave me a loaf of bread and began to talk with me.

"At first we talked about my childhood. I told him about how I had to help out my family a lot and had never had a happy life. He asked me if I was mad at my family for selling me off. I said no, I wasn't. But keep in mind, I said this when I was ten; I couldn't comprehend the emotions I was feeling, let alone put them into words. I realize now that I was angry, but back then I was just confused.

"It was then that the commander looked at me and said- and I'll never forget these words- "Iora, if you want to succeed here, then you need to be angry at your parents. You must tell yourself that what they did was wrong, that they don't care about you. Build up all the hatred towards them that you can, and then funnel it into your training. Do this, and you'll be amazed by how well your skills improve.

"Since he was an authority figure, I decided to follow his advice. I started off everyday by reminding myself how heartless my parents were. It wasn't long before I had an actual burning hatred for the people that had raised me. During fighting lessons, I would take all this rage and unleash it on my opponent. You wouldn't believe how well it worked. Within a year of training like this, I could take on people twice my size. I shot to the top of the class, graduated early, and became what I am now: a guard.

"Now, don't think I was completely miserable. During training, I met some of the greatest people to ever walk the earth. Those two men that helped us escape from the castle, Adlyn and Deklan, are some of my closest friends. Along with others, they became my real family. Not once did they ever betray me, or hurt me, or reject me. They were the family I never had. Even though I still loathe the woman who gave birth to me and the man who helped raise me, I found another family, one that doesn't desert me. So, I guess you could say that, in the end, things turned out well."

With those words, Iora's story ended.