For the first time in what felt like ages, Aliana slept soundly. Or, at least as soundly as one could sleep while lying on the ground in the middle of the woods. Her new fur clothes kept her warm and seemed to soften the feel of the hard ground against her spine.

She slept late into the morning. When she awoke, the weak winter sun was shining feebly through the trees and into her eyes. Groggily, she propped herself up and looked around for Iora.

The guard was standing next to the horses, stroking them gently. Her eyes were half-closed as she slowly ran her hand down her horse's mane. The sun gave her pale skin an unearthly glow and seemed to surround her with a shining aura. Aliana thought of how saintly Iora looked and thought that only a true saint could have put up with her so long.

"Good morning, Iora."

"'Morning, Allan."

"Thank you for letting me sleep so late."

"Well, I figured after the rough day we had yesterday, and with how peaceful you looked, that you could use the rest. A few more days and we'll be to our destination."

The news both excited and discouraged the princess who was weary of traveling and wanted it over with sooner rather than later. "Where are we headed to?"

"I knew we needed to go deep into the Frozen Lands, but I didn't know exactly where. A couple days ago, I decided a good place for us to go. At the base of the mountains, there are a few minor towns scattered about. We'll go to one and live on the outskirts. It's well known that when a person wants to disappear, they go to the Effulgent Mountains. We'll be in the middle of nowhere, but we'll be safe."

"Are we going to have access to a market? How are we going to get supplies?"

"We may be able to occasionally travel into a nearby town, but for the most part, we're going to do our best to avoid human contact."

"But I thought you said no one would recognize me?"

"I wasn't wrong. But that's also going to be our downfall. People in the Frozen Lands are incredibly wary of strangers and the two of us waltzing in will definitely raise suspicions. We need to keep low and stay out of sight."

Aliana sighed and rolled onto her back. She stared lazily at the winter sky over her. "I just want this all to be over."

"I know." The guard walked over and reached out her hand to help Aliana up. "We need to get going if we ever want to get there."

"But I want to sleep."

"You got to sleep last night."

"Fine." She took Iora's outstretched hand and climbed to her feet. Shivering, Aliana wrapped herself tightly in new, comfy cloak and handed Iora hers. She was undeniably grateful for her warm clothes and found it nice to not be constantly shivering.

They mounted the horses and set off into the woods, making their way through the thin layer of snow that covered the ground. The morning was perfectly still, with not a single sound disturbing the peace. Pristine white snow that was nestled comfortably on the forest floor seemed to glow softly under the winter sun. A paper thin layer of snow also covered the leaves of all the trees around them, muffling any sound for miles.

"I've never knew snow could be this beautiful," Aliana gasped in wonder. Her wide eyes were greedily taking in the surroundings with child-like glee.

"You've seen snow before; every winter at the castle," Iora commented, raising an eyebrow. She turned her head towards the princess slightly.

Aliana shook her head. "It's not the same," she insisted. "Back in the castle, I watched the snow drift down from the sky as I lay in my bed. Occasionally, I got to interact with it as I stood in my garden. But rarely did I ever simply sit and enjoy it."

"Your words are very poetic."

"This pretty scenery is getting to me. It's just that this beauty is so different than what I'm used to. You've seen the castle. It's rows and rows of antiques, like tapestries and suits of armor. It's nice looking, but it's just so staged. I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's meant to be pleasing to the eye; it's meant to look attractive to everyone that visits. But, out here in the woods, it's the exact opposite. The forest doesn't care if you think it looks pretty, because it is too busy simply doing its thing. And that is what makes it beautiful. Were it not for the difficult circumstances I'm going through right now, I think I would be able to say that I would be content to live the rest of my life out here."

The princess, upon finishing her grand statement, blinked. She shook her, as if she were coming out of a daze. Blushing slightly, she apologized. "Sorry for rambling."

"You weren't rambling." Iora was staring at the princess, a faint but definite smile on her lips.

They continued riding for the rest of the day in comfortable silence. Aliana passed the time by happily enjoying the white scenery around her, and Iora passed the time by watching the wide-eyed princess. Neither of them spoke unless necessary, because it felt almost rude to break the still air.

At night time - the sun had been setting much sooner recently - they stopped and built their shelter. Or, rather, Iora built the shelter. Aliana, half asleep, was tasked with stomping down the layer of snow on the ground before piling rocks and sticks on top. Their supper was meager as usual, but for once it didn't bother the princess.

As they sat around the fire eating their food, Aliana finally disrupted the peaceful night silence. "Can I see the map?" she mumbled through bites of slightly burnt meat. "I want to see where we're headed to."

Iora let out a slight exclamation. "Oh! I totally forgot to show you. Sure." She removed the map from her satchel and unfurled it. She pointed to a few crudely drawn mountains in the upper right hand corner. "Those are the Effulgent Mountains." Her finger moved down and landed on a miniscule dot with the word Halspore scratched next to it. "That's the town of Halspore. It's one of the last few relatively large towns in the area. Around it are bunch of small hamlets scattered about. We'll find somewhere to live out there."

"And where are we on the map?"

"It's difficult to tell." About a half-finger length away from the mountains, she pointed to another dot. "This is the town of Eelry, where we just came from. We have to make it all the way to the mountains. I think that if we move as quickly as possible, weather permitting, we should be able to get there in a few days. At least, I hope so."

"Do we have enough food?"

Iora paused thoughtfully before answering. "What we bought from Eelry may not be enough. Thankfully, there is a river that circles Halspore that, depending on the season, can be a good fishing spot. Of course, there's some good news and bad news. The good news being that we should be close to a river soon and can catch fish; the bad news being that the river may be at least starting to freeze over. This will make fishing more difficult when we aren't properly equipped, so that will slow us down. We just need to hope for the best. When we reach the river, I'll have a better answer for you as it will give me an idea both of how much time we have left of our travel and how easy it will be to fish." Her voice did not sound promising.

"In that case, I hope it's sooner rather than later." Aliana was anxious to find a place to settle, stop running, and feel more secure. She also didn't like the idea of running out of food. Who really knew how far from the river they were, and if fishing were truly an option?

"As do I."

"If we were low on money for food and clothes, how are we supposed to have money to settle down?"

"That's for me to worry about." The guard rolled the map up and put it back in her satchel. She took one last bite of her food and handed the rest to Aliana, who took happily took it.

The princess began eating the food. "I want to know."

"You always want to know."

"I know, I act like royalty, don't I?"

Iora laughed. "Very well. I've been to the area before. There are many caves, some better known than others, and plenty of abandoned shacks we could fix up as well. The rule of the land there is squatter's rights. If nobody's been there for a while, you can claim it. It's a bit risky, but much less so than running into the assassin is, and I know how to hold my own with those people."

Aliana looked uncomfortable as she raised her eyebrow and curled her lip. This was not a lifestyle she was used to.

"I know it's not ideal," Iora comforted, "but it will save your life and it will get us by until we have better plans."

"That's real comforting."

"We're not looking for comfort, we're looking for survival." She wagged a finger at Aliana. "Remember that."

"It's not like I'd forget that. I'm--"

"Shh!" Iora, her eyes darting to something in the woods over the princess's shoulder put her finger to her lips.

Aliana's heart began beating rapidly, worried the assassin had found them once more; worried they would not make it out of this alive; worried she would never be queen and be able to make the changes to her country that she had planned. Her mind instantly imagining every horrible thing that could happen. Despite the cold, sweat was building up on her forehead. With a lurch from her stomach, she realized she had not learned to defend herself and would be defenseless if the assassin had caught up with them.

Iora rose silently to her feet and crept over to where the horses were. She motioned for the princess to stay where she was. From behind her pack, she pulled out one of the daggers, which she clasped tightly. Aliana was growing impatient, but the guard kept motioning for her to stay where she was. Gradually, she made her way just outside the perimeter of their campsite, into the trees where Aliana could no longer see her. The princess, anxious, slowly bent over, picking up the log she had been eying, trying to ready herself.

There was a crash! Her heart was beating impossibly faster in reaction to the commotion. Next came the sound of snapping twigs, like something was being dragged across the forest floor. Oh no! Iora! Aliana ran toward where iora had gone into the forest, unsure of what she was doing, but at least it was something. Just before she reached the spot where Iora had disappeared earlier, she saw her guard. Iora was not the one being dragged, she was the one doing the dragging. Seeing the light of the makeshift bludgeon, Iora turned and laughed.

"Put that down and help me, will you? This deer is heavy!"