"You doing okay so far, Haru?"

"Rione, I'm fine."

That was the third time he'd asked...
We had only been trekking through the knee high (well, to a shorty like me) snow for ten minutes. The castle was still was still in view out in the distance. Rione was marching close beside me, the two of us bundled thickly with backpacks on our backs, and yet, even though nothing was going wrong, he insisted on asking how I was doing frequently. Really, it was sweet that he cared... But he was worrying too much.
"Rione," I sighed. "You don't have to ask me that every five minutes. I'm a strong girl, remember?" I raised my small arm to flex a nonexistent muscle jokingly.
He half smiled. "You're right, you're right. But I just like to make sure."

"I know." I smiled at him. "Thanks for caring."
His cheeks pinkened a little. "... No problem."
He'd always been a sweetheart.
As far back as I could remember he'd always been there to help when someone needed it. That was why he'd decided to be a guard... He was meant to be a protector. It was his destiny...
"Ah, the snow gets deeper here, be careful!"

"R-Right!"
*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*
Before I'd realized it, we had gotten far from the kingdom, the castle barely in our sights anymore as we had been trekking for hoursー and the sun would set soon. I thought about my instructor. Miss Risa was probably worried about me... I did leave her a note, but...
Rione broke me from my thoughts. "It's getting dark, Haru. We should start looking for a place to stay."

"Huh? Oh, you're right..."

We'd be lucky if we could find a warm place to spend the night...
I was about to quicken my stride to catch up to Rione when I noticed something particularly strange about the step I'd just taken. My stomach dropped.
Oh no...
I barely had time to react before my foot fell through, and in a matter of seconds, I had fallen through the snow.
"AHH!"
"HARUKA!!"
I fell down a large hole, deeper and deeper until I hit the bottom, but the moment I had, I realized the ground was tilted, and before I could get my bearings, I continued down, sliding down the hill until I hit my head on something and immediately fell unconscious.