Tthor's heart only seemed to ease when, ten minutes later, it was clear that Mrs. Yalfom had regained consciousness and was well. She held her baby and breastfed him, looking at him enraptured.

   Darius was outside, putting the Yalfom's sorrel and brown horses under cover, while Tthor and Lee-Won fed the fire burning in a small fireplace with plenty of wood. Lily watched everything, silently, from a corner. Her body seemed to tremble slightly.

  Tthor turned and looked at her. A tear crossed the little girl's face. The boy walked towards her and lifted her off the ground. He wrapped his arms around her to give her warmth. The girl hugged him, instinctively, and rested her head on Tthor's shoulder, sighing.

   "Everything will be fine. I promise you," the boy said in a soft voice.

   " I know. Now that you're here, I feel better," the girl answered, quite moved.

   Tthor walked around a mound of snow that had been spread over the pool of blood and approached Mrs. Yalfom who was now resting at the other end of the room, near the fire.

   "Are you okay?" Tthor asked, with Lily still in his arms.

   "We are both fine," she answered, visibly tired but smiling.

   "Both of them...?!" Said Lee-Won approaching Tthor.

   "Yes, she is a girl," Mrs. Yalfom explained, removing the blanket from the baby's face a little to show him.

   Tthor looked at her enthralled.

   "She's so delicate... she looks like a flower. She's beautiful!" He whispered. "Like you!" He added, looking at Lily.

   The girl blushed and hid her face in Thor's shoulder.

   "What happened?" Lee-Won asked."Why are you here?"

   "We came for firewood. My husband and my son are up the hill pulling the last crop of potatoes out of the air before the storm," Mrs. Yalfom explained. "I came in the cart to carry all the dry firewood I could find because I knew my husband wouldn't make it in time. , before sunset. But I felt bad and I took refuge in this cabin, thinking that... the discomfort would pass and we would get back on the road." She said, starting to cry.

   "Calm down," Tthor told her. "Everything is fine now." Nothing bad will happen to them.

   "My birth came early. I felt very strong pain," Mrs. Yalfom said. "And, from then on, I remember very little...

   Darius entered and closed the door.

   "We'll have to spend the night here," he said quietly. "We have enough firewood to keep us warm. Tomorrow we will think about how to return to Warghost. Thank to Orffelios, Lee-Won jumped out of the cart and followed you, Tthor, otherwise we would have lost track of you right away."

   Darius approached the woman and left the water jug ​​nearby and gave her some pieces of choco-webs that he had found in a pocket.

   "Thank you, Darius," Mrs. Yalfom told him.

  The small man plopped down near the door and leaned his head against the wall, visibly tired.

   "And how did you get here?" Asked Mrs. Yalfom. "Were you looking for shelter?"

   Lee-Won fixed his gaze on Tthor and said, in a mysterious voice:

   "Tthor...heard the baby's cry. But I do not know how. We were more than two kilometers away and the wind was very strong. Nothing could be seen or heard except the lashing of the storm a couple of meters around."

   Tthor was thoughtful as he settled Lily near her mother.

   "I'll go see the horses," Lee-Won said suddenly.

   "I'm going with you," Tthor said, suddenly.

   They left the cabin and, surrounding it, came to a small shed with a low roof and wooden walls. Lee-Won looked at the horses and loosened their straps, although it was not necessary. It was evident that he sought to avoid Tthor at all costs.

   But Tthor was not influenced by the boy's apparent indifference and approached him slowly.

   "Lee-Won…"

   The boy did not look at him but he became visibly nervous and began to bite his lip. Tthor came a little closer and, on impulse, hugged him. The young dark-haired man surrendered to the boy's warmth and surrounded him with his arms.

   "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for answering you so badly. "I'm sorry for having said what I said," Tthor whispered. "Forgive me."

   "No, you forgive me. I was very stupid to make that joke on you."

   The hug tightened a little more and lasted for several minutes. When they separated, Tthor sought Lee-Won's gaze. He returned it with a broad smile.

   "Thanks for coming after me."

   Lee-Won gave a sigh.

   "You would have done the same..."

   "...For you, yes...," Tthor told him, smiling at him.

   Lee-Won shivered from head to toe. And, if it hadn't been for Lily's interruption, who called Tthor from the door, Lee-Won believed that he wouldn't have been able to keep his legs supporting him.

   They entered just as Mrs. Yalfom motioned for them to come closer. The baby was sleeping soundly, wrapped in a blanket.

   "Mrs. Yalfom, how is she feeling?" Tthor asked her, crouching down next to her.

   "My name is Cisanar. You can call me Cisa, as my friends call me."

   Tthor sat with his back close to the wall. Lily stood next to him and hugged him smiling. Lee-Won stood in another corner, his eyes fixed on the flames. Tthor looked at him, while Cisa Yalfom said:

   "If it hadn't been for you..., I don't know if we would be alive..."

   Tthor moved, somewhat nervous.

   "It's true, Tthor. Just as it is also true that I should not have undertaken this trip. I had to wait for my husband to return with Arcod. But I knew that when they returned, they would be tired. My husband works from dawn to dusk, in the harvest. But he barely reaches us. And now, with another mouth to feed," Mrs. Yalfom's voice trembled a little.

   Lee-Won shifted nervously, without taking his eyes off the fire.

   "You know, because of the size of my belly, Ciluus, my husband, was convinced that they could be twins. Arcod was a twin, you know. But, unfortunately, his little sister died at birth, along with her young mother."

   Cisanar paused and held her baby girl to her chest, as if seeking to protect her.

   Lee-Won was still dazzled by the flames and Tthor was staring at him.

   "I met Ciluus a couple of months after that tragedy. He was wandering around with his baby, little Arcod. And I was left with food. He seems like such a serious and cold man. But it's because of everything he's had to live through. The loss of his little daughter and his wife, the young Primhadora, turned him into a sullen person but he is the best husband in the world... and the best father."

   Cisanar burst into silent crying and hid his face in the blanket that covered the baby, who had not heard anything and was sleeping peacefully. Lily clung to Tthor and he looked from Lee-Won to her.

   "My girl was very brave," said Mrs. Yalfom, wiping away her tears.

   Tthor looked at her, smiling.

   " She helped me during the birth and, the last thing I remember before I fainted, was seeing her wrapping the little girl in a blanket and putting her near me."

   " I heard noises... And I hid behind the door. I was very scared because I thought they were fenrir wolves…"

   His mother smiled moved.

   " You were very brave. Furthermore, fenrir wolves do not exist. Your father has told you many times."

   Tthor couldn't help but look at Lee-Won, who smiled slightly without taking his eyes off the burning logs.

   Tthor stood up, leaving little Lily sitting near her mother.

   " Why don't you rest a little?" Tthor suggested, wrapping the girl with a blanket.

   Mrs. Yalfom nodded as she looked at her little girl very sweetly.

   " Shall we add some firewood?" Tthor asked, approaching Lee-Won.

   He nodded and took some logs that Tthor handed him. He placed them on top of the ones that were still on and got lost in his thoughts for a couple of minutes.

   Tthor noticed Darius, who seemed to be asleep in the corner. He turned his eyes to Lee-Won and asked:

   "Whose is this house?"

   Lee-Won shook his head.

   "Don't know. It is many years old and I think no one remembers who built it. It is used by poachers to shelter from storms. But most of the time it is abandoned."

   Tthor sighed but said nothing. Lee-Won stared at him.

   "What are you up to?"

   The young man began to laugh. Lee-Won waved him with his hand to keep quiet.

   "That? Why?" Tthor said, whispering.

   " I know that look, Tthor Prayer."

   Tthor continued to laugh. Lee-Won smiled but without taking his eyes off her.

   "I was thinking..." Tthor said, after a few seconds, trying to get serious, "that if this house is used by poachers, perhaps we can find supplies that they left behind during his last visit."

   "Supplies…?

   "Food..., food...," said Tthor, laughing again.

   "And why don't you say food? Always speaking in complicated..."

   Tthor laughed his head off.

   " I don't speak in complicated!" Tthor defended himself, in a low voice, still laughing.

   "Yes, of course you do! Sleepwaiting!"

   "…Sleepwalking…!"

   " Piala...!"

   Tthor laughed again.

   "Paila…"

   Tthor could not speak. His eyes were watering and he couldn't contain his laughter. Lee-Won thought that Tthor would wake everyone up so he pulled him by one arm into a small adjoining room.

   "Where do you learn those words?" Lee-Won asked him, unable to contain his laughter.

   "Most..., at school," Tthor said, looking around "You, right?"

   Lee-Won became serious.

   " I do not go to school."

   Tthor looked at him surprised.

   "The servants...and their children, we only study until we are eleven years old. Then, we work with our parents."

   Tthor could not articulate a word.

   "You did not know?"

   Tthor shook his head.

   " But...what if they wanted to study?"

   Now it was Lee-Won who shook his head.

   "Only the Asís and some of the people, whose parents have high positions, can go to school."

   " Like who?"

   "Spike Shannut, for example."

   Tthor was shocked.

  " Let me guess,…by express order of Orffelios."

   Lee-Won stared at him and bit her lip.

   "That's why I want you to be my King."

   Tthor looked at him in silence.

   "You would change some things, those that are wrong."

   Tthor didn't know what to say.

  " The piala..., hasn't it presented itself to you?"

   "No," said Tthor, looking down, not wanting to correct him.

   "And you…? Have you looked for it?"

   Tthor looked at him again. He knew perfectly well what his friend was referring to. He had been there in Meaghdose for a couple of months now and, after learning that he was considered the heir to the throne and the keeper of the paila, he had harbored, deep within, the wish that everyone was wrong.

   "I am not prepared to be King."

   " First things first: guardian, then King. Furthermore, if the piala is revealed to you, you have no choice. You can't abandon your people...

   " You overestimate me..."

   Lee-Won raised his eyebrows, in an amused gesture, without having understood his friend.

   " Forget it!" Said Tthor, laughing again. "Let's see what we find here..."

   The room was smaller than the previous one. There was a rickety table, a chair, an old wood stove and a wooden cupboard. Opening it, the two boys sighed in disappointment.

   "Completely empty," said Lee-Won, in a low voice.

   Tthor stood near a window and looked out. Everything was covered in snow. An icy white blanket stretched as far as he could see.

   "Yesterday..., I missed you a lot," said Tthor, in a low voice, without stopping looking outside.

   Lee-Won looked at him surprised. She approached him and stood very close.

   " Sometimes I think I'm doing something wrong, with you. I feel like you're walking away, like you don't want to be my friend."

   Lee-Won stared at him.

   " I had never had a friend before. Nobody at my school comes close to me. I'm a weirdo. They only look for me when they want to make some bad joke on me."

   " I am your friend...," Lee-Won told him with a moving voice.

   " If I'm doing something wrong..., you must tell me. I have no experience in having friends."

   Tthor felt that this could become the only moment in which he would dare to tell her everything that he had been carrying inside him for several days.

   Lee-won was moved. And he felt that, at any moment, he would end up confessing his feelings to Tthor.

   A visceral fear coursed through his body when, uninvited, a memory invaded Lee-Won quite intensely. A youthful face, with pinkish skin, brown hair and blue eyes, suddenly appeared to him. He had a raw look, full of fear, with a troubled and broken voice that screamed at him:

   Get away from me, you spawn! Don't you dare talk to me ever again!

   "Tell me, Lee-Won? Is there something I'm doing wrong?" Tthor's voice brought him back from his memories.

   The young dark-haired man looked at him, intently, for a moment. Then he walked to the door and said:

  " You are doing it very well. You're my best friend. And I won't do anything to ruin our friendship, ever."

   Tthor looked at him with a smile.

   "Why don't we go to sleep?"

   They walked to the next room. Lee-Won plopped down in a corner and was silently grateful when little Lily took Tthor's hand and led him to the opposite side. They lay down, embraced, on a blanket.

   Tthor felt, that night, with renewed joy, because he had made things happen with his best friend. One last idea ran through his head before he fell asleep. If there was a possibility of becoming King, many things were going to change. But he had to start at the beginning: find Orffelios's paila.