Kenna woke up just before dawn the next morning to find herself in Eragon's bed. She sat up and saw he was fast asleep on a pile of furs and a few blankets on the floor.

She felt guilty for a moment because he was on the floor, but remembered how he had insisted she take the bed to the point where she almost smacked him to get him to stop.

She sat up and made up the bed then left the room to make breakfast for them all. She wasn't sure what to make, so she made a breakfast of the food she brought- bread, cheese, and some apples.

Eragon appeared in the doorway just then and tilted his head to the side. He wore his hunting clothes and had extra furs and a cloak on his arm, his bow and quiver in his other hand.

"What are you up to?" He asked with a yawn.

"Getting you all breakfast." She replied with a shrug and tossed an apple at him and he had to drop what he was holding to catch it and he sent her a small glare.

"And making me drop all of my things, I see." He mumbled and set the apple on the table and gathered the clothing and weapons and set them on a chair off to the side. "Should we go on our usual trail or something new?" He asks.

"I think we should stay on the trail for the most part, but straying from it a little bit is alright. It's easy to pick up again, anyways."

He nodded. "Then, that is what we will do."

*****

That afternoon, Kenna and Eragon made their way into the first trees that started the large forest known as the Spine.

Their breath clouded in white puffs in front of them as they picked their way up the hill to find the trail, their boots crunching the frost that had already collected on the grass and remained. The sun was beginning to set and Kenna figured it was was getting closer to six o'clock.

"Eragon? Should we make camp soon? And a fire?" Kenna called up to him.

He turned to look back at her. Nose a little red from the cold air and brown hair a mess with some snowflakes visible for only a moment in his hair before they melted away.

He looked up to the sky and squinted a little, shielding his eyes from the sun and snow, then said, "I think that that's a good idea. I know a good spot up ahead. It's a small clearing that's shielded by bushes. We can wake up a little before dawn to try and begin tracking some game." 

She nodded and brushed some silver hair away from her face and followed him up the hill the rest of the way to the clearing he had mentioned.

They cleared aside some bushes to make a path into the small circle void of trees and worked at laying down dry leaves and pine needles and then their bedrolls.

Kenna made up the sleeping spots while Eragon got a fire going, and once they were finished, Kenna asked, "Eragon? Could I ask you something?"

"Sure. What is it?" He asks and sits back onto his roll after getting the fire to a suitable height.

She clenched her hands in her lap, then asked, "I think I want to leave Carvahall. Go to another city. Somewhere far away from here. Where my father can't curse me and my mother won't be beaten because of my existence. For the past sixteen years of my life, it's always been like that. No one else here likes me, either. Not including your family." She sighed a little. "I know what they whisper about me. That I'm a witch or something because of the white hair I was born with. I want to go somewhere far away where no one knows me. Where I'll be accepted and not a target for discrimination."

Eragon had pulled some rope from his pack and was working on a few shares, sharpening some sticks with his hunting knife, but had stopped when she had begun her story. "So...what are you asking me?"

"Will you go with me?" She asked.

He frowned. "I have a life here. I have Garrow and Roran. They need me here."

She clenched her jaw, trying to keep the sting and hurt of his refusal hidden from him. She nodded and said, "I understand."

He looked at her and his features contorted into grief. "Kenna...I want to go with you. You know I want to be with you, I just-"

"If you want to be with me, Eragon, make up your mind. I can't have any false promises of hope." She interrupted him and tucked her knees up to her chest and pulled her cloak around her tighter.

"Kenna...you know that our situations are different. I can't pack up and leave now. Not yet. Give me a few weeks...then, yes. I will go with you. I just can't leave yet without giving Garrow and Roran time to prepare for my departure." Eragon said gently.

He reached a hand over and rested it on her cheek, a small smile on his face.

She pressed her face into his palm and merely said, "Thank you."

******

A few days later, they had found and tracked down a doe in a heard of deer. She had a wounded foreleg and based on the tracks, she also moved at the back of the herd. She would be easy prey.

Too easy for two skilled hunters.

Dusk had begun to fill the skies with dark hues of purple that contrasted against the brilliant pinks and oranges of the setting sun.

It would be a sight to see if the hunters weren't so focused on the task at hand. 

An hour passed and the dazzling colors along with it.

By the light of the moon and stars, Kenna crept through the underbrush, barely making a sound and breathing slowly so the clouds of moisture would not warn the prey of her whereabouts.

She crouched and lifted a hand to the quiver on her back and drew an arrow slowly and silently to her cheek.

She was ready to fire and claim the doe's life when a brilliant light suddenly exploded through the clearing and a sound like a thunderous canon echoed through the forest.

The herd scattered and she whirled around, dodging the horns of a buck and drew her arrow back and fired her own arrow. She watched it sink into the side of a deer as Eragon's arrow missed it by merely an inch

With a squeal in pain, the beast stumbled and collapsed a few yards away.

She shifted her hold on her bow and turned to look at the clearing.

"Eragon?" She called and stepped out from her hiding spot, brushing pine needles from her hair and clothes. "Eragon are you alright? I got a buck down. The horns should get us some good money."

She pushed aside a branch and saw him kneeling on the ground, bow beside him.

"Kenna...come see this." He said softly and waved her closer, not seeming to hear her telling him she downed a buck.

She approached cautiously and kneeled beside him to look at what he had found.

Two blue polished atones sat smoking in a charred pile of dirt and rocks.

One was a lighter blue with white veins, and the other was a darker blue with what appeared to be gold veins.

"What...what are these?" She gasped.

"I...I'm not sure. I think they may have come from whatever that explosion was." He says with a tight jaw and grave seriousness.

"You think this is magic?" She asked him and he looked over at her.

"It might be. But who knows? They appeared right here and right now. It could be a sign that we are meant to have them. They look pretty valuable. We could sell them."

She pursed her lips. "I don't know, Eragon. I don't like the look of them. They could be dangerous. And it could also just be a scary coincidence that they appeared here."

He lifted the blue egg with the gold veins and handed it up to her and said, "All the better to sell them to get something from them."

She held the large Stone in both of her hands, surprised at how polished smooth it was. It was cool to the touch, which surprised her considering the fires still crackling here and there from their sudden arrival.

The deep and dark blue reminded her of the ocean. When her father was wealthy and traveled, he had actually allowed her to come on some trips. She was asked to sit in the carriage or away from them for most of the majority of the time, but she spent her time looking out at the sea. The deep blues and roaring waves were always her favorite. She felt she belonged at the ocean.

The gold reminded her of the sunlight that streamed onto the water from above, and she suddenly didn't want to give up this Stone- or whatever it was. She wanted to keep it.

Perhaps this was the answer to her wish at the well?

She kneeled on the ground and gently set it down, then began to wrap it in extra clothes from her pack and then set it inside gently.

"I'm going to get the buck. Wanna come help me?" She asked over her shoulder as she picked up her bow again.

"Sure. Give me a minute." He replied and stuffed his Stone carefully into his pack and followed me over to where she had downed the deer.

It was still moving slightly, moaning in pain at the arrow embedded between its ribs. Kenna took it out of its misery with a knife and they worked together to bind the wound so they wouldn't get blood on them and wrapped it in cloth so it wouldn't attract other animals.

They passed by Eragon's home and made their way into town.

"Let's just get the deer prepared and antlers sold and go back to the house." Kenna said to Eragon, grabbing his hand to slow him for a moment.

"You don't want to try and sell the Stones? They could get us enough money or food or anything for the rest of winter." He says seriously.

"Yeah, but we can easily go back and hunt more. And I still have a job at the shop that I really don't mind using my salary to buy food with."

"Why don't you want to sell the Stones?" He asked.

"I know it sounds stupid, but it just doesn't feel like the right thing to do. I don't think anyone here would take kindly to anything unnatural from the Spine. And if they see me with them, it could be worse. They already think I'm unnatural to begin with."

He paused and then sighed and said, "Alright. I guess that makes sense." He nodded and just lead the way to the butcher Sloan's shop.

Kenna passed her house nervously and just walked quickly with Eragon to the shop, trying not to look at the house. They entered and Sloan glared at both of them.

"Ah. The mighty hunters return." He said sarcastically.

"We need this stag butchered and wrapped. And where can we sell the antlers?" Kenna asked, getting straight to the point. She didn't have time for his bullshit today.

He raised an eyebrow. "I don't make deals with women. Or witches for that matter." He snarled.

Before Eragon could snap at him, Kenna interrupted, "Yeah. Well, you don't like Eragon. So, I think it wouldn't be too hard for you to just butcher this stag, hm?"

Sloan muttered something under his breath and said, "Fine." He walked around the counter and took the animal from Eragon and walked to the back of the shop.

He came out with several wrapped packages of meat and raised a thick black eyebrow. Kenna sighed and dropped a silver coin on the counter. Sloan snatched it up greedily and said distractedly,

"You can sell the antlers to the traders when they come or to someone here in town. Doubt they'd want it from you, though."

Kenna glared and snapped, "I doubt when word spreads you accepted my money it won't be good for your business."

Sloan looked down at her and said angrily, "Or I could tell your father you were here, yeah? I heard he's been tearing everything up looking for you."

Eragon wrapped his arm around Kenna's shoulders after getting the meat in his pack and said calmly, "No need to. Kenna and I were just leaving."

He gently turned her towards the door and opened it and they entered back into the cold night.