Winter Shadows of the Vale

𝖉𝖊𝖘𝖎𝖘𝖙

𝖉𝖊𝖘𝖎𝖘𝖙 (𝖛) 𝖈𝖊𝖆𝖘𝖊; 𝖆𝖇𝖘𝖙𝖆𝖎𝖓 

The world turned cold. The trails were slightly frozen over, but not with ice, just from the bitterness. The air was crisp and Winter and Duran were bundled inside of the new furs they recently bought.

The town they just entered was at least thirty miles out of Laniniel, it was beautiful and rather prosperous for the freezing temperatures. No one seemed to pay attention to Duran and Winter as they made their way through.

Usually Winter would receive stares of her appearance but here there was nothing. It's almost like it was normal for them. Rolling up to a large building, they enter after putting the horse into the stables out back.

Most turned to the sudden disturbance but then turned back to their own business within the same second. 

A man sits behind the desk, scrolling through some papers, "May I help you two?"

He doesn't even have to look up, "Yeah. Can we have a room for the night?"

the man nods and turns to grab a key and quickly lists off the price. Since they still had some leftover they paid the ungodly price and took the key. 

"Where y'all headin'?"

Duran turns to him, "Laniniel."

He nods and points down the hall they will soon retreat down, "Food first?"

Duran smiles, "Yeah. How about you go and check out the room first?"

Winter nods and grabs the key from between his fingers, "Will do."

Her footsteps are barely heard through the loudness of the room. The hallway is a few meters off and she turns into it, her dress turning dramatically with the force. Her feet carry her there and she opens it will little trouble.

Making a few turns around, making sure no one is following her, she enters the room. It was lit slightly, so she went to look around. Grabbing the spare candles, she lit the room by setting one on the desk. There was one bed, not that that was an actual problem.

Putting her bag onto said bed, she plops down onto it. Next to the small fireplace sat a medium sized pile of wood, at least they wouldn't freeze. Winter smiles and laid back onto the bed with a happy puff. 

It was then it really set in. She finally made it. Months have gone by and she finally has reached the goal she started off at. It's almost a memory that first day. It still hurt, her parents were gone.

Tears welled in her eyes at the thought of never seeing them again, but it wasn't as bad as it was at first. She's been so busy that the thoughts of them haven't surfaced as much as before. It didn't sadden her, Winter just wanted to remember the good things anyway.

Running from that man still haunts her, but finding and stumbling upon Duran was the best things about that day. Winter laughed, "He was a bit stand-offish wasn't her?"

She spoke out into the air and smiled at the memory. Luckily her skills had improved since that day, in the medical sense, at least.

She's lucky that he opened up to her. It may have been slowly, but, she couldn't find it in her to hate him for it. Winter didn't know what it was like to have the past troubles Duran did, but she will and always will be open to understand. To think he seemed to hate her at the beginning was different than the feelings between them now.