daughter of esmund

Twenty-Two

TW: Contains a depiction of domestic abuse, a panic attack, and mild cursing. If you are unable to read this chapter rewatching Diaries S2 Ep. 54 can substitute. 

A/N: Hey all! I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. If you do please leave a vote and a comment with any feedback you may have, it would be greatly appreciated. I just wanted to let you all know that chapters might be slowing down once more since I start school this week, but I will try my best to get chapters out when I am able to. Thank you for the continued support and, again, I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Word Count: 2562

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Aphmau wasn't kidding when she said that the conditions were going to be extreme.

Night falls only a few hours into our journey, about the same time that we encounter some more, inclement weather. With little blend between the two, we travel from completely clear weather to an absolute blizzard. By the appearance of our surroundings, this area most likely is never without snow. Layers of snow cover the mountain tops in the distance and weigh down the branches of the evergreens. While there are some of these evergreens, the area is mostly clear. It's freezing, and even though I'm wearing a jacket that is way too big for me, I'm still cold. After about an hour of wandering through the snowy area, we still haven't gotten much of anywhere.

"Are you sure we're not lost?" I call out to Aphmau. I was at the back of the group with Laurence. Aaron and Aphmau had taken the lead.

Aaron turns to face me, walking backward to keep his pace even with Aphmau's, "We know what we're doing Ro'meave.."

I roll my eyes, "I didn't ask you."

I hear a small growl leave him before he turns around, "And no one asked for your opinion."

I open my mouth to say something but Laurence lightly elbows me in the side, a silent way of telling me to keep my mouth shut. I huff a bit. I understand Aaron's hostility, trust me I do, but it gets on my nerves. I know I don't have room to talk though. Zane took everything from him and in return, my family didn't do anything. We probably made everything worse by not stopping the rumor that he had killed his entire village. So in one way in another, my entire family is to blame, as much as I hate to admit that.

As we continue to walk through this barren winter wonderland, nothing shows really any promise for yet another hour or so. The temperatures only decline until the cold is almost impossible to ignore. Everyone is holding their jacket close around themselves, trying their best to stay warm. Laurence and I are now standing shoulder to shoulder. He tried to put his arm around me, probably in an attempt to keep us warm, but I shrugged it off. We're still hiding our relationship from Aphmau and I didn't think right now would be the greatest time for her to find out about it. As we keep moving forward, Aphmau spots an orange glow on the horizon, it somewhat resembling a campfire. It's been the first sign of life in miles, so we decide to head towards it and see what we find.

It's another half an hour before we arrive at the source of the flickering orange glow. There's a small wooden hut built with a small porch. Outside of the hut is the campfire we had seen, and a girl who's sitting at it. She doesn't seem much older than fifteen, maybe sixteen. Her light brown hair is held away from her face in a wavy high ponytail, her teal and forest green dress covered by a small white apron. She glances up from the meat that she's tending on the fire, her eyes widening as she stands up, taking the stick she was using and pointing it at us, gripping on it as if she intends to use it as a weapon. Aaron reaches for his sword but Aphmau puts her arm out, stopping him before turning back to the girl, "Hey, it's okay, we're not here to hurt you.."