Walking over towards Jack, I hold my practice sword and ask the bearded man, ”She went that way you said, right?”

Jak nods. “You can ask others along the way to find out if they saw her. But…” He still rubs at his beard. “Coulda swore I saw something strange on the top of her head. Like she had some pretty unruly calflicks.” He laughs softly.

Gasping, I look at Bret and he returns my look meaningfully. “We have to go after her, right now. Thanks, Jak.” Bret says as he puts a hand on his fence and vaults over. I rush to the gate, sure I’m currently incapable of repeating Bret’s feat and run after him.

“Take care, girl.” Jak calls after me. We race along the street towards the main street through Haldor’s Stand past people standing around together in the evening sunset, speaking quietly together.

“Did you see a girl with light blonde hair heading this way?” Bret yells at the nearest group. They nod and one of them points towards the north gate, not too far off. Bret leads the way as we head along the road, past the adventurer’s guild and then the vendors under their canopies, packing their wares. 

In the distance, the sun is sinking behind the mountains. It’s only around seventeen hours or a bit later and the sun’s already going down?

Running to the gate, when we reach it Bret meets the guard posted on the inside, asking, “Did you see a girl with light-blonde hair heading this way not long ago?”

The guard shakes his head. “I remember a beauty with that description… Wasn’t it that girl from earlier? You escorted them through the town… but I haven’t seen her since.”

Bret frowns and looks me in the eye. “I’m not much for tracking, but at least we know she didn’t leave by this gate. Why’s that fool girl running around town like this?” He growls. “She’s actually pulled a move like this after I stood up for the two of you on the very first day? What do you know about Ela, Hana?”

I shake my head. “Not much, but I don’t think she’s up to anything. She’s probably just nervous.”

Bret nods and frowns. “I hope you’re right. If I find that she’s softening us for some kind of an attack, I’ll have to carry out my duty.” He says with a resolved expression, his grip on his practice sword tightening enough that his hand whitens. “Come along.”

We run away from the gate while the guards speak together, sounding alarmed.

Heading next up a narrow street and along another narrow street behind the first rows of houses, there are a couple of women standing together in a yard, chatting together. After spotting them, I ask, “Did you see a girl with a big cow… um big calflicks in her light blond, almost white hair running past here?” They look at each other, one plump and the other slender and both middle-aged ladies frown at each other and then look at me, shaking their heads negatively. 

The more slender of the two says, “No young things like yourself ran past while we’ve been here, but there was a white-like stray horse runnin’ through, cousin’ a huge ruckus! I caught it eating my grass and chased it off.”

A horse? But that has nothing to do with Ela. I look at Bret and he shrugs.

“Sorry that I can’t help you too much,” the slender housewife says with a slight smile.

I bow politely to her and nodding at Bret, tilting it, I say, “Let’s keep going this way.”

Bret nods thoughtfully. He leads the way further up the street. We jog until my lungs start burning, and I get an ache in my side. Looking around, I hope to catch a glimpse of Ela hiding in the corner of my sight. No sign of her presents itself, however.

Above, a raptor screams. When I turn my eyes upward, I see an eagle-like bird, flying low enough to recognize the white crown of feathers on its head with a bright yellow, curved beak. It looks at me with fierce eyes as it flies ahead of us.

Nearing the far gate, we burst out from a narrow alleyway to see a horse with a white and gray, spackled coat dancing madly and neighing loudly as it fights to free itself from ropes lashing it down.

With a gape, my eyes meet the terrified horse’s, she neighs at me and calms down a bit, whickering softly. “Daisy! There you are!” I yell as I run forward.

The two men holding the two respective lengths of rope holding my horse down look at Bret and me. Seeing my ragged and mismatching clothes, they dismiss me on the spot as a claimant of her ownership, and the horse resumes her wild thrashing.

Bret asks me with a disbelieving expression, “You own a horse? What else are you lying to me about?”

“No,” I say, shaking my head. “I found her near my village after it was burned down by the goblins. This is my horse. She kind of chose me. I gave her the name Daisy yesterday. She kept me warm the other night and we hit it off early in the morning when frost clung to the grass.”

“Why didn’t you come to Haldor’s Stand, riding it, then?” Bret asks with a skeptical look.

“I did, but we got separated. The man who was helping us, Vayne, took everything I had. I thought he stole her too. Did he sell her to someone here?” My eyes widen.

“Shit… Vayne? Vayne Windblade? That Vayne Windblade? You’re telling me that son of a bitch robbed you of everything you had when you’d just barely survived a goblin attack? Scum.” Bret seethes and his grip on his sword tightens again. “That damned prick. All he thinks about is making a buck. I didn’t think he’d sink that low.” Turning his eyes on the two men wrestling with Daisy, Bret asks with a firm tone. “Is this your horse, Al and Jem?” His expression dares them to lie.

Flinching, they shake their heads and one says, “For the good of the village, of course. Just keepin’ a stray horse out of everyone’s hair, you know? We’re just performin’ a civic duty here. Roundin’ it up to turn it in for its owner to reclaim, naturally.” 

The other of the two chuckles nervously and agrees, nodding, “Right.” The slight look of surprise on his face spoils the effort to bullshit us. 

Shaking his head, Bret frowns. “Where are you taking this horse, exactly? To the nearest guardhouse? If so, I’ll take her off your hands right now. She’s in the guard’s custody now, so you can go on about your business. A fine job done.”

The pair of scraggy men look at each other and shoot Bret a glare, cursing under their breath.

“You lookin’ to start a fight with the guard?” Bret’s eyes narrow and he extends his practice blade. The two unarmed men wince and like it was a hot wire, they drop the ropes. 

I rush over to Daisy, stroking her neck. She neighs and shakes her head, looking at me as she nuzzles my face.

“Don’t think this is the end, Bret!” One of the men shouts as the two rush off and around a corner off the main road. Patting Daisy’s neck, I sigh in relief.

“Thanks, Bret.” I smile brightly at him, and he looks at me with a glare.

“I didn’t do it for you. It’s my duty to make sure people don’t take things that aren’t theirs. If this horse is truly yours, you’ll need to prove it. We still need to find Ela, too. Keep a hold on the rope around the horse’s neck and hurry after me. I have a bad feeling.”

Chewing my lip, I nod. Ela has caused so much trouble that Bret is already running out of patience with us. Bret hurries off up the road to the other side of Haldor’s Stand and Bret asks everyone standing along the residential streets if they saw a girl with light-blonde to white hair. They answer, saying that none by that description came by here.

Meanwhile the sun sets behind the mountains and a cold wind sweeps over and through the walled town and the villagers start heading indoors for warmth and more windows light up. The chirping of insects in the villagers’ gardens fill the air along with the call of nightbirds.

Off in the distance, outside the walls, a wolf howls, but despite knowing that the walls protect us, the sound that gave me shivers back near Halima’s village when I was more in danger still gives me goosebumps. Presumably the same raptor cries from above us, fading into the distance. We pass through an alleyway and the horse’s hoof’s clip and clop noises as they strike  the occasional stone-worked cobbles that were laid between some rows of houses abruptly silences. 

Looking over my shoulder anxiously, I gaze into the eyes of Ela, wearing a blush and an ashamed expression. The rope hangs loosely around her neck, and my eyes widen in realization.

“What?!” Hearing my exclamation, Bret stops, lifting his weapon and then lowers it, laughing when he sees Ela on the rope.

“As I half-expected. Artfully played, Ela.” Bret chortles. “Waited just long enough to reveal yourself, did you?”

Ela blushes intensely and partially bows to me, her eyes brimming with wet tears. “I’m so sorry, Hana. I’m sorry I’m such a bad friend.”

I stare wordlessly at Ela for a long period of time as her tears leave droplets on the dirt street beneath our feet. With a soft sigh, I finally step to her and gently embrace her. “It’s alright, but don’t make me worry like that again, okay?”

With a trembling lip, Ela nods. “Yes.”

Shuffling into Bret’s home together, he heads over to the kitchen’s hearth, down to only glimmering embers by now. He chucks new kindling onto them and blows to kindle the flames back to life. 

Picking up a nearby shovel, he scoops up all the spent ash, carefully leaving the baby fire cheerfully burning in the center over the embers. Once done, he sets a few small logs on the crackling fire and after a while, he carefully shovels the ashes back on top, putting out the fire that could keep us warm all night long.

“Why did you do that?” I ask, wrapping my arms around my body.

Bret straightens and looks at me with an amused expression. “Didn’t anyone teach you to not leave a fire burning overnight? With a good chimney, neither poisoning the air nor burning your house down’s a problem, but someone would have to stay up to look after the fire all night long to keep it alive all eight hours. I won’t volunteer for that duty. Do ya want to?”

Turning my head towards Ela, she nods in understanding and smiles. “That’s why we have a thick quilt on the bed Bret loaned us. With shared body heat, it shouldn’t get too cold.”

“Speak for yourselves,” Bret says with a chuckle. He looks at me thoughtfully.

Waving my hands with a red face, I take Ela’s hand and pull her to our room and close the door firmly behind us with relief. I lean on it for good measure. Ela looks at me with a wry smile.

“Can you tell me why Bret shoveled ashes on top of the fire that he just set? That seems… totally pointless,” I can’t help asking Ela, since she seems to know more about things than I’d originally have thought.

Ela raises an eyebrow and shrugs, taking off her dress. “When we wake up and rekindle the fire for breakfast, we’ll have embers under all that ash, ready to start a new one without having to use flint and steel again.” She folds her dress neatly and sets it down on the bed stand. My eyes fasten onto her body, my heart slamming against my ribs. She looks over her shoulder at me, laughing when my face turns cherry red and I turn my eyes away.

“Take yours off too,” Ela says as she crawls onto the bed, flashing her derriere at me with a horse’s tail hanging over it, nicely censoring her contours and wriggling under the quilt. I stare at the far wall, working to calm down my beating heart. Working some moisture back into my mouth, I lick my lips. 

“Come here,” Ela teases with a giggle, peeking out from under the quilt through thick eyelashes.

I feel an intense urge to meep like Ela tends to do in moments of high stress.

“Do you need help?” Ela asks.

“Eh??? N—no.” Moving from the door, I turn my back to Ela and peel my clothes off, article by article, though there’s only two. Looking at these clothes makes me relive the worst moments I’ve experienced so far of this possible nightmare. The villagers had this on them when they were killed. 

They were on dead bodies. If it wasn’t for the fact that I need some warmth and something to cover my nudity, I’d have refused to put them on. Tears leak from the corners of my eyes for some reason.

Totally nude and again growing cold, I turn to the bed, wrapping my arms around my body, looking away. Why am I behaving this way? Goblins saw me naked. Ela and Vayne did too.

Firming my expression, I lift my end of the quilt and climb under, shivering.

Hoping to maintain a distance between us, I stay on my side of the bed, decently turned away, flexing my toes and rubbing my legs together to try to generate some heat on my own. My body does heat up somewhat as I curl up. 

Suddenly, Ela wraps her arms around me and presses her breasts firmly against my back. Her firm nipples poke into my back and just like that, my body heat skyrockets from chilled. Sweat starts forming along my spine, armpits and thighs. Already, I feel like throwing the quilt off.

Waiting a long period to relax my breathing and getting the blood rush to my face under control, I peek over my shoulder at Ela. Her eyes are closed and her arms hold me firmly. She smiles softly and her white-to-blonde bangs drift gently across her eyes, resting on her cheek nestled on my pillow.

“Ela…” Wetting my lips, I ask, “Why are you teasing me so much? Do you really think I can re—?” Do you really think I can resist you for too long?

Fidgeting a while, I wait for a response, but soft snoring fills my ear as Ela’s soft breath stirs the short hairs by my ear, tickling it. Her breath makes me shiver and my heart pounding again, goosebumps rising for a different reason than cold.

Wow… she’s already out cold… I thought she was coming onto me just now. Is it really so simple that she wants to share my body heat, or just to share hers?

Thinking about how we first met on the riverbank, when she was in her ‘Daisy’ form, she ran over to me and lay with me. She was so warm then, and still is, even warmer in the form of a cute girl.

My back is hot, but over time my front grows somewhat colder, so I wrap myself more tightly in the quilt, thinking.

If every night is so cold in these mountains, does that mean that she’ll tease me every single night? What would she do if we left the village someday and had to sleep on the ground in the open? Maybe she would change into her horse form again? That would make this easier to deal with.

Laying for a while, my mind remains restless.

The next day, assuming that another comes instead of my waking up from this confusing dream, returning to my normal life in Tokyo, we’d start looking for work. With these clothes that Vayne scavenged off dead bodies, I look like a beggar pilgrim. I wonder if anyone will want to hire me as I am?

After a long wait, keeping my eyes closed and my mind off how good Ela feels pressed against my back, I’m finally able to drift off to sleep.