Having left her homeland without a word almost a moon ago, Karina had been plagued by constant paranoia that her family was hot on her heels and would catch up to her at any moment. Almost equally distressing was the thought that no one was looking for her; that they listened to her message relayed through Davin that she was safe and did not wish to be pursued. Karina would hardly blame them if they did choose to leave her to her fate. She had disappointed her father and disobeyed her mother’s order. She had failed Lachesis on every count as a student. And Kjors..
..Kjors would be furious with her for hiding her plans and leaving without a word.. perhaps furious enough to find a new priestess.. a new gem. Even Davin she had lied to; he knew the extent of her plan to find Kova, but Karina had misled him into thinking she planned to leave much closer to spring. It had pained her to lie to her dearest friends, but what choice did she have? They all just wanted to protect their little princess, and she suspected even Davin would have broken her trust and spilled her secret plan if he thought it was for her own good.
The few supplies she had been able to scrape together for her journey—dried roots and plants mostly-- were dwindling, and as it was the middle of winter the girl was not hopeful about her chances of finding more edible vegetation. Even so, she scraped halfheartedly at the dirt beside the icy spring, thinking if she was lucky she might find something preserved in the frozen soil beside the water source. What she really could use right now was a nice fish, and as she thought about it the weary traveler gazed longingly out across the spring. It was likely that there was a nimiety of fish just out of reach, safe and sound beneath the thick layer of impenetrable ice. Not for the first time Karina silently cursed the circumstances that compelled her to travel during such a formidable season.