Beth crept her way through the forest, both hunter and hunted, determined to catch her prey before it caught her. She skulked between trees carrying a large branch with which to occasionally obscure her footprints in the snow. It wasn't a lot but every little thing counted with so much on the line and anything she could think of to help her against this deadly foe would be appreciated. Pausing by a tree, she saw the imprint where a friend had been struck down, attacked from behind and taken out. They weren't around any more; she'd lost a bunch of troops that way. The leader of the opposition was dangerous, and had taken out more people than anybody else.

She heard a light crunch from behind her and quickly turned around, weapon in hand. Alas she wasn't fast enough and took a projectile right to the heart knocking her to the ground. She lay there feeling the wet snow seep into her outfit and onto her skin, as her fate full dawned on her. She let her eyes slowly drift closed. She'd lost.

A thump came from beside her causing her to open her eyes again. Pete was now lying next to her equally covered in snow, but distinctly not struck.

"What are you doing joining me in the snow Pete? I need you to pull me back up again."

"I just thought I'd come down to your level see how things looked from the bottom."

Beth snorted. It had taken a while for Pete's more antagonistic side to come through but Beth was delighted to see that side of him. Even if it was often at her expense. The pair lay there for a while, aware of the damp seeping into their outfits, but for the moment not caring. Instead they gazed up through the trees at the snow that was still falling. Beth opened her mouth to catch a snowflake that was fluttering her way.

It had been just under three months since she, her mum and Pete had left Newcastle and retreated back south. Deciding not to stick around, especially after the slaughter that had happened at the prison after Susanna had escaped. A slaughter that Beth felt partly responsible for despite the way she had pushed against anything of the sort being allowed to happen. She didn't feel guilty particularly, after all she hadn't wanted it to happen and the stories she'd heard about the guards made it clear they deserved it. However, she knew it wouldn't have happened if not for her summoning Pearcival to break her mum out of prison.

As she lay there she spotted some unfamiliar movement in the trees. It flew past before looping back around and floating down to towards Beth. She reached up to catch it. It was a small paper crane; paper folded in such a way to make it appear like a bird. Beth tucked it in a pocket not wanting it to get too damp from the snow. While she didn't know exactly what it was, she did have an idea of what it could be and that idea was very exciting to her. Giving her necklace a small stroke she leapt up out the snow. She grabbed Pete's hands yanked him up causing him to yelp slightly at the force.

The kids they had been entertaining had all headed back to town when hit meaning the pair didn't have to round them up as they often did when playing with the youngsters. It hadn't taken long for the people of Pete's town to accept Beth and her mum's presence in the town. It helped that Pete vouched for the pair and that because the town had adopted the system currency at a steep exchange rate Beth was able to get a house for the pair. Pete lived nearby and the pair hung out most waking hours.

It worked well for the two as most suspected the two were an item, getting people off Pete's back about trying to pair people up and stopping people from questioning Beth's nameplate, [Solarslut Bethany Oakfenny, 4]. Admittedly they did assume she had a past but had decided that Pete had helped her move on from that past. Saving her from a life of debauchery and redeeming her into the pleasant young woman they met. Not the ideal reputation but one she was content to work with. Especially, when they treated her like one of their own. Despite everybody's assumptions there wasn't anything between the pair, Pete had always been clear he showed no interest in Beth and she in turn wasn't looking for anything of the sort. At least for the time being.

The pair walked back towards Pete's house, having lost the snowball fight Beth was obligated to cook for the pair. Susanna had flung herself hard into the community and spent most evenings eating at the local church. Beth had been worried at first, after all it seemed like she had been trying to keep herself busy to avoid thinking about her past, but she had been doing better and had been talking to people about what had happened which seemed healthy to Beth. Not that she was an expert on healthy processing.

She made a leek and potato soup, with small, slightly burnt, bread rolls for the pair. Being from near Wales Beth had grown up with fairly easy access to leeks as they were a popular commodity over there. In what Beth was almost the midlands where they currently presided leeks were less well loved but still readily available. As such she cooked with them frequently, even if Pete never cooked them himself he didn't outright dislike them, just didn't love them.

After cooking for the pair she quickly excused herself and opened the paper crane, smoothing out the folds so she could clearly see the contents. As she had suspected it was a letter. She didn't recognise the scratchy handwriting but quickly scanning to the bottom of the page to confirm what she suspected. writing at the bottom and surrounded by doodles of flowers was Harri's name. She checked the date on the letter but unsurprisingly it meant nothing to her. After all it wasn't like it said 1307AD, it was written with regards to their localr calender. Harri had helpfully put the number of days after she'd left that it was written on the card. It was apparently two weeks after Beth had last seen her, which clearly suggested at the travel time the letter had taken. Something to be expected given the theoretical distance the letter had been required to travel.

Fully setted into a chair with a cup of tea Beth began to read the letter sent from one of her closest friends. Who just so happened to live on another planet.