It was late evening and, exhausted, Chris finally slumped back on the pillow. He hadn’t gone to dinner with Daniel and their roommate, opting instead to stay in his room and study in the company of snacks.

Too tired didn’t even begin to describe how he felt.

Chris fiddled around with a stone attached to a leather strap around his neck, sinking into his thoughts as his fingers traced the familiar object.

It was small, about the size of a hazelnut, and felt like any stone you might typically find by a riverbank. It was of a dark teal color, and Chris had been informed that by origin it was a modified hematite gemstone – the usual material that most batteries and energy sources in Northland were made of. Chris had noticed that the Stone was always cold to the touch; he expected that this was the result of the magic treatment it had gone through to become one of the Jakkovost’s Seven Stones. He wondered if that was somehow related to the fact that this Stone had been the only one to remain intact after that unfortunate incident back in September...

Stopping the thought before it could fully form and roar down the tracks of guilt,Chris sighed and put the stone back under his shirt. A long time ago his mother had told him where it had come from and what it probably was, and she’d advised him to keep it a secret; it was what Chris had been doing for years now until Winter discovered it.

Of course, Chris didn't manage to stop himself from thinking of Winter again, with butterflies around a ball of guilt in his stomach. She’d told him she didn’t know when she’d come back to get him, and so he’d been on standby since September. She’d asked him to help her gain her crown back even after his fiasco with the sword, which made him indescribably happy. … Though even if she hadn't asked, he would have offered to help her.