It had come to move on. The day was breaking as they pulled up camp.

Tolan saddled the goats to the sled and checked the supplies once more. He checked Vir's sled as well. Satisfied, they would leave early for Serpents Bend, it was only just a few more days from where they were. He glanced at the sky and checked the course of the Morning Star, he'd been up most of the night taking readings of the night sky, and the Heavens were smiling.

Things would soon be back to normal. Life would go on and their guest would remain a strange mystery to pass on to his eventual children and grandbabies.

A Warm wind was breaking, unnatural for this time, but a welcome surprise. It would lend them a good time when traveling the winter lands. The snow was getting thicker each day.

He tightened one last strap before settling in for their journey.

"Ready Vir?" he called.

Vir stood and looked about over their campsite. Surveying it for any loose gear or lost items. Last-minute checks and annoying reminders to be careful.

"I'm ready, Let's go. I can still feel those pinecones in my back. Hopefully, the next spot will be better."

Tolan chuckled, "We should be about halfway now. Not a bad time actually, I expected it to take at least another week to reach here. With heavy storms chasing us when we left." Tolan checked the sky. And then the grounds. "Is she back yet?" he called. Vir shook his head.

Their lady passenger had wandered off early morning to take advantage of the melting snow. Tolan reasoned she must be relieving herself or cleaning up some. He hadn't asked which.

Their midnight lessons were bearing fruit. Though he was hopeful to learn more than three phrases "Come here, Food is Ready" and "Outhouse" he was able to convey some information with simple gestures and numbers. He was still puzzled by something.

Near as he could tell, her knowledge of the stars was different from his. invoking different symbols or shapes. While the positions were the same, he got the impression she was speaking of People, not legends. As if the Sky were a perpetual Harvest festival.

This concerned him, he wasn't sure what it meant, or even what legends were being told. Tolan had been taught that the Heavens conveyed the Natural Laws, pointing to the Cycles of time and the proper Order of all things. She looked up and saw old friends and perhaps even family.

But without the bridge of language, he still wasn't seeing the whole of the fields. There were things, missing, that he needed to know if he was to breakthrough. It might even be necessary to learn her true identity. But maybe he had missed something, Surely the Blessed would know, they lived and studied the Order of Heaven daily and could make predictions far in advance to his humble abilities.

But there was this nagging feeling, that he'd missed something important. A truth Desperate to escape.

The lady in question emerged from a bush with a startled look and covered in small scrapes of mud and a few twigs. She was attempting to straighten herself while Vir rolled his eyes "Even in the woods" he muttered, before running up his sled and taking off down the road. Tolan knew he wouldn't go far.

"Come here, we have to go now," he said gesturing to the wooden sled. "Vamma, come on, Vamma." he called. She gave a small, almost imperceptible frown before climbing aboard. He slapped the reigns and they both took off. Trying to catch up to Vir before he did something truly stupid.

The sun was soaring high as they sped along, Tolan and Althea were both consumed with separate contemplations, each of equally troubling lines.

Althea was once again, scared and ironically just as alone as when she wandered in the woods alone. Only the thought of having to brave winter alone was all that kept her close to these, men.

Thoughts of mistakes, phantom regrets about approaching the strange wooden city loomed in her mind, the fear of the unknown, now placing its hand on her shoulder made her shiver against the cold despite the warm air. Once she was merely lost, now she couldn't help but feel like cattle to the butcher.

Petting her full pockets gave a measure of comfort. Though not much, she was able to sneak away and gather some of the vital herbs, revealed by the melting snow. Had the winds not shifted just so, it was doubtful she ever would have found it. But this also brought another thought.

A fundamental shift in plans. Her first scheme of slowly introducing a weak Od into these woodsmen over a longer period must now shift. She would now focus on her own Od instead. Whatever potential she'd thought these Woodsmen had would have to wither or bloom without her.

But she wouldn't compromise her defenses. Not when her position was so tenuously balanced in the hands of her babbling captors.

She would fill herself with as potent an Od as she could. If only to try and probe for her precious mountain home. If her Od was strong enough, perhaps-

No, It was a silly thought. But her survival would still hang off this one aspect. The strength of her Od. While not a member of the warrior clans, or knowledgable in the ways of Wartime Od magick's, she could still use her House Magic when the time came.

Not much use out here in the woods, but if she could just reach some spot of safety and serenity, she did not doubt that even a small house could become her fortress eventually. There she would preserve herself and await rescue properly.

But the thought of waiting alone for what may be years strained at her as the thought of becoming some crazed hag. like the legend of the Jealous woman, Madea the Witch. felt like pulling hairs from her scalp.

Her thought turned to run again, but the stinging return of snow forbade that, and she readily banished the thought from her mind. To be lost in the snow was a death sentence, Old Grundy, the Demon of Cold would have her, such as the child tail. Drinking the blood of travelers to stay warm in the winter, the tale loomed close to reality as she considered what would need to be done to survive.

She drew her crude coat to herself once more, trying to ignore the wind and snow as the last of Autumn mercies failed and the Winter came rushing on, and the Stars above shifted into place.

Vir smelled the cold air, he thought he saw something flicker in the corner of his vision. A darting form. He glanced sideways and spotted the tail of a rabbit, leaping through the snow, but there was something odd about it. too small, or too big. His mind couldn't decide. It was giving him a headache.

He focused on the road ahead. All he wanted was simply to finish this nonsense of strange women and Blessed. He didn't care for prophecies or signs from the Heavens. He wanted nothing more than to turn around and go home. Sleep through the winter months like a bear, and continue with life.

Maybe find a girl with a sense of humor, so she didn't hate him all the time when he played his little jokes.

Why was everyone so uptight all the time? He only got up to trouble when he was bored, chopping wood all day made him miserable. Then he would start to think, and He knew where that led.

He shook himself and tried to keep his eyes on the road, something started to, wobble. At first, he thought it was the road. By then the road started to sway, and bend. Vir rubbed his eyes, trying to clear his vision. but it only got worse. Light burned into his eye, like piercing needles or the light of a river, flashing in the sun. He tried to seal his eyes against it. But the pain persisted as the molten glass turned to fire in his eyes. Racing along the fibers of his mind. Vir heard a roaring sound in his ear, it surrounded him like thunder echoing off the mountains.

He wasn't sure when he fell, only that the harshest cold imaginable suddenly developed him as he tumbled into the snow.

Tolan Saw Vir waver and then listened to the side. His sled hit a stump and went flying.

Tolan called his beast to halt, stopping short of where his brother had landed. He discarded the sled and ran to where his brother lay. The sled was shattered, the goats all tangled in their leads, and some were trying to run away causing others to be strangled. Vir was splayed out on the road like a tossed bundle of hay, the was a streak of red on his face from the landing.

Tolan cradled Vir, quietly trying to wake him. He got no response. He swiveled to the lady and shouted.

"Get the supplies, We'll have to make camp here."

She only managed to stare on in a sense of stone horror, a sense of fear washed through Tolan's spine. But whose fear was it? His own, or someone else's?

He wiped a trickle of sweat from his face and froze. He threw his coat off and started to remove Virus. The Heat, the heat was killing them. Tolan could feel a fire start to burn inside him. It surged and flared, it tasted like smoke and bitter pepper. Like poison.

Tolan's senses had a cold moment of clarity, something was very wrong. just as he started to see sports of red and blue begin to invade his vision.

He turned back to the Lady to shout something, but all he saw was her back turned as she ran away into the snow.

"Help!" he cried, he tried to stand but his legs buckled suddenly spilling his face into the snow.

"Help!" he screamed, confused, desperate, and afraid as he tried to fight this tragedy. Sending up both prayers and curses to any that could hear them.

As the Leopard Laughed.