Harlan decided he needed to renovate the huts already, the snow was piling up and if it got unnaturally cold, they all risked freezing.

Ximena was still opposed to turning them into a single large room, but she had only seen snow outside of the desert and didn’t want to keep the fire stocked by herself to make sure her room was warm throughout the night.

The new hut was made by shifting the ground under each hut until they were close to each other and then Harlan simply cut the walls out and grew them into one another.

Adina kept cooking wolf steaks the entire time to keep him moving as the chill was setting into his bones and Delmet wasn’t helping them.

Harlan knew that the Golden boy knew how to shift the ground better than him and his mana pool was clearly beyond his, but instead he decided to build his own stone shelter, inviting Ximena in but no one else.

Harlan figured he had eaten most of a wolf by the time he got the new hut set up and he hadn’t even started on a fireplace or ventilation.

He entrusted that job to Ximena and Taren while he and Adina went out to gather firewood.

He didn’t really have enough of a sense of direction still to be confident in getting back and the snow was getting heavier, covering their tracks only 30 minutes after they passed through, he estimated 40 feet of sight, no more.

“How much can you carry at once?”

“Not sure, but it will probably be a few trips.”

“Why not cut down the trees closer to the clearing then?”

“If we need to expand the cabin then I want to use the closer trees, I was also hoping to find some rabbits or wolves out here for their pelts.”

Speak of the devil, and he shall appear.

3 direwolves were staring at the two of them, they were mildly magical, a species of evolved wolves specific to the north, they evolved for size and power.

They killed their prey more often with brute strength instead of ambush like a warg would.

Harlan had seen them following him, eying Adina. They wanted the smaller one who didn’t smell as strongly of blood and hate.

Harlan sent Adina over by the treeline to rest and act as bait, he sent Lugh with her since he said he didn’t need his help with making the sled to carry the wood.

It didn’t take long before they struck, Lugh reacted by shooting a heatray at their eyes to blind them.

The one who was supposed to distract Harlan was currently in a battle of strength, but Harlan was on its back and his grip held firm, he squeezed and squeezed until eventually it fell unconscious, then stomped as hard as he could on its neck until he felt it snap.

He called over Lugh to bleed them out so the meat could be used.

They stood 6 feet tall at the withers, Harlan was planning to make blankets for them out of them.

He knew they were used for this in the north due to their thick warm fur.

He had to do basic medical care for his arm, it was cut pretty deeply by a claw swipe before he got on its back, he would see if Ximena could fix him up better than he could.

He knew that she seemed upset at the idea of not being enough of a help.

Adina handled her’s better than him, even though he didn’t warn her about the wolves Lugh knew, she swung as directed and what looked to be close hits instead resulted in Lugh turning his blade into spikes and driving them through the skulls of the wolves.

She smelled the blood pouring out of his arm lesson and then stop as he froze it over.

“We need another sled to carry the bodies.”

“Stop, we need to heal you first.”

“No, Ximena can do that, she said she was an excellent healer, I don’t feel confident with such a deep wound, if you think you can do it then do it.”

She looked it over before deciding he was probably right.

“Doesn’t it hurt.”

“I’ve dealt with worse for longer.”

She wanted to know what he had done before, but once again she wasn’t sure if it was appropriate, so she followed his orders and helped get the sleds ready.

She was upset when she heard him say that she was bait and they didn’t talk after that on the way back.

“Harlan, your- WHAT HAPPENED?”

“Direwolves, we must be in the north then. Ximena, can you fix my arm?”

“Yes… But seriously? 3 of them?”

“I killed one with my hands, Adina and Lugh got the other two. Please, fix my arm quickly.”

Though he didn’t voice it, she could tell how much it had hurt him.

The more he did for them the more they wondered who was the beast that they should be scared of in the woods.

Redhead decided to dock points from Harlan for endangering Adina without her consent and for acting like a tough guy when he had a debilitating injury.

As day came to night they all spoke of themselves more, Adina asked about what had happened to him before and he reluctantly told them.

Taren wondered how he met a Fenrir without being harmed, Harlan decided to just outright admit to what he knew, Adina refused to hear it at first, but he could show her memories that felt too real to be anything else to her.

He didn’t call her gods Fae, but she

Delmet and Ximena were uncomfortable with his story.

She voiced her displeasure that he spoke so warmly of The Darkness, it took everything Harlan had to not bring up that Cecht was the direct cause of him almost dying more than once, instead he just said to agree to disagree.

Delmet didn’t have her tact.

“Oh what a shock, the Fomorian talks fondly of the witch. Did she ever tell you abou-”

Harlan was sick and tired of him, he was sick and tired of most people, he threw him through the door, and lept faster than then could follow, before he could further escalate the fight The Unseen and Redhead decided that they needed to keep Harlan off of Delmet.

They gave emergency care to him and he would be fine, but they decided to just pull him away from the group and put him in another one.

“Fomoria, you will be seeing someone after this trip, you cannot attack someone for something so minor.“

“Give me a failing grade, I just don’t care, he has done nothing but whine and complain and insult me as I did everything for him, if you were in a real survival situation you would drop him like the dead weight he is. If you wouldn’t then you are just as stupid as he is.”

The only reason they didn’t fail him on the spot and send him back to the academy for disciplinary action was that the headmaster expected this to happen, though he guessed Harlan would’ve done it on the first day.

“Keep yourself in check, you will not speak to me like that again, you will be getting disciplinary action once you get back, you are only still here because the rest of the group would likely fall apart without you and then need to learn to survive more than you do.”

Then Redhead went invisible once again and went to the camp that was just under theirs to monitor them.

Ximena and Taren were horrified at Harlan, seeing that it took 4 grown men to pull him away, fury clear on his face and their surroundings, the fire flared, the shadows seemed to grow closer, it wasn’t a good look for him.

Adina didn’t mind though, she thought that Delmet had it coming, if she acted like that back home she probably wouldn’t even be here today.

They all sat around the fire inside in silence, Adina tried to speak a few times, but she couldn’t bring herself to overcome the wall she set up between them.

As it got later the others went to bed, Harlan decided it was time to have a talk with her finally.

“Adina, would you come to my room for a bit?”

She blushed but didn’t refuse.

Harlan opened the door for her and they sat across from one another on his pelts

“Adina, did you have friends back home?”

His words were harsh to her, he hated that she hid that so well.

“I had a maid that I liked very much.”

“That is a good start, was she older or younger? What about your siblings?”

“She was older, 30 or so I think. I didn’t get the chance to find out, but she took care of me, snuck me sweets when it wasn’t time for them, she listened to me. I had 3 brothers and no sisters. Now I have 2.”

Harlan could see her smile, but she was torn up about something.

“What would you say if I said I could feel the emotions of people around me? That I’ve known every time you’ve been sad and hidden it since I’ve known you.”

Fear, that is what he felt.

They sat in silence for a few minutes as she thought of a reply.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to lie to you. It won't happen again, please forgive me.”

“I am not mad, you don’t have to pretend to be happy when you aren't, you don’t need to put up a face like that, I know it can be hard.”

“Really?”

“How do you think I feel when people make jokes at both our expense? About how many girls I am friends with and how few boys? I can’t even hang out with Selen or Aria without the rumor mills making more childish accusations.”

“You are strong and calm and quiet and nice, so you didn’t mind because it doesn’t matter.”

“I want to tear their faces off with a punch, like what was once done to me.”

She reacted with shock and terror and anger, not towards him, but towards whoever had harmed him.

Harlan explained a lot to her, showed her things, calling it a heart to heart wasn’t wrong considering she was seeing some of these things directly from his mind.

She felt like she should trade stories, so he could understand her, he didn’t hide it from her, he hated her family, from her father removing the maid who was her friend because she was giving her too much affection, to her brothers who simply didn’t even want to be seen with her, to everyone around her who ignored her or kept her caged away like an animal in her own mind to make sure she only appeared outwardly happy and glad to be alive.

“Harlan, what is love?”

“I don’t know, I don’t think I’ve felt it towards another girl yet.”

“NO!... I mean, like a parent, or a sibling, you and Amber get along so well, you seem happy to just be around her. What does that feel like.”

Harlan knew from that point onward, if she was a spy sent to kill him, to make him lower his defenses, he was completely screwed.

Their little heart to heart was interrupted by a knocking at the door, it was Taren.

They got an odd look from him but he didn’t say anything.

“Sorry, I will come back later.”

Harlan didn’t care enough to go after him.

They left the door open after that, they were under a veil so the others couldn’t hear them, but he didn't want any misunderstandings about his intentions.

After a time Adina went to bed and Harlan simply sat in silence.

Redhead felt tired, The Unseen felt tired, they wondered why their elixirs weren’t working just before they passed out.