It was light out. As her eyelids strained, it was painful, just for a brief stretch of seconds before she began to adjust.

  Rue opened her eyes and found brown, dead grass underneath. Her head was tucked atop her arm, body curled into a fetal position. It was warm. A bit too warm, but a tilt of her head confirmed that there was still snow everywhere, kept out of the bubble she had found. Her mouth was dry and there was a headache pounding behind her eyes.

  There was daylight, bright enough to suggest snow had stopped falling and clouds had cleared for now. Of course it wasn’t snowing. It was so, so warm outside. Her head was pounding from the heat, and she already knew she was sweating uncomfortably. The young woman sat up, groaning, holding her head. The world shifted into focus, and she stared stupidly into it.

  There was so much snow. It was only outside of where she was, which…Seemed to be a near perfect circle of dry and dead grass.

  At the center of the circle was a massive rock. It was partly buried into the earth, with lines and cracks through the pale grey surface, certainly taller than she was once it was unburied. Now it stood just about as tall as she. Even without investigating closely, she could tell that an immense heat radiated from it. Then she remembered. She had been drawn to this spot amid what was probably a dire situation, swearing she heard a voice in her mind, and felt a presence within…Her mind? Soul? Something beyond just her mind, she was certain.

  Now there didn’t seem to be anything. It was just a rock. A really, really warm rock. As far as she could tell there were no magical runes inscribed upon it. She had only seen specific types of runes, though, and wasn’t sure if there were any that might be obscured from her ability to identify them. For all means and purposes, though, this rock had nothing special upon it. It was overall quite smooth, though still with dimples of roughness and stray superficial cracks. Though she was safe, and knew she was, her instincts prickled as if she were in the presence of a predator, something dangerous.

  The danger did not want to make her run. Rue, instead, felt an odd draw to it. A quickening of her pulse, a stir of excitement in her get, that made her want to linger by whatever dangerous aspect this rock had. She drew up to her legs to stand, ignoring the distant sharp ache in them. The ache was something to be grateful for. It was proof of life.

  She approached the rock, stopping half an arms length from it. It didn’t hum, glow, pulsate, vibrate, anything at all. It just…Sat there. Entirely like a rock. She focused, then spoke in her mind, trying to imagine it directed towards the thing. Hello?

  Silence. She felt dumb, so she spoke aloud.

  “Hello? Are you there?”

  The silence held fast. Of course it did. This was a big, dumb rock and rocks could not speak. There were plenty of magical oddities that could speak the common tongue, and she was even certain there was a humanoid species from another land that had skin as rough and hard as stone, but an actual rock? No pulse, no lungs, no brain, no heart.

  So what had she heard?

  It must have been the wind. Her hypothermia-addled mind. Perhaps it was frozen enough that the whispers were slowed and clear. That still wouldn’t explain how she was led here. And whatever presence she felt the night before was now gone, leaving just the ache of sleeping on the ground in its place.

  She still needed to trek to the city. The cart had gotten her close enough that she knew the city was less than a day away. Maybe just a few hours if she moved fast enough. She could navigate around the village now that it was light, move onto another adjoining road, and claim ignorance to the dead merchant if anyone asked.

  But, first…

  Rue hesitated and then stepped the final step to be right in front of the rock.. She reached out and placed her hand against the grey surface, slowly enough that if a painful singe hit her, she’d hopefully sense it before she was burnt. To Rue’s surprise, the surface was unexpectedly cool, her fingers slowly pushing against the surface as the realization settled. The air half an inch or so right off of it was uncomfortably warm, but the rock was cool. How odd. She closed her eyes, leaning in against it until her forehead pressed upon it, around the tapering top.

  She did not know how she got here, or why, but she would come back to this spot. Perhaps in the springtime. There was something to be solved, though it wasn’t going to be solved now.

  Some time was taken to prepare. Rue pulled her clothing off and used the warmth to thaw snow that she dragged in. Through a somewhat painstaking process, she washed the blood as best as she could from the clothes, and then draped them on the ground to dry. It worked surprisingly well, even if it didn’t entirely ease the bloodstains out. It made it less obvious though, and the clothing stank less of blood. She, of course, washed the blood off of her own skin, and removed a layer of dirt from her face and her arms.

  Packing snow into her waterskin, and a waterskin found in the merchant’s acquired bag, she let it melt inside the ring of warmth and stowed it away.

  And finding his bag to be much more quality and with ample storage space, she shoved her things inside of it and decided to use it as her main bag. She was even able to fold her smaller one up enough to cram it inside - perhaps it could sell, or she could hope to stash something somewhere. It never hurt, and she’d not be traveling long enough to worry about the weight of every item.

  There were a few things in his bag but nothing interesting enough to delay her to search through it. Rue re-dressed and turned, staring at the rock.

  She slowly backed away until she felt the chill on her backside, the barrier outside. She turned then, and began walking.

  Rue was grateful for her decent sense of direction.

  She eventually hit a treeline and saw the village. She skirted around it, half certain it was in the right direction, until she hit a road that continued northward past the village. Trudging through the snow, she joined upon it and kept walking.

  She was left with her thoughts.

  Winter was quiet. There was the crunch of snow underfoot, but there was little else. It always seemed to mute the sounds of wildlife, which many winter hardy beasts took advantage of as they kept active in their homes.

  Irritating thoughts and memories came and went, and Rue couldn’t help but ruminate on them. She tried to think of the anger her mother must have at her being gone so long, which was only momentarily satisfying as she then imagined the beating she would get for it. The humiliation and shame that would come with being returned to home was enough to heat her blood and sour her mood, even if it was all through imagination.

  By now, the woman would have realized that something was wrong.

  The older Rue had gotten, she assumed that the poor treatment would ease up. Surely she’d get a chance to prove herself worthy of her parents and the community they lived in. It didn’t, though. It got worse.

  As a child, her ignorance and failures were expected.

  As an adult, their expectations grew even if they did not care to lift her up to reach those expectations.

  Any skill and ambition she did succeed in was never enough. The sharp tongues were worse than the hard-hitting hands. Her sisters had picked on her relentlessly along every step.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  Their voices echoed in her head.

  Who does she think she is? She’ll die without us. She’s too weak and stupid. She heard her sisters mocking her.

  Did you think that you should have just stayed out there and let yourself freeze? Said her mother. Feeding you is a burden.

  Her father, he wouldn’t say anything at all. He’d just look at her with cold green eyes, maybe grunt, and look away to whatever rock on the ground was more interesting than she was.

  “Shut up,” Rue growled, no louder than a whisper. “Shut up, all of you. Shut up.”

  She was eighteen now, barely older. Her birthday was part of the reason she left.

  Imagining another single year surrounded by her family was torture. It was not going to get better unless she did something about it.

  Rue was never very good at planning. She had daydreamed about running away plenty of times, but once it finally happened, it was a mess. She hadn’t brought any supplies beyond bare basics, and her plan to stay until the spring had dissolved.

  It had just taken one last physical fight with her older sister to push her over the edge.

  Rue couldn’t beat me in a fight, so she ran away instead. Her upper lip curled in a snarl as she imagined her sister’s mocking words.

  Despite the warm sleep, she didn’t have the energy to argue mentally with herself for long. The thoughts faded into quiet nothingness and Rue kept trudging on and on, for what felt like forever.

  Eventually, the expansive walls of the city did come into view, around a bend. It was a relief, and gave her the energy to press onwards with renewed resolve.

  What felt like ages, but couldn’t have been more than an hour or two later, and Rue drew close to the main gates of the city. She wasn’t sure which entrance she was going to find, but by some luck, it was the busy and somewhat grand entryway.

  The gates were magnificent. The wall was tallest here, as far as she could see, winding far to the east and the west, and then far beyond. She knew it was a massive city that housed more than several tens of thousands, apparently.

  The outer walls of the city were art. Actual art, carved and depicted by skilled hands of sculptures, glassworkers, and painters to depict the heritage of Whersirki.

  At the gate itself, each adjoining side displayed a grandly colorful scene of citizens in a mixture of different scenes; breaking break, drinking wine, sowing fields, upon market stalls, and bent over praying to a golden figure adorned in golden and orange robes, emitting even more golden light from their body. It was all set together in a way that each scene and depiction blended together, making her dizzy as she tried to sort them apart.

  Rue had heard of the art wall that surrounded Whersirki, but she had never imagined it was quite like this. Supposedly, the entire city was wrapped in art like this. She had only seen villages and towns that barely housed more than a hundred souls at a time. A wall that big was impossible to envision.

  Rue lined up behind a farmer on a cart hauled by a mule. The guard at the gate asked questions, then waved him through. Rue stepped up.

  Only his eyes were visible, skin reddened by chill. He had on a metal faceguard that was clearly padded with cloth underneath for warmth. His armor was much the same, and seemed a mixture of mail, metal, and cloth. A crossbow hung upon his back and a sword on his belt, and a worn insignia on his shoulder: A golden sun with beads of purple color swirled once in a loose coil. The official insignia of the Wheseriki army, marking him as a soldier.

  “State your name,” he ordered in a tired voice that suggested he had been on this duty far too long.

  “Rue,” she answered, hands coming to fidget in front of herself.

  “Family name,” he snapped a moment later, already annoyed at the lack of one offered.

  “Rivers,” she frowned. “Why do you even need my name?” No one had ever asked her in any other village she had entered.

  “If you were a wanted woman or banned from entry, I’d need to know that.” His tiredness became annoyance.

  Rue stared at him for a moment. “...If I was wanted or banned, I’d give you a fake name,” the retort was dry, just enough to be mocking.

  The guard blinked at stared at her, his eyes narrowing, making them look even smaller in his wrapped visage. “Are you telling me that you’ve given me a fake name?” He challenged, suddenly suspicious. Rue should have seen that coming. “State your purpose for coming here, girl.” He had become much more hostile against her challenge.

  “My name ain’t girl, it’s Rue,” she hotly fired back. “I want to go in so I don’t die out in the cold! I’m already freezing!”

  “Have you any goods to trade? A job? Family?” He fired right back, stepping closer as his suspicion grew.

  Rue froze up. She had prepared a few lies and stories, but it all went out of her mind suddenly. Her mouth hung open, long enough that anything she said wouldn’t be believable.

  Then, a nearby voice cut in.

  “I know her, guardsman,” a new voice cut in. Rue’s head turned, pinning onto a woman with ginger hair that hung down her back. She stood just within the gates of the city and wore a vibrant green dress with gilded sleeves and hem. Little flowers decorated the dress in an assortment of colors. She smiled, dimpling freckle-smattered cheeks. In fact, she looked as if she could be a relative of Rue’s, if not for her positive demeanor that every single one of her relatives seemed to lack, and her intact sense of fashion.

  The guards turned, staring skeptically at the woman, but he seemed to soften either way. “Is that so?”

  “Yes, it is. She’s a cousin of mine. Another one of our cousins passed recently, she’s come to visit.” As she spoke, she walked over, holding that bright smile. She reached out and grabbed Rue’s hands, who didn’t know how to react and just stared. The woman didn’t allow her time anyway, and drew her into a hug. “You’ll have to forgive her, it’s a hard time and the weather probably made the journey unpleasant.”

  Rue awkwardly hugged the woman back and finally managed to speak. “...Yeah, uh, I had a hard time getting here. From - from Pachesing.”

  It was the one, tiny bit of her patched together lie that finally rattled into her brain.

  The guard grunted.

  The woman finally pulled away from Rue, but started tugging her forward, through the gate.

  “I’ll get her where she needs to go!” The woman called. The guard stammered but ultimately failed to prevent them from passing inside. They weaved into an immediately busy, open courtyard with massive stables lining the walls from the inside, wagons lining available spaces with a variety of road-worn and well looking merchants organizing crates and sacks. It was overwhelming, and the mystery woman dragged her right into the center of all of the bustle before releasing her hand.

  Not that Rue wanted her hand held, but now she felt like she had been dropped right in the middle of churning river waters and didn’t know which way to swim up.

  “There you go!” The woman cheerily beamed at her. Rue looked her up and down dumbly.

  “...Are we actually related?” She asked dumbly. The woman laughed and shook her head. Her eyes were a pristine blue, as clear as ice.

  “Of course not. I’ve got no idea who you are,” she admitted, “but you looked like you needed help! The guard was being quite rude, wasn’t he? What was he going to do, let you go back out there and freeze? Absolutely heartless!”

  Rue blinked. “I can’t pay you or nothin’ like that,” she frowned. It all felt too odd, but a delighted giggle from the woman interrupted her suspicions that she was looking for payment, her hand flaunting aside dismissively.

  “I don’t need payment! Really, I just did it because it seemed fun. You don’t look like you could harm a fly!” The woman nodded. “I’ve got to get going now. My mother will be upset if I take any longer. Our merchant didn’t show up with our shops delivery. Oh, and I believe the guard was only being a jerk because someone was murdered this morning. They usually don’t question everyone who comes through unless they’ve got a lot they’re bringing in.” Her nose scrunched and she frowned, but despite it, she still seemed far too positive.

  “I hope it wasn’t the merchant I’m waiting on who died. That’d be pretty unfortunate.”

  Rue deadpanned, feeling off-balance from the rambling. “Yeah. That’d be…Pretty awful,” she muttered, “I didn’t see anythin’ on my way in.”

  Whether or not her comment was convincing, it didn’t matter to the woman. She nodded with believing intrigue, then bounced back a step. “I’d hope not! You look like you’re having a bad enough day! Okay, bye now, enjoy your visit!”

  It was so fast that by the time Rue lifted a hand, the woman was darting through the crowds with ease and disappeared. Her stomach growled then, and the chill hadn’t dissipated. She sighed and pushed into the city to look for something to eat.