Lightning knelt beside the hearth. She could feel the warmth that leapt and danced across her skin, the glow that chased away the chills of the stone floor, and even the long, silvery chain that dangled between her fingertips.

The flames crackled, climbing up along the dry, twisting branches. They were quite eager for larger bits of wood, yet they only had more time to wait.

Lightning spoke in a low murmur. Her eyes began to narrow in concentration. The fire snapped and swirled against the frigid air, enough to warm the entire room, small as it was.

"Light?"

Lightning took no notice of the voice for a moment, not until she came to a pause in the ritualistic words. "Serah... You should be sleeping."

"I... I still don't think this is a good idea." After a long moment of silence, Serah stepped out from the doorway as quietly as she could. "You promised, didn't you? No more than a couple hunts this season; you could get hurt, seriously hurt... Or worse."

Lightning stared into the flames. "Tell that to the little villages out by the mountains."

"Light..." Serah stepped beside the hearth, before she sat down as well, resting against the stony floor. "We can't stretch ourselves this thin, not for every possible sighting."

"It is really 'we' this time?" Lightning slowly turned over the long silver chain, just to stare down at the rounded pendant dangling from the end, before she moved to place it against the center of her palm. "I didn't think you'd be too keen to head out this late in the year."

"Normally, I wouldn't." Serah frowned. "But you can't really be planning to head out there without backup-"

Lightning almost smiled. "I could be."

"Light!" Serah tried to keep her voice down, but it still echoed against each wall of the tiny wooden house, even into the other rooms. "What the- Did you stick your head in a beehive or something? This is insane, you have to at least bring-"

"Serah." Lightning reached out to flip the tiny pendant between her fingertips. "Do you remember what the missive said? Where the second sighting was?"

Serah chewed at her bottom lip, glancing away. "...Above the mountains."

"And what happens when you make too much noise up in the mountains? When you leave too much of a footprint..." Lightning could feel how the metal began to grow warm against her skin, but if it was from the fire, her own body heat, or even some unknown force, she just couldn't say. "I shouldn't have to tell you that an avalanche would be the least of our problems."

With a short sigh, Serah held her hands out towards the fire, just enough to chase the chill away. "I still think it's too late in the year... And I shouldn't have to tell you that winter is a double-edged sword."

"Only if you don't know how to handle it." Lightning looked over at her sister, glancing at the thin lines of worry on her face. "Don't frown at me, Serah... Listen, the fields are empty, the crops all packed away for winter; we could do with a little extra favor."

Serah laughed just under her breath, but there was scarcely any joy to the sound. "Favor... Favor from who? The other villages? The gods? Our own neighbors would be a better bet.."

Lightning tightened her grip around the pendant. "You never know, these days; it could be a test, something normal... I've seen stranger things happen."

Serah moved to hug her own knees against her chest, staring down at the flames. "Snow thinks that the gods might be gone."

Lightning tried not to grit her teeth. "The lummox would think the sun was gone in the middle of a blizzard... Just take whatever he says with a grain of salt, alright?" She glanced over at the way that Serah was suddenly smiling. "I don't know either; I don't know if the gods are still around, or if they're even listening... But there's one thing that I know is still out there."

Serah's gaze flickered away, towards the floor.

"You should get some sleep."

Serah stifled a tiny yawn. "Oh, you're one to talk! Staying up all night to do some silly ritual, making the whole house smell like incense..."

Lightning glanced down at the small woven pouch that held various herbs, the one that was resting just beside the edge of the hearth. "Better safe than sorry."

Serah shrugged. "Well, let's just get on with it..."

Lightning turned to stare at her. "What are you talking about? You don't have to-"

"I still believe in this stuff too, Light... Just a little." Serah reached up to touch the silver necklace beneath her own nightshirt, and she tugged it off from over her neck. "And, like you said, it's better safe than sorry... Double the effort might just get you back here again in one piece."

Lightning felt a small smile tug at her face. "Thank you."

Serah nodded. She held out her necklace in each hand, gripping the tiny blue pendant between her fingertips. "The hunter rides..."

Lightning closed her eyes, whispering just under her breath. "The hunter rides to slay those who would threaten this land, a beast of fabled cunning and untold strength."

"We ask for your blessing, Divine Etro, your will to bring her home alive."

"To grant my quarry a swift and righteous end, to accept it back into your arms."

"Etro, hear our words."

"Goddess of death, I answer your call... And may you hear mine, as well."

"We guide to your fold to bolster our own, to keep the hallowed balance eternal."

Lightning opened her eyes. "...May you bring me back alive."

Odin's hooves clattered against the stable floor, pacing back and forth, while he whinnied away into the early morning air.

"Impatient, aren't you?" Lightning soon hoisted up a bale of hay over the wooden barrier of the stable stall, and she almost smiled when Odin reached for it immediately. "I'm just glad you're eating well... We'll be working with rations for a while, or whatever grass we can find for you."

Odin snorted, pawing at the wooden floor, before he nipped along the wispy strings that held the bale in one piece.

Lightning stared at him blankly. "You've had worse."

Odin whinnied again, before he reached for an eager bite of hay.

"That's what I thought." Lightning tugged some of the string away, before she let the entire bale fall down into a feeding trough. "I know Serah's been feeding you apples... She might forget you're a warhorse, but I'm a little more strict than that."

Odin whickered under his breath, munching down on a mouthful of the hay.

"You're not going to do either of us any good if you've gotten soft and lazy over the summer." Lightning stepped away from the side of the stall, back towards the center of the stable. "And it's almost winter, now... You could do with a little reinforcement." She knelt down to lift up a wooden crate, one that had been resting beside a stack of farrier's equipment, though the contents of the container were much more varied and arcane. "You're not a circus pony."

Odin ignored her, even when she started to crush a handful of pale herbs within a clay mortar. Yet when the sharp scent of peppermint touched the inside of his nostrils, he lifted his head with a gentle snort.

"Just making it easier to stomach." Lightning had already taken out various pouches and vials from the box, and she quickly set them down across a small, wooden table. "It's nothing you haven't had before..." She began to mix a few things together, grinding down a wide number of wild herbs, and then some even more unusual materials. "But with the distance we'll need to go, this might feel like more than just a little kick."

A voice spoke from just outside the stable. "Good morning, Light."

She didn't even look up to see who had entered the doorway. "You're getting too good at sneaking up on me."

Hope only smiled to himself, reaching for a short length of rope from a nail on the wall. "Well, I heard you talking to Odin, so it was easier than usual."

Lightning poured out a thin, translucent liquid into a tiny vial. "Everyone talks to their horses."

Hope nodded. "Didn't mean to imply anything... It's just easier to go unnoticed when someone's paying attention to something else." He started to carry the rope over towards a wall of bridles and halters, but he took more than a moment or two to select one from all the rest. "I think Alexander likes it when I tell him stories... Something about the way it sounds."

Lightning looked up to see that Hope was carrying a halter across the stable floor, towards the stall that held Alexander, himself. "Well, he's a warhorse... A charger, they're bred to stay calm in almost every situation except combat, and even then, they'll hardly ever panic or get distracted."

Hope pushed open the door of the stall to let himself inside, before he held up the halter in both hands. "To hunt monsters, you mean."

Lightning bit back a smile. "When the world's not at war, yes."

"Do you think Alexander could hunt?" Hope's voice echoed out from inside the stall. "I think he's even bigger than Odin."

Lightning glanced up when the wooden door began to creak open, and before very long, an utterly massive draft horse was led out with the halter and rope. "Hope, sheer size doesn't account for everything... Think about it, if you were a wendigo, which horse would you try to eat first?" She looked up at the pale palomino hide, and then at wide white blaze that ran directly down Alexander's face. "But yes, with training... He could hunt."

Hope tugged at Alexander's lead, gently guiding him towards the entrance of the stable. "He'd need a rider to do it."

Lightning kept quiet while Hope walked outside with the horse, but it was only a moment or two before he returned again, holding the empty rope in his hands.

"He'd need a rider..." Hope walked over to the window, just to gaze at the way that Alexander was trotting around the paddock, holding his head up high. "And he'd need someone to train him, someone who already knows how to hunt."

"I've already taught you how to shoot game from horseback." Lightning began to pour a pale green concoction into a round glass vial, one that already had a great number of crushed herbs inside. "Ask yourself, do you need more than that? Do you really want to handle anything more dangerous than a stray mountain lion?"

"Well..." After a brief moment, Hope moved to pull up a second chair towards the table. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

Lightning handed him a small bottle. "Keep this in motion and don't let it settle."

Hope started to twirl the bottle in his hands, gently turning the liquid over every so often. "Well, stray mountain lions... When someone sees one of those, they don't send for help, at least not all the way across the valley."

Lightning began to stir up a crystallized chunk of mineral against a more loose, fluid sort of mixture, and before long, both of the materials started to dissolve with a quiet hiss.

Hope lowered his voice a bit. "Listen, what if you're out on errands one day, or if Serah's gone at the same time... Even Snow, he's almost always out doing something; what if I'm the only one in the village who can ride a horse like that? What if something-"

Lightning didn't look away from the hissing vial. "We have wards for a reason."

"They don't always work." Hope slowly shook his head back and forth. "If wards were foolproof, they wouldn't be sending for you."

Lightning set down a small bowl of the thick, flickering liquid. "You're a little too smart for your own good, Hope." She waited for the mixture to grow a bit darker in hue, before she gestured for him to hand her the other vial. "Well then... What do you think we should do?"

Hope watched as Lightning poured the pale green liquid into the rest of the bubbling compound, and his eyes widened when a thin, curling plume of smoke rose up from the tiny wooden bowl. "Well, you could... If you ever wanted an apprentice, I mean-" He fell silent when she dropped a handful of herbs into the mix. "That actually smells good."

Lightning let a tiny smile twitch over her lips. "Peppermint."

Hope began to smile as well. "If you ever wanted to teach someone else how to defend this place..." He stood up when Lightning moved away from the table, carrying the bowl in both of her hands. "I mean, I know we aren't a big village... People don't really flock out to parts like this, not with all the monsters, I mean." Hope paused to watch as Odin's head appeared over the edge of the stall. "Is he really gonna drink all that?"

"Yes, he knows what it does." Lightning nodded when Odin moved his head down to snuffle at the edge of the bowl. "Horses can't digest most foods with a high-protein content; they're herbivores, after all..." She waited for Odin to take a sip of the odd concoction. "Just think of this as a supplement, something with about as much protein as raw meat, only it's been turned into a form that he can easily digest and utilize."

Hope stepped up to lean against the side of the stall, watching while Odin drank his fill from the tiny bowl. "But you're not going take him up into mountains, are you?"

Lightning shook her head. "He'll take me as far as the canyon pass, at least, but at this time of year, especially if it's already snowed in..." She reached up to pat along the side of Odin's head. "He's very strong, but a broken leg would be fatal in that sort of weather."

Hope glanced over at the door of the stable. "You'll send him back once you get that far?"

Lightning nodded. "He knows the forest trails inside and out... He'll make it back before our valley sees more than a few feet of snowfall."

"Our valley..." Hope glanced over at the window, where the paddock stretched on into the sweeping fields, before he looked at the tiny village that was nestled in against the side of a sparsely forested hill. "Didn't you say it had a name? Before any of us even got here."

"I only heard it from a nomad, but he said this area was called 'Sunleth', at least back when Gran Pulse was an actual empire." Lightning soon lowered the empty bowl. "He called us 'people of Cocoon', but I can only guess it's because we were new to this place."

Hope reached up to stroke Odin's muzzle, earning a quiet whinny in response. "And you said you came by boat? With Serah, right?"

Lightning nodded. "Our village was called Bodhum before the floods... It even might still be there, if the water ever dried out." She started to carry the empty bowl back towards the rest of the bottles and tubes, and she began to wipe them clean with a small bit of cloth. "The two of us made it all the way across the sea with only rainwater and whatever fish we could spear... When we finally hit shore, I almost thought we'd finally died out there, that it was somewhere in Etro's realm."

Hope tried not to frown at the thought.

"But no... Obviously it wasn't the case." Lightning swiped the rag against the bottom of the wooden bowl. "It had to be some other continent, somewhere with a lot less people." She began to place each of the slim vials back into their proper place in the box, stacking the rest of the flatter bottles against the bottom of the crate. "That very same nomad told us about this place... That it was called 'Gran Pulse'."

Hope walked up beside the table. "But who taught you how to hunt monsters?" He sat in the chair again, staring down at his hands. "That happened before you came here, right?"

"It did." Lightning clipped the box shut. "My father was a hunter, so was my mother." She knelt down to lift up the crate, carrying it back beside a few orderly stacks of boxed horseshoes. "Believe me, Serah and I wouldn't even be here today if they hadn't taught us everything they knew."

Hope stood up again to follow her, only he paused within the center of the stable, and he watched the tiny motes of dust that were floating around beneath the sunlight. "And how long does it take to learn something like that? How to hunt things, like you can..."

Lightning turned to face the doorway, before she slowly brushed off her hands. "To tell you the truth, you never actually stop learning."

With a thin wooden case in her arms, Serah stepped out along the village path, glancing every which way. "Hey Snow... Are you out here?" She peered up at the tiny house with a wide, thatched roof, before she paused to look at the little flowerbeds out by the front step. "The poor things will get frosted over at this rate..."

"Serah?" A voice called out. "Is that you?"

Serah looked over towards where the voice had called from. "Yeah! Are you out back?"

After only a moment or two, a figure with quite a bit of dirt on his gloves came walking out from behind the house. "Serah!"

Serah beamed at him. "Hey... What are you trying plant this time of year?" She nodded at his gardening gloves. "I mean, unless it's tough enough to survive the cold until spring..."

Snow shook his head. "Not planting, harvesting." He reached for his back pocket to reveal a rather strange looking root vegetable, one that had many little knobs and lumps, and even a thin, pale stripe of color around the circumference. "I'm not sure the name of them, but they used to serve these in those little taverns, the ones you see around other villages... Something like a radish, only sweeter."

"That makes sense." Serah lifted up the wooden case that she'd been carrying. "I brought what you needed, but be careful; Light hates it whenever things get misplaced or broken..."

Snow grinned at her, accepting the tiny box. "I'll be real gentle."

Serah blushed a little. "You'd better, or Light's gonna make you fix them all by yourself..." She glanced at the radish in his other hand. "So, you can really harvest those this late in the year? Are there any more left in the ground?"

Snow began to nod, gesturing for her to follow. "Yeah, if you try to dig them up any sooner, they taste pretty bitter." He soon knelt beside the wide furrows of earth, before he set the wooden case down against the grass. "Watch this..."

Serah waited for him to reach down for a bundle of leafy stalks, before he tugged back a large, pale tuber, almost identical to the one that he had shown her before.

"And they stay fresh for a while, too." Snow handed the root over to Serah. "Just as long as you keep them somewhere real dry and cold."

Serah slowly began to smile. "You want to know how you can earn a little favor with Light?"

Snow paused for a moment, as if he didn't register what she had said as anything even more than a joke. "...How's that?"

Serah pointed at the dark, loamy earth. "I've been packing rations and supplies for her trip all morning, but fresh vegetables? They'd be more than welcome on a long journey like this."

Snow sat upright with a much more serious look on his face. "She's really going out there..? In this weather?"

Serah tried not to frown. "I know, I already tried to talk her out of it." She turned around, gazing at the rest of the humble village, and she tried to mentally count the number of families who had taken up residence beside their own little house. "When Lightning gets dead set on something, it's like trying to yank a carrot away from a mule."

"You think her horse would like some of these?" Snow held up one of the vegetables. "If it's enough like a radish, he might just eat them all before she can..."

Serah giggled a bit. "I'd bet he would..." She leaned back to peer around at the tiny yard, which was fenced in with thick wicker and metal wiring, though the tall flowering plants that surrounded the fence hid most of the material from sight. "She's leaving, before tonight." Serah glanced back at Snow, at the expression on his face. "It's always like this, Snow... She just can't ignore it."

After a brief moment of silence, Snow slowly began to nod. "I know... And I know how it feels."

The firelight danced along the sleek, silvery edge, flickering against the pale golden filigree, and then even against the handle itself, held tightly within an unwavering grip.

She moved through the motions, a quick step to the side, imagining the sharp, vicious blow that she had avoided only by mere inches. Then there was a returning thrust, the push of steel, a patter of scarlet blood, and she could almost hear it, as if she were really there, fighting off that monstrous foe. The room was much too small for advanced maneuvers, but she could still block and parry, and then return the very same force against her imagined attacker, dealing out retaliation in swift, calculated strikes.

In her heightened state of concentration, it was easy enough to hear the front door swing open, and then the footsteps echoing within the hall, until they came to a halt beside the room she was in. "Gods... Just don't break anything."

Lightning slowly paused, sheathing her blade. "I'm always careful, you know that."

Serah rolled her eyes, before she walked into the room, carrying a rather large bushel in her arms. "Yes, I know, but couldn't you go and do it outside?" She had to step very carefully between the various cases of weaponry, towards the little wooden table near the edge of the hearth. "I've got something for you, by the way."

Lightning twitched a single eyebrow. "And what's that?"

"It's from Snow, actually... So you'd better be nice to him for once." Serah knelt down to set down the large woven bushel against the table, before she reached over to tug at the drawstring ties. "He gave me even more of these than I asked for."

Lightning stepped up beside the table just in time to see a great number of tubers within the satchel, and her eyes nearly widened at how fresh they were. "This is serious?"

"Of course it is." Serah gestured for Lightning to sit down. "I wouldn't joke about something like this." She crossed her legs against the floor, and she almost sighed in contentment from the warmth of the tiny fire. "He said they'll stay fresh just as long as you keep them cold and dry, which shouldn't be any problem with the temperature outside."

Lightning reached out to pick up one of the knobbled roots, and she turned it over in her hands, examining both the texture and quality. "This means he's actually done something useful..."

Serah smiled as she reached over to gently swat Lightning's wrist. "Hey, he's done plenty of useful things! Like keeping the wards maintained-"

Lightning leaned back a bit. "Scaring away a Cockatrice..."

"Cockatrices can be really dangerous!" Serah shook her head. "You should be happy he frightened it off."

Lightning shrugged. "His horse broke part of the damn paddock last year."

"That was his horse, not him." Serah let out a tiny sigh. "He really does try, Light... He wants to help out, he's just, sort of..."

"Sort of moronic?" Lightning took a long moment to think, before she glanced over at all of her weaponry, stacked in slim cases along the floor. "How he ever manages to catch more than a crippled wyvern, I'll never know..."

"He's brave." Serah traced her fingertips across the edge of the little table. "And he's got a good heart; isn't that enough?"

After a moment or two, Lightning rose to her feet, holding the hilt of her sword in one hand and the satchel of tubers in the other. "...He'd make a better farmer than a hunter."

Serah rolled her eyes. "Like you aren't good at digging around in the dirt and planting things!"

Lightning almost smiled. "It's one of the easiest skills to learn."

Serah began to stand up as well, before she held out her hands for the satchel. "I'll get these packed up for you... You said you were leaving before tonight, didn't you?"

Lightning nodded, handing over the burlap sack. "Odin's good at traveling in the dark, and I don't see any reason to wait." She watched as her little sister walked back across the room, towards the door. "It's only going to get colder, after all."

Serah paused within the doorway, gripping the satchel with both hands. "You don't have to go... Nobody would think any less of you for sitting this one out."

Lightning stood in silence beside the fire, and after a moment, Serah almost thought that she might have reconsidered the entire event, that she would just stay at home where it was warm and safe, and without the threat of freezing to death, or even worse, but when she caught that glint in Lightning's eyes, the fire to rival even a dragon's breath...

"...I would." Lightning spoke with such steel in her voice, enough to rend away any doubts that she might abandon the approaching venture. "I would think less of me."

Serah looked away. "I'll go get these packed."

Lightning turned back to face the tiny hearth. "Thank you, Serah."

Serah smiled, despite the twist in her stomach, or even the gathering sense of deep, bitter cold, shivering right along inside her veins. "...You're welcome."

The sun was still resting just above the horizon by the time she'd led Odin over to the main path. Lightning glanced up to see that there was still plenty of light to illuminate the village itself; at least seven tiny wooden huts were sitting side by side beneath the hill. As she looked at each of houses, she could see some of the scattered families that shared their land, a few of whom glanced back at her while they finished up with their daily chores.

Lightning paused in the center of the path, though she held Odin's bridle with a rather loose grip, only because she knew he wouldn't bolt. Her horse had faced at least a hundred monstrosities in his lifetime, but he had never once entertained the thought of leaving her side.

"Light?" The voice came from right behind her. "You okay?"

She glanced back to see Serah, who was strapping on one last item to Odin's saddle, a pale leather backpack that was most likely filled to the brim with supplies.

"Yeah... I'm okay." Lightning reached up to pat along Odin's neck, gently scratching at his skin with the surface of her gloves. "You'll be seeing him again before the first few feet of snow, that's what I told Hope."

Serah tried her best not to look sullen, though she couldn't quite help the tiny creases at the sides of her mouth. "Okay..." She suddenly stepped forward to hug Lightning, just enough that she couldn't see her frown. "You get back safe, okay? And I'll go chasing after you if you don't... If you aren't back in a couple weeks I'll be really mad, you hear me?"

Lightning returned the hug, releasing Odin's bridle so that she could use both arms. "I'll hold you to that, Serah... There's no monster that won't go running off when you're on the warpath."

Serah fought the urge to scoff. "Sure, but I'd send you running long before they even noticed me."

After a moment, Lightning stepped away with a tiny, yet genuine smile. "Nothing more terrifying than a little sister with a grudge to carry out."

Serah stuck both hands on her hips and nodded, almost fiercely. "And I'll shoot an arrow in your behind if you come back with so much as a scratch!"

Lightning reached up for the horn of Odin's saddle. "Again, I'll hold you to it." It was almost fluid, the way she slid her boot up into the stirrup, swinging herself across Odin's back and down into place upon the seat, before she reached down for the reins once more. "Take care of things here, little sister."

Serah gave Lightning a mock salute, but then, a warm smile finally began to cross her lips, and she had to skip forward just to keep up with Odin's sudden stride. "And you stay out of trouble, 'big sis'!" She couldn't help but laugh when Lightning waved from atop Odin's back, guiding him off into a gentle trot. "I meant what I said about that arrow!"

Lightning glanced back over her shoulder, and she gave Serah a tiny nod, before the pair of them disappeared behind a bend in the path.

Serah stared out into the branches of the forest, already so bare of leaves, and she could just make out the outline of Odin trotting on down the side of the other hill, off into the wilderness beyond.

"...You stay safe." Serah began to wring her hands together, and she felt the urge to reach up and clutch at the pendant of her necklace. "You stay safe; you're going to come walking back to us on that very same road, dragging that dragon's head behind you... Or I really will shoot an arrow in your ass."

She barely even heard the gentle footsteps as they approached from somewhere behind her, but when she felt the touch of a thick, soft fabric against her bare arms, protecting them from the chill, she couldn't help but smile. "She's... She's going to be back before we know it."

Snow moved to the adjust the jacket over Serah's shoulders, before she smiled at her as well. "Listen, the two of you are the most stubborn women I've ever met; I'd eat my boots if death itself didn't get a headache from trying to catch her."

Serah let her eyes fall shut for a moment, before she shook her head with a sound that was somewhere between a laugh and something much more forlorn. "She's going get herself killed one of these days... We both will, but I don't think this is the one to do it."

Snow took a while just to think, and he soon leaned back to watch the bare trees, bending and swaying beneath the strong autumn winds. "I wouldn't tell you that you shouldn't worry, because... I mean-" He paused for a moment, thinking again. "It's not going to change much, you know? She's real careful, Serah... She'll be okay."

Serah kept quiet, before she reached up to tug the jacket a bit tighter against herself. "She will."

Snow smiled at her, and he gestured for her to walk with him. "Hey, you hungry? I've already started up some dinner, so if you'd like..."

Serah stared at the path for just a moment longer, but when it seemed like nothing was going to happen, save for the rattle of dry leaves against the bare ground, she slowly turned to face Snow, to follow on after him. "That sounds good, actually; what are you making?"

Snow grinned. "I showed you those radish-things, didn't I? They can really give mashed potatoes a run for their money."

Serah glanced back over her shoulder again, just once, before she looked back at the tiny village, reaching over to hold Snow's hand. "Thank you, Snow."

He glanced down when her fingertips brushed against his own. "For dinner? It's no problem-"

"No, just for being here... With me." Serah swore that she could hear the drum of hoof-beats, if only she focused hard enough. "It's going to be a long couple of weeks."

Lightning urged Odin into a faster pace, riding on by the edge of the paddock that ran off along the narrow dirt path. "How are you feeling? It should've kicked in by now."

Odin merely snorted in response.

"Sassy today, aren't you..?" Lightning reached down to pat along the side of his neck, gripping the reins with both of her hands. "It's been too long since we've ridden like this."

His hooves struck down against the sturdy earthen road, practically begging for her to signal him into a gallop.

"Not yet..." Lightning glanced off to the side, at the long, barren branches that would normally hold so many green leaves, but at that point in the autumn, they had all since fallen to the ground. "Once we hit open terrain, we'll run for a bit."

Odin's flared his nostrils in the wind, before he lifted his head at the sudden sight of another horse, one who was moving within the fenced field.

"There's Alexander." Lightning narrowed her eyes to examine the sight beyond the gnarled branches of the woods. "Hope's with him, you see?"

Odin almost turned his head when the other creature began to change course, running up to travel beside them, and they both whickered at each other when the forest gave way to open land.

"Light!" Hope called out from atop Alexander's saddle, and he lifted one hand to wave at her. "Leaving already? Probably a good thing while it's still bright out..."

Lightning nodded at him. "We'll likely pass all the way though the valley before nightfall, maybe enough to reach the plains." She reined Odin back a bit, guiding him to match Alexander's pace. "Listen, I'd appreciate it if you could help Serah with whatever she needs while I'm away."

Hope nodded immediately. "No problem." He simply rode beside her for a while, following along the paddock fence. "But you'll tell us everything that happened once you get back, right? You guys always have the best stories..."

Lightning slowly smiled at him. "I wouldn't think of keeping it to myself." She lifted one hand up to adjust the thick scarf around her neck, which was fluttering on behind her body like a long, scarlet banner. "It's not everyday we get this sort of missive... A full-blown sighting, no less."

Hope tried not to let his face go pale at the sound of it. "You've brought your charms, right?"

Lightning gave him a look.

"Just checking." Hope glanced away with a slight shiver. "Better safe than sorry, right? Without heavy armor, I mean..."

Lightning glanced down at the leather bags that were attached to Odin's saddle, some of which held her combat gear inside. "Yes, I've got all of my charms."

Hope let out a silent sigh. "That's good." He glanced down at Alexander, who was still trotting on beside the fence. "Those charms... I wouldn't even stick my hand in a campfire; I still don't understand how you guys can do it."

Lightning felt a wry smile twitch at her face. "It tickles pretty fiercely, to be honest." She gently tugged at Odin's reins, ushering him to move even slower. "It's nothing like beast fire, though... Even with charms, you're better off avoiding it entirely."

Hope looked up to see that the length of the paddock was going to end in little more than minute or two, and he slowly reached down to pat around Alexander's shoulders. "I don't think I'll have to tell you to be real careful."

Lightning nodded, more to herself than to Hope. "You definitely won't."

"Then... I'll be waiting for you to come back, to decide if you ever want to take on apprentice for this kind of thing." Hope sat up a bit taller against the saddle, looking her straight in the eye. "I know that I'm... I'm not really the strongest when it comes to sparring, or even hunting things, but I can always learn, right? It doesn't take a giant to slay a giant."

Lightning felt a soft smile, then, but she turned her head away to hide it. "Stay out of trouble and we'll see."

Hope urged Alexander forward as Odin suddenly surged back into a trot, but he was cantering again long before they could catch up with his stride. "I will, Light! I'll keep practicing, too!"

Lightning called out over the pounding drum of heavy hoof-beats. "Hey, if I see a pelt on my doorstep by the time I get back..."

Hope grinned, before he reined for Alexander to stop near the edge of the fence. "You will, Light! I'll catch something good."

But she was gone, galloping on past the curve of the earth, behind a wide, grassy hill, and then off into the great unknown.

Upon the stony ridge, beneath the whirling snow, there was a great amount of fire.

The heat flickered, dancing swiftly against the howling frost and the cold, dark mountain, and then even the thick, jet-black hide, the scales that cut though gale storms in the way that steel moves through thin, human flesh.

A sharp gaze peered out from deep within the raging blizzard, but her eyes never wavered. Even when shards of frost hit down against the wet surface of her pupils, the ice merely melted beneath the great, encompassing warmth, before each droplet of water trickled down against the steely scales beneath.

Tensing, her claws sank deep against the endless drifts snowfall, and she began to speak in a way unknown to almost any other being, in a low, forgotten tongue.

It was as if a great number of stones had cracked against the savage earth, or if a wild blaze had torn even the mightiest tree asunder, racing on out towards the rest of the forest without the mind to scarcely pause.

In a deep, patient tone, she spoke.

Approach.