Two Rivers Isle a painful truth.

He spent the day after the fated encounter on the road - how unremarkable of him, falling in to the usual pattern despite the disruption that was Niamh. A good disruption... But now he was set in his task. He could not dally, or so he told himself, because Asa was still invested in his hunt. The snow crunched underfoot as he marched along across the open expanse, nearing a slow-moving river. He spied thin sheets of ice in some spots and let out a sigh, his breath a dragon's plume. It would take some effort to locate a safe passageway across this river. Was it worth the energy? Any choice he made at this point was a gamble and that, deep down, was the real issue.

He thought of backtracking for a few hours to seek out the golden woman. Her warmth had been a welcome reprieve from winter's chill. Perhaps he could learn something from her - or her people, he mused. She had been a pack-born wolf, someone native. Who would know more about this land and its people than someone born upon its soil? There were faults in that logic; Asa could not know for sure if she was truly native to this region nor could he expect a random fling to be of use in tracking someone down. It was his own fault for not taking heed of his mother's stories as a boy.

Then, he thought of Humility. He had tried not to think about her for such a long time, so when the vision of her round face and cheerful laughter surfaced in his mind - corporeal enough to transform the whistling wind in to her soft voice - he was briefly gripped by his grief. His rage came next... and he had to stop his hiking to catch his breath, flustered as he was by the memory.