A loud crack sounds through the snowy landscape and her horse panics, rearing up and knocking Shirayuki from the saddle before bolting into the woods, taking the majority of her belongings with it in it's saddle bags. In the confusion Obi's horse attempts to flee after it, but he regains control quickly, then dismounts to help Shirayuki. He ushers her to her feet, one hand pressing into her stomach, pushing her backwards, toward his fidgeting horse, while the other reaches slowly for his knives.

"Take the reins and get on," he tells her, pressing the leather reins into her gloved hands. "Run and don't stop." His voice is low, with an edge to it she doesn't like. He isn't focused on her though, he's watching the three men who had ambushed them, one dismounting from his own horse and two from another. One man riding double snaps a leather whip. It doubtless is struck her horse and caused it to fly into a panic. The weapon immediately sets Shirayuki on edge.

"Obi…" she clutches at his jacket clumsily, the reins of his mare heavy in her hands. Her feet are sliding out from under her in the snow. They stand below their attackers on a slope, having been knocked off the trail they were traveling on. Her satchel of medical supplies, which she never travels without, bumps against her leg heavily as she readjusts her footing, stepping back further into the brush.

"Oi, that's a rather fine looking girl you have there," says the man in the center of the trio, holding a sword far to nice to have been acquired through legal means. "Won't you hand her over nice and quiet?"

Obi's response is to fling one of his knives expertly into a tree behind the man in the middle, grazing his ear. Shirayuki flinches at the soft thudding sound it makes as it strikes the thick bark. A warning shot. The third man, who seemed to only have a dagger on hand, gives a soft whistle.

"He'd fetch a good price too. If we can catch him without killing him," he says casually, eyeing Obi like he's fresh fruit in a market. The middle man rubs his ear, which is dripping blood, and steps forward with his sword brandished.

"Always a market for his type, sure, but I doubt he'd be controllable," he replies, eyes never leaving Obi's. The other one shrugs and turns to the man with the whip.

"What do you think?"

"She's worth at least twice whatever he is, I'd reckon," he responds, readying his whip for another strike. "Just off him and bag the girl."

"Go, Mistress," Obi murmurs. "I'll be behind you shortly."

Shirayuki gulps and nods, trusting in Obi's fighting ability. However, it's obvious he won't have the upper hand in this fight. If she can get away, at least one of them will go after her, balancing out the odds. She thinks of the small poisonous concoction bottled and hidden in her satchel for times like this. There isn't enough to work on all three, but one of them? Yes, she can certainly take one from Obi's hands.

She mounts the mare quick as possible and Obi lunges forward, throwing a knife into the flank of one of the bandits' horses as he does. It rears and screams, bolting in the same direction Shirayuki's horse ran earlier. The mare, now carrying Shirayuki and still flighty, bolts after it. She hears one of the bandits swear and shout to grab his horse, then the sound thundering of hooves behind her as the one with the dagger pursues her with their only other horse. Good thinking, Obi, thinks Shirayuki. Had two bandits chased her on two horses, she would be captured.

As her mare flies over logs and tears through frosty foliage, she scrambles to hold on while fishing around in her satchel for the little vile of poison. Her pursuer rushes after her, his large quarter horse quickly gaining on the smaller mare. Shirayuki uselessly grips the reins of the mare, body pressed against it's neck in an attempt to avoid branches. She shoves her hand through the satchel, feeling for the special side pocket containing the poison. Her fingertips feel cool glass. She grasps the bottle and turns to see her pursuer pulling his arm back to throw his dagger.

It strikes the mare in the neck just inches from Shirayuki's head. It hits its mark with a sickening sound and the horse tumbles forward, sending Shirayuki flying over it's head into the bushes. She lands hard on her back and lays there for a moment, stunned. A rustling in the bushes causes her to gasp and right herself. She stumbles out of the bushes and toward the mare, who is wheezing and braying a few feet from her. The dagger was knocked from it's neck when it fell and is right in front of Shirayuki. She goes to grab it, but a heavy boot lands hard on her fingers, causing her to cry out.

"Got you, little miss," purrs the bandit, smiling devilishly down at her. His boot digs her fingers into the blade, which cuts easily through her glove and into her skin. She clutches her other hand, which still holds the poison, to her stomach, pressing her entire arm as close as she can to herself. The bandit reaches down and grabs her by her hair, pulling her to her feet and making her stand on the tips of her toes.

"God you're cute," he breathes, marveling at Shirayuki's face and hair. She pushes against his chest feebly with her injured hand, keeping the other one pressed tight against her chest, waiting for just the right moment. He laughs at the gesture. She thumbs the cork out of the little vile.

"That won't do much, sweetling," he hoots, leaning his face down close to her's. "You'll have to try harder than that if—" He's abruptly cut off by Shirayuki slapping the entire vile against his face. The delicate glass shatters easily and digs into his skin while the fine powder within spreads in the air around their faces. The bandit lets go of her and shouts in surprise as the glass hits him, stumbling back, clutching his face and wheezing as he inhales the poison.

Shirayuki crouches to the ground, covering her mouth and nose and closing her eyes. She feels desperately around for the dagger and clutches it with both hands when she finds it. She opens her eyes with a wince and lunges at the bandit, striking him hard in the thigh. He howls and slaps her aside with a bloody hand before tripping over his own feet and tumbling down the slope. Shirayuki, unable to tear her stinging eyes away, watches in horror as he flips and tumbles down the rocky hill like a rag-doll, only stopping when he lands hard against a large rock. He doesn't get up.

The mare slowly stops wheezing and lays still along with the bandit. Shirayuki stands shakily and cuts free a saddle bag from the mare's side with the dagger, leaving the one it landed on. The dagger drops from her hand as she turns to struggle back up the slope to find the path she and Obi were traveling on. She only breathes in small gasps, trying not to inhale any of the left over poison and trying not to cry. Her eyes sting and are already tearing up though, making the attempt useless. Once she finds her way back on the path she falls to her knees and bawls into her hands, absently using snow to wipe away any poison that got on her face.

After a few minutes of sniffling and crying, Shirayuki rubs the tears from her cheeks and stands, grounding her feet firmly into the snow. She needs to find Obi quickly. She begins to walk, but pauses, thinking it could be dangerous for her to just go back to the fight. It was doubtless over by now, but what if Obi lost? She tucks the saddle bag and satchel under a bush close by, just in case, and climbs back down the slope. She carefully plucks the dagger from the snow and tucks it into the belt around her coat. There was no way to know how Obi's fight went; she has to be prepared for anything.

A rustling sounds behind her in the thicket. She whips around, pulling the dagger out from her belt and holding it in front of her. But it's only the bandit's quarter horse, searching for it's owner, perhaps. It's head bobs nervously as it smells the blood from the mare and the remaining powdered poison that has settled in the snow.

Shirayuki steps forward slowly, pulling off her gloves lifting her hands up. Her good hand comes to rest on the horse's soft nose, the other grabs the reins.

"Come on," she urges gently, pulling the nervous horse toward the pathway. "You're our horse now, ok?" The quarter horse, a dark brown thing with a black main and tail, follows her with no resistance.

Once they're on the path, Shirayuki rifles through the saddle bags on the horse, finding a bottle of mead, some rather smelly clothes, and a wool blanket in one and jewelry and a bag of filled with different bottles of foreign spices and coins in the other. She tosses out the clothes and some of the larger pieces of heavy jewelry, but hangs onto everything else. She moves all of this to the saddle bag with the blanket, which is now half empty without the clothes, then places the items in Obi's saddle bag into the empty one on the horse. She looks through his things is relieved to find that he has packed plenty of changes of clothes along with another wool blanket, as well as a small bag of hard candy and a flask. She also finds another set of throwing knives and handles them very carefully.

She takes the horse's reins and begins to walk back in the direction she came, searching for signs of her friend.

After a while, she rounds a corner in the path and finds one bandit in a pool of blood, one of Obi's knives sticking out from his neck. The smell hits her hard and she reels back, shocked at how suddenly it hit her. The horse brays and tosses its head, but Shirayuki quickly calms it down and leads it past the dead man. He was the one who held the whip. Shirayuki slinks quickly past him, trying desperately not to vomit and murmuring softly to her horse.

"O-obi?" She calls softly. Where is he? What about the bandit with the sword? A stick snaps down the path, from the direction she had just walked. She whips around so quickly she almost slips, only to see Obi staggering from the brush.

"I'm here, Mistress," he said hoarsely. "I thought I told you to run." He falls to one knee with a moan, clutching his right side. Blood flows between his fingers and runs down his leg. Shirayuki rushes over to him and grabs hold of him as he begins to list forward, threatening to fall face-first into the snow. He buries his face in her shoulder and they both sink to the ground with Obi practically laying in Shirayuki's lap.

"I wasn't going to just leave you, Obi. Now let me see the wound," Shirayuki sit back, cradling Obi against her as she pulls his hand away from his side. His fingers are like ice. His labored breath burns hot against her neck.

She gently opens his bloodied coat and lifts his clothes away from the injury. It is a long gash, starting at right his hip and ending at the left side of his ribcage.

"The one with the whip caught me," Obi breathes in sharply, teeth clenched in pain. He breathes out slowly, shakily. "I put a knife in him, but it was a just enough of a window for the other to take a swipe at me. Still got the best of him though." He smirks a little bit, but it mostly looks like a grimace.

This was a bad injury, not one she could treat properly with only the supplies of her satchel. She reaches into her pocket to find her handkerchief. She tucks Obi more firmly against her and uses both hands to awkwardly fold the handkerchief and press it against the deepest part of the gash. It would be difficult to bandage him properly in this position, yet she also did not want to lay him down expose his body the the cold ground more than necessary. After a moment of deliberation she she pulls his bloodied shirt back down and closes his coat.

Shirayuki notices for the first time bright red marks around his neck and jaw, where the whip must have struck him. She runs a hand gently across the marks, they're not serious, but they'll have to be treated too. Obi leans into her touch with a soft moan.

"Obi," she murmurs softly, taking his right hand and pressing it against his side. "Keep your hand here, ok?" He nods weakly. "We need to find shelter so I can treat you. Can you stand?" He nods again and sits himself up with a wince. Shirayuki slings his left arm over her shoulder and slowly helps him to his feet.

"It's not too bad, Mistress," he wheezes out. "I've taken worse hits." She nods in agreement, thinking of the scar running across his chest. He would survive this. So would she.

"Do you remember that abandoned looking cabin we passed earlier?" she asks.

"Ah, I do," he replies, eyebrows scrunching together. "Where are our horses?"

"The mare is dead and I don't know what happened to mine," Shirayuki tells him remorsefully. "We do have him though." She nods to the quarter horse, who is watching them patiently. Obi blinks at the beast in surprise.

"He's going to bring us to that cabin," Shirayuki decides. "We still had several hours of riding before reaching the next town, but that cabin is relatively close. It's our best bet to find shelter." Obi nods in agreement and Shirayuki turns her face to the sky. It's mid-afternoon, but the sky is dark with clouds which threaten to drop snow on them at any moment. Obi looks up as well, face grim.

"We ought to get going, then," he says.

Getting Obi onto the horse is a bit of a trial, but he only slips once and when he does he bites back a cry. He makes it up on the second try and once on he droops against Shirayuki, who is already sitting in front, with an exhausted groan.

"Are you doing alright?" she asks nervously, touching his knee and trying to peak at him over her shoulder. He's breathing heavily.

"I'll live," he rasps out in response. His head is resting on her shoulder. "Do you mind if I'm like this, Mistress? I don't think I can keep my head up anymore."

"Lean on me all you need, Obi," Shirayuki says softly. She reaches up to pet his hair and he wraps an arm around her waist; the other is around his own bleeding stomach. She flicks the reins of the horse and urges it forward, back in the direction they had already traveled.

Shirayuki sets their horse to a trot as they travel along the snowy path. It's a little bit bumpy for Shirayuki's liking, especially with Obi injured and clinging to her, but she can't keep him out in the cold for too long. He's gone unnaturally still, but from his vice-like grip on her waist, she knows he's still conscious.

They travel in stony silence for about an hour. Snow begins to fall and the wind starts to pick up. On the hilly horizon she can just make out a grey speck at the edge of the forest.

"There it is!" she breathes the words into the icy air. "Hang on just a little longer, Obi." She places a hand over the one clutching her waist, running her thumb over the dry skin of his knuckles. She urges the horse into a full gallop, hoping that the horse won't tire before they get to the little cabin.

The wood of the cabin has turned grey in the elements, but all the windows and the roof are all still intact. Shirayuki climbs down first, careful not to bump Obi with her foot as she slides it carefully past him. Normally the one in back would get off first, but she's worried he'll fall. He mutters that he'll be fine, but his words are a bit slurred from exhaustion and blood-loss and when he's sitting up on his own, up atop the horse, he sways dangerously.

He manages to haul himself up and swing a leg over the horse's side, but his grip is not firm and Shirayuki's fear comes true. Thankfully she's there to catch him, even if it means she ends up practically pinned between Obi, who is very heavy, and the cabin. He lets out a long groan, trying to sink to the ground, but Shirayuki won't let him.

"Come on, just a few more steps," she tucks herself against his right side and wraps her arm around his slim waist. His left hand clutches at his side and his right arm instinctively wraps around Shirayuki.

They teeter inside, leaving the horse in the snow for the moment, and she sits him down on a creaky but sturdy chair she finds. Shirayuki then goes back out for the horse, but the beast refuses to enter the cabin as well.

"You'll freeze to death out here!" she tells it, tugging on the reins. It nickers and tugs back, effectively pulling them from her cold hands. Shirayuki sighs angrily and gives up; Obi's injuries are more important then the horse's life, though she feels guilty about leaving it in the weather. She quickly unhooks the saddle bags from either side of the horse, then tugs off the saddle and reins.

"Thanks for the help," she says sadly as she closes the door.

She turns to Obi, who is slumped over in his chair, about to fall off. She goes over and sits him back up while surveying the single room cabin. There's an old table next to them, then to the left there is an open space and a fireplace. There's a good sized stack of wood next to the fireplace and Shirayuki thanks all the gods she can think of for their luck.

"Obi, can I have one of your knives?" she asks, crouching in front of him. He nods and tugs one free from his belt, deft fingers twirling it so that the handle is facing her. She takes it and tosses some logs into the fireplace, coughing as ash and dust fly up. She pulls a loose brick from the side of the fireplace and strikes it with the knife, effectively creating a small fire which soon turns into a steady blaze.

Next, she pulls the blanket from the bandit's saddle bag, folds it in half and lays it out next to the fire. She takes off the sweater she's wearing over her traveling clothes and makes it into a makeshift pillow, then she helps up Obi and guides him to the little bed.

He practically collapses as he kneels down and it takes all of Shirayuki's strength to keep him from landing too heavily. She grips his shoulders and supports his head, leaning him back slowly. One of her knees is tucked under him just a bit, helping to support his back and keep Shirayuki from hurting her's. She has to readjust his legs and hips so they're properly on the blanket, and once she's satisfied she quickly goes about removing all his damp, bloody clothes.

The coat comes off easily enough, as does his belt and shoes, but the blood on his shirt has started to dry and is sticking to his skin. She ends up cutting it open and tugging it off in pieces; it's already torn to shreds from the sword, so there's not much point in saving it. His pants are covered in blood and are caked with ice but they come off without too much hassle. He's wearing a pair of thin leggings under the pants and the blood causes stick to his skin. She quickly grabs the other blanket and lays it over top of him before working on those.

She reaches under the blanket and searches for his hips, reaching her fingers under the fabric of the leggings, along with his undergarments, which are also completely bloodied.

"Lift your hips a bit, please," she tells Obi. He complies with a soft grunt, brow furrowing from the pain the movement causes. She has to peal the leggings from him, but they come off with a bit of effort. She covers his legs with the blanket and tosses her coat over that for good measure.

With her patient thoroughly naked and everything but his torso covered against the cold, she sets to work pealing away the handkerchief and cleaning the injury. It's a slow process, but she uses some drinking water she had in her satchel to clean away the blood. Once that was done she pulls from her satchel a small needle and some medical thread she keeps in a vile like the one that held her poison. There wasn't enough to properly suture the whole injury, but only the part closest to his hip was deep enough to need stitching anyway.

Before settling down next to Obi to get started, she pulls the flask from Obi's saddle bag and brings it to him.

"What's in here, Obi?" she asks as she opens the flask. He moans as he tries to collect his thoughts. She notes with worry that although his skin is ashen, his cheeks are flushed deeply and a sheen of sweat is on his brow, despite the biting cold. He's likely running a fever, she thinks.

"…Some kind of alcohol?" Obi tries to sit up, confused by the question, but falls back down, too weak to hold himself up. Shirayuki catches his head in one hand and lifts the alcohol to his lips.

"I have to give you some stitches," she explains when he gives her a confused and rather pained look. That's all she has to say though, Obi clearly understands the rest. He grabs the flask from her hand and takes a good swig. Shirayuki wishes she had some proper anesthetic herbs with her, but the only supplies she has are for small first aide instances, like burns and cuts. Not large gashes from swords. She sets his head back down on the bed and takes back the flask. She puts it down well within his reach. Obi tosses an arm over his eyes and takes a shaky breath and Shirayuki begins stitching his wound.

Obi doesn't make a whole lot of noise as Shirayuki carefully works. His head rolls from side to side, breath ragged, but he bites back his screams. Half way through his breathing becomes much harsher and he lets out a long cry, back arching from the pain. Shirayuki pauses in her work and rubs his chest gently, coaxing him back down. She gives him more alcohol and pries his stiff fingers from the fists they made in the blanket.

Toward the end he finally passes out, body shuddering once then going limp. Shirayuki is quick to check his pulse, but it's beating rapidly. It slows down to a more normal pace after a few minutes. Satisfied that he's alright, Shirayuki makes the last few sutures.

She uses the cleaner half of his ruined shirt to mop up the sweat and fresh blood from his body then rubs a soothing salve over the length of his injury, as well as on the welts forming on his neck from the whip. Next is the tricky part. First she lays down some gauze over the bleeding area, then uses a roll of linen bandages to wrap the wound.

Of course, to properly wrap the injury she has to sit him up. Normally there would be a group of people to do this; two to keep the patient propped up and well supported and two to quickly pass the linens back and forth around the patient, quickly and efficiently bandaging the wound in only a few short minutes. However Shirayuki is not four people; just one herbalist with a very tough job on her hands.

She starts behind Obi's head, carefully lifting him by his shoulders and scooting herself underneath him so that his full weight leaning against her. However this position causes him to slouch badly and she could barely get her hands between his body and hers to wrap the linen, so instead she ends up between his legs with his head resting over her shoulder and the weight of his chest and arms all on her chest and arms. Her head is neatly tucked on his very broad shoulder, making it very difficult to see what she is doing, but this job can be accomplished with feel alone for someone experienced, and experienced she certainly is.

She winds the bandages around him quickly, feeling where each one lays in order to make sure there are no openings. It goes well for a while, but Obi is very heavy and Shirayuki doesn't have the stamina to hold him for very long. She tries to readjust him to her other shoulder, but ends up losing her grip on his bare skin.

Obi's limp body promptly falls backward, causing Shirayuki to yelp in surprise and lunge for him. She catches his head and keeps him from hitting the ground too hard, but she's also practically lying on top of him. She sets him down carefully and scrambles to remove herself from him, quickly pulling the blanket over him back into place, as it slid down just a bit too far when she jumped forward.

The process has to be repeated, but this time she holds him up on her other shoulder. She ties the bandages and slowly lays Obi back down, panting and huffing from the exertion.

"Obi," Shirayuki says to him sternly, giving a tuft of his dark hair a small and vengeful tug, "You're heavy."

He's also very pale and probably very cold. She digs around in the saddle bags for a change of clothes and wrestles them onto him. It's an easier process than pulling the icy, blood covered clothes off, but when she gets to his pants she gives up on keeping him covered, as the blanket only seems to get in the way.

She surveys her work once Obi's clothed and covered in his blanket. He doesn't look peaceful by any stretch, but he looks warmer and less pained than before. She pulls a few herbs from her satchel and begins mixing a painkiller for when he wakes. She doesn't have anything that could possibly be strong enough to rid him completely of the pain, but any relief is better than none.

She sits back when she's done, then notices that she is adequately freezing. Her clothes are soaked with blood and water from the melted snow. She has no clothes of her own to change into, so she rummages around in the saddle bags to find something of Obi's to wear.

"Sorry, Obi," she says over to his still form, "But I need some fresh clothes too."

She finds a tunic in a dark shade of brown and a pair of black leggings. She also steals a pair of stockings from him, as her socks and boots are soaked as well. The tunic fits her like a bag and the leggings and stockings aren't much better, but she's certainly warmer now than she was before.

By this point it is well into the night and Shirayuki is completely exhausted. She realizes that she still has to treat her hand, which was injured by the dagger, but the bleeding stopped a while ago and she can move all her fingers just fine. She decides to leave it for the time being and get some rest instead. A log or two is placed in the fire, then Shirayuki slides under the blanket next to Obi, keeping him between her and the fireplace.

His feverish body is nothing short of a furnace and she presses up against him, shuddering at the sudden temperature change. She supposes she ought to be embarrassed by the closeness of their bodies, but she can't bring herself to care at this point. She tucks her face into his shoulder and closes her eyes. She begins to drift off, but wakes herself up with a thought.

Carefully she slides a hand down Obi's arm, searching for his wrist. She checks his pulse, counting the beats and seconds carefully. It's a bit slow, but not anything to be afraid of. Satisfied, she settles against him, drifting off to sleep quickly.

Hours later she wakes to the sound of Obi's harsh breathing. The fire has almost died completely and the cabin is pitch black, save for the glowing embers in the hearth. Shirayuki removes herself from the warmth of the bed to relight the fire. Once able to see, she finds where she left the painkiller she made earlier and brings it to Obi. She mixes it with the last of the water and sits him up as best she can. He moans, but takes the bitter liquid. She lays him back down and strokes a hand over his brow and through his hair, repeating the motion until the medication kicks in and he falls back into an exhausted and feverish sleep.

"I suppose I need to refill this," she murmurs, lifting the empty canteen. She stands and pulls on her boots and coat, then slips out the door. She hardly has to move a step from the cabin to stuff snow into the canteen to melt, but the wind bites at her face and buffets her body violently, making it near impossible to orient herself in the cold night. It's just as dark outside as it was in the cabin, but the dull, orange glow of the window is enough to help her find a spot of snow she can easily reach. She stuffs the canteen full until her fingers go numb from the cold, then quickly goes for the knob of the door. It twists, but she has to kick the door in order to get it to open.

Shirayuki stumbles back inside, shaking violently, and kicks off her boots, tripping over them as she moves toward the fire with the canteen. She sets it down in front of the blaze, nearly dropping it as her fingers are completely numb with cold. She holds her hands as close as possible to the fire, whimpering when they begin to get their feeling back and begin to sting. She puts her hands into fists, then opens them again, wincing at the pain. She does the motion again, then a third time, trying to get the blood flowing back into her fingertips.

"Mistress," softly behind her, Obi stirs and looks at her with dull eyes.

"Did I wake you, Obi?" she asks, turning toward him. "I'm sorry." He shakes his head slowly, reaching a hand out to her. She takes his hand, so hot it burns, in her's, confusion evident in her expression. He takes her fingers and shapes them into a fist then wraps his hand around her's, with her icy fingers tucked against his palm.

"That will warm you," he murmurs.

"Thank you," she says with a small smile. He smiles back, gold eyes tired but warm as melting gold in the firelight as he watches her expression. She scoots closer to him so he doesn't have to hold his arm up and lets him hold her hand for a while. She tucks her other hand under her neck to warm it in the same fashion. His hand is large enough to almost completely cover her's. She stares at it, admiring the tendons and bones as they shift around her hand.

"You've had your knuckles broken." She's examining his hand; some of his fingers don't bend in quite the right direction, and there are tiny scars all over his knuckles.

"Really? I didn't know it."

"Really now," she insists. "It looks like they were broken and never properly treated." She doesn't like that Obi never seemed to treat his injuries when he was young, no matter their seriousness. The thought a bit frightening, in truth.

"Ohh," he drawls softly, a little smile playing over his pale lips. "How irresponsible of me."

"Obi," she chides softly, her other hand finds its way to his face, running gently over his brow, then cupping his cheek. "You need to take better care of yourself. If Zen and I lose you we'll be heartbroken, understand?"

"I understand, Mistress." His voice softens and he closes his eyes. His head tilts slowly into her hand, like he's almost unsure if he should. She swears his fingers tighten around her's, just a little bit.

They stay like that for a while longer. Shirayuki runs her thumb over Obi's cheekbone softly, hoping the motion will coax him to sleep. Eventually Obi does fall asleep and as he does his grip on her loosens. She takes her hand back and tucks his under the blankets, then removes her coat, which she had been too cold take off earlier, and places it over him. She moves to the other side of the bed and settles down by his side, once again keeping Obi between herself and the fire, where it is warmest.

She dreams of swords through stomachs and falling helplessly down an endless snowy slope. She dreams she's being enveloped in fire, shrieking for her friends, only to find that she is entirely alone.

Shirayuki wakes with a start, drenched in sweat and teary eyed. She turns to Obi, whose fever is still raging. He breathes shallowly and sweat pricks at his brow, just as it is her's. His forehead is even hotter than it was the night before. She cups his burning cheek in her hand.

"I might blame you for that second dream," she whispers, figuring that his feverish body warmed her's a bit to much.

She climbs from the bed and holds in a whimper as her feet touch the floor of the cabin; she can feel the cold through her borrowed stockings. The floor is covered in frost everywhere except around the fireplace. She tip-toes over to the pile of wood and plucks a few pieces from it, dancing back and forth on her feet. The pieces are rushed to the fireplace and placed on the burning embers. It takes her a long moment to rekindle the flame.

The fire blazes warmly and Shirayuki peers out the window. It's completely white out there; she can't even see the path they had traveled they day before. The wind sends ghosts of snow flying over the drifts. The snowfall is so thick the forest surrounding the cabin is almost impossible to see. The sky is still a dark grey. She gulps nervously, not liking the weather combined with their few supplies.

"The wind will settle down soon," she rationalizes to herself, breath fogging the window pane. "The clouds will clear up and then we'll continue our travels."

But they had no horse. Obi wouldn't be able to walk to the next town. Shirayuki didn't think she would be able to either, even without injuries of any kind. It was just too dangerous in the snow.

She lifts Obi's coat from the chair she had slung it over to dry. It's completely stiff with dried blood and there are little twigs and dead leaves caught in the fur lining of his hood. She settles down in front of the fire, partially sitting on the blankets, to stitch the hole that runs across the front. She has some regular sewing thread and a needle in her satchel along with medical versions, so she uses that to pass the time and take her mind off the raging storm.

However the hole is eventually closed and Shirayuki is once again left to her thoughts.

The sky is so dark she cannot tell what time of day it is. She also can't see more than a few feet outside the window. She tries eating some of the hard candies that Obi had stashed in the saddle bag, but it's not enough to stave off her hunger. The candies are also cinnamon flavored, so much so that they actually burn her mouth a little bit. She only manages to eat a couple out of sheer hunger, then begins to feel nauseous and has to stop.

The room slowly becomes darker and darker and she's becoming more and more anxious with each passing minute. She feels very small and very helpless.

After a while Obi stirs again, but his fever hasn't gotten any better. She gives him what's left of the painkiller she made and unwraps his bandages. He's able to hold himself up just long enough for her to get them all off, then collapses back onto the blanket. Shirayuki tries to catch him, but she's not fast enough this time.

"I'm so sorry, Obi," she says softly, trying to keep frustrated tears at bay. She cradles his head, practically laying on top of him in her attempt to stop his fall. A tear falls onto his cheek and he reaches a shaky hand up to her face, wiping away its trail.

"It's alright," he rasps, hand falling heavily back to his side. She quickly sits herself back up and begins her work again. His only movements are the labored rise and fall of his chest as he works for each breath. She dabs away the old salve and applies a fresh coat. He's barely able to sit up a second time, but she's faster with the bandages and she helps him lay down as carefully as she can. Pulling his shirt on while he's laying down isn't a terribly hard feat and when she's done with that she curls up next to him on top of the blankets. This time she's between Obi and the fire. She needs to move to his other side so that he stays warm enough, but she can't muster the strength or motivation to move. Instead she places her head on his chest, right over his heart, and counts each steady beat until she falls asleep.

Her dreams are the same as they were the night before, but this time she wakes up slowly, shaking and stiff from the cold and with tears in her eyes. She tries to sit up, but finds that at some point in the night Obi wrapped an arm around her. She moves carefully, so as to not disturb him, and places his arm back under the blankets. It's still dark outside, though she really doesn't know if it's because the sun hasn't risen yet or if the clouds are still hanging over them. She pulls logs from the pile, which was also beginning to run low, and lights the fire once more.

She gently prods at Obi until he wakes and gives him some water. He falls back asleep almost immediately. She crawls back into bed on the proper side and watches the windows, knowing that she'll probably not sleep. Her hand finds his again, checking his pulse, but instead of pulling her hand away, she winds her fingers around his.

She does sleep, to her surprise, and it is a very deep and dreamless sleep. It's the sort that is fueled by exhaustion. Her whole body feels heavy, as if it is laden with ice and slowly freezing completely over.

Then Shirayuki is woken very suddenly to the sound of the door being forced open. A sharp bang rattles the rickety cabin's shingles as someone's foot connects solidly with the ice-covered wood. She scrambles out of bed, grabbing the dagger and kneeling in front of Obi with it pointed at the door.

"Hey!" someone shouts. It's a man's voice. Shirayuki's hands shake violently. "Is someone in here?"

"Is someone in here?" another voice repeats. This voice is much younger. She's frozen in her spot though. Obi hasn't stirred at all, which frightens her.

"There's a girl in there, papa!" a third voice shouts this excitedly, causing Shirayuki's head to swivel quickly toward the window where it is coming from. "She looks scared to heck." There's the figure of a hooded child peering in through the glazed and frosty window, looking right at her. Someone, the man most likely, gives the door another hard kick, causing Shirayuki to cringe as the abused door flies open. Unfiltered sunlight pours into the little cabin and a very large man in a fur coat steps through.

"A girl there is indeed," he says, looking surprised. "Are you lost, miss?" Shirayuki shakes her head 'no'. She knows exactly where she is and where she needs to go.

"Caught in the blizzard, then?" She nods this time, not daring to breathe, not lowering the dagger.

"Do you need help?" Shirayuki past the man to the door, two wide-eyed children are poking their heads in curiously. She lowers her dagger and nods.

"M-my friend is hurt." A hand raises shakily, pointing behind her to Obi. "There were bandits…" She trails off, feeling lightheaded. She plops onto the ground and sets the dagger carefully next to her.

"Please help us," she begs.

Waking up is an exhausting thing to do, what with the heavy warmth that surrounds the body and soft, familiar sounds in the background, however blocked by cotton they seem to be. Consciousness is a nebulous thing that does not stay for long, much like the wind. Sometimes the noises are sharp, but only for an instant before the warmth makes them cottony and the heaviness of the body makes it impossible to wish to be awake at all.

However, a very deep ache begins to grow in Obi's stomach, which soon turns into a steady burn.

He opens his eyes slowly, flinching only slightly as pure, white light shines in from a window, illuminating the whole room twofold from the snowy landscape. His eyes adjust slowly, everything goes in and out of focus and sounds grow dull before becoming almost painfully sharp.

When he get's his bearings, Obi realizes that the familiar sounds he hears are children playing outside his window. He then realizes that the warmth he has been feeling is a bed. His last memory is of the ice cold floor of a small and dark cabin in a stormy field, not a warm room and warm bed, so where is he?

An attempt at sitting up is quickly squashed by the pain in his stomach, which went from a rather bearable burn to a very sharp unmistakable pain with the movement. He flops heavily back onto his pillow, but regrets that too, as his neck is very sore, and his stitches do not appreciate the jostling. He lets out a frustrated and pained moan, not liking how weak and vulnerable he is.

He tries to think carefully of everything that happened and how he could have ended up in such a comfortable bed, but he's drawing blanks. However the most serious matter is that his mistress is nowhere to be seen, which worries and frustrates him even more.

"Shira—" No, no. "Mistress?" His voice is pathetically soft and raspy and he highly doubts anyone could have heard it, even if they were standing only a few feet from his bed. However the door is suddenly open and a woman Obi does not know strides in, carrying a pile of what appears to be his clothes paying him and his surprised stare no mind whatsoever. She glances over to him, meeting his eyes with a steady unperturbed gaze, then lets out a soft huff.

"So you're awake then?" She eyes him up and down carefully and Obi choses to stay silent. She places the clothing at the foot of the bed and gives the pile a good pat.

"You're clothes were bloodied up terribly, so I set about washing them for you while you rested." She nods her head toward the door. "The little thing you were with is making dinner currently, but she'll be your's when she's done." She turns and leaves the room just as abruptly as she came, and with just as much purpose.

Moments later the loud thudding of feet on stairs reaches his ears and then his lovely mistress is bursting through the door, looking relieved and entirely disheveled. She rushes to his bedside, face flushed as she kneels down so that she's at his eye level.

"Obi! I'm so glad you're alright!" Her hand touches his forehead with no reservation, causing his heart to leap in surprise. "Your fever's gone down quite a bit. Do you want to sit up?" He nods and she helps him into a sitting position. Holding himself up is hard, but she quickly tucks another soft pillow behind his back and helps him settle down. Then she's moving to sit on the side of the bed, tilting his head left and right and murmuring about the bruises on his neck. He sits quietly as she examines him and enjoys watching her face as she concentrates. However he recalls something the woman said from earlier, and figures it's important enough to bring up.

"Miss?" he asks, hating how raspy he sounds, but her attention is immediately his. "A woman came in here a moment ago and said you were cooking." Her eyes widen and her mouth makes an 'O' shape, like she completely forgot that she had a previous engagement before rushing to see him.

"That's right, I guess I need to go watch the pot." Shirayuki stands, fixing her skirt, which is not one he recognizes. Her shirt, however… "I'll be back in a few minutes with some food for you, okay?"

He nods owlishly, a bit distracted by what she's wearing. His meager response is enough for her though and she quickly leaves the room.

Obi stares blankly at the ceiling, trying to make sense of his mistress's attire. But the whole ordeal from their fight with the bandits up until this point is a hazy and painful blur to him, so he cannot for the life of him figure out why Shirayuki feels the need to wear one of his shirts rather than one of her own. Not that he's complaining; there's something very satisfying about seeing her small frame in his clothing.

Shirayuki returns to the room a moment later with a bowl of something amazing smelling in either hand, both wrapped neatly in hand towels so that they can hold on without burning their fingers. She hands Obi one, who is very happy to discover that it is soup, then sets her's down on a small nightstand next to the bed before rummaging around in a set of saddle bags he doesn't recognize. Confused, Obi tries to sit up better to see what she's doing, but the pain in his stomach returns and he sinks back into the pillows with a soft but irritated grunt. Shirayuki hears him and turns back to the bed.

"Stay still, Obi," she says with a small laugh. "You're not healed yet, so take it slow. If you become any weaker I might have to spoon feed you."

"Hmm? That might not be so bad," Obi muses, offering Shirayuki the bowl so that she can feed him. She huffs softly at him and plops down on the bed next to him, completely ignoring the offered bowl. Instead she pulls out a small piece of folded paper, which contains ground up herbs when she opens it.

"Thankfully they have lots of dried medicine stored here for the winter." She reaches for a glass of water on the nightstand that Obi hadn't noticed before and dumps the powder into it. "I traded the spices I took from the bandits for them. Drink this with the soup; it's a relatively strong painkiller."

"You stole from the bandits?" His mistress amazes him more and more with each day. "What a devilish thing you are, Mistress! But how will we ever tell Master that his love is a thief?" Shirayuki looks away in embarrassment as Obi chuckles at her.

"The spices were only in the saddle bag of the horse I took," she tries to defend herself, but realizes that she also stole a horse from the bandits. "They scared off my horse and killed your's, so its fair!" Obi laughs softly and lets her have the argument, since he figures he's flustered her enough. He begins to eat his soup, then a thought occurs to him.

"How did you escape if they killed my horse?" Shirayuki pauses as she lifts her spoon to her mouth, then then sets it back down as she shifts her gaze away, looking uncomfortable.

"I had a special powder with me that stings your eyes and nose and, if inhaled, makes it impossible to breathe," she explains, not meeting his eyes. "I used it, and when the bandit inhaled it he tripped and fell down the slope." Obi nods slowly.

"I see," he says. He's about to say more, but Shirayuki interjects.

"What would Zen say?" Her fingers clutch her bowl tightly, trembling.

"I think," he begins, catching a stray tear on her cheek with his index finger. "Master would be relieved that you came prepared." She doesn't move, eyes downcast.

"I basically killed him, Obi," she states softly. He takes her chin in his hand and tilts her head up so that she's forced to look at him.

"And I killed two others. If that fool couldn't keep his feet under him then it's his own fault, not your's."

She tries to protest further, but Obi continues: "If you hadn't done what you did, either I would have ended his life or you would have been taken instead. This was the best possible outcome; Master would agree." She sighs, knowing he's right, and gives up.

"If I had been taken and sold you would have died for sure." Her hand brushes carefully against his abdomen, where he was injured. Her touch burns, but in the best way imaginable.

"That's true. My memory's sort of hazy, but thinking back, you did a lot more work than I, didn't you?"

"Hardly, Obi. I just did what I could." But her face brightens a bit at the change of subject, so he continues.

"No really! I just got the crap beaten out of me; you managed to find us a new horse, find shelter, and treat my injury. All in a blizzard, no less!" He laughs and digs into his soup again. "Wait till I tell master how brave you were, he'll be so mad he didn't get to adventure with us and see you in action." She laughs at this.

"Stop Obi!" She gives his shoulder a very gentle shove, then continues eating her soup as well. "It's too bad he wasn't there, though; had he been along, bandaging you would have been a lot easier."

"Really?"

"Yeah; pulling off all your clothes and holding you up to wrap your wound was really difficult. You're heavy." Her eyes dart to the side when she mentions his clothes.

"Miss, you undressed me completely?" Oh, does her face turn red.

"I had to! You were covered in blood!" Shirayuki shovels soup into her mouth, desperately looking anywhere but at Obi.

"Did you enjoy the view?"

She chokes on the soup. Obi tries hard not to laugh and pats her back.

"Of course I didn't! You were practically bleeding to death!" she sputters, swatting his hand away.

"Sorry, sorry. The joke was in bad taste."

"I tried to keep you covered as best as I could; it was so cold…" she trails off, staring blankly at her soup, clearly exhausted from choking.

"I remember that much; it was freezing," Obi agrees. "Mmm, going back to clothes, Mistress, why are you wearing my shirt?" She all but squeaks at the question, and looks down at the offending garment.

"I lost my clothes when I was knocked from my horse." She tugs at his shirt, which is far to baggy for her. It's tucked into her skirt though, making her waist look absolutely tiny.

"You didn't borrow a shirt from the people we're staying with?"

"Ah—I didn't want to be a inconvenience them!" Her face is red again and she eats her soup, determined to finish it.

"Whatever you say, Mistress," Obi murmurs as he lifts his spoon to his mouth as well, effectively hiding a small smile. He can't wait to tell Master about this.

They finish their soup and sit together, talking about nothing in particular, then falling into silence. The sun sets slowly, turning the room gold, then red, then dark. Obi finds himself dozing and soon Shirayuki settles down on the bed next to him, as it's large enough for two people. She curls up on top of the covers with an extra quilt and falls very quickly asleep, in the way that she's wont to do. Obi wonders if it's alright for them to be so close, but realizes that they probably slept flush against one another in the iciness of the cabin. He's a bit disappointed that he missed that.

He does, however, recall a moment when she ran her fingers across his forehead and stroked his cheek. Never in his life had he been so gently touched and to see and feel her so close to him, to have her fingers touch him so gently, he's grateful. He wonders if Shirayuki knows that he was aware enough to remember, but he decides he won't bring it up. He'll treasure that memory forever, not daring to speak even a whisper of it to anyone. Slowly, with the ache in his stomach never fully leaving, but the warmth of Shirayuki's body a comfort, Obi sleeps too. It's very deep and also dreamless, but he feels far warmer than he has in what feels like an eternity.