"Wake up, Raven."

Raven merely groaned, holing a hand up to the candlelight cast upon her. "Jasper, go away. It's still dark."

"I'm not Jasper, pup. Get up now so I can go back to sleep," Walter said, shoving her shoulder until she lay on her back.

She groaned again. "But it's still dark…"

"Can't go hunting when it's light. You have to leave early enough to get where the animals are in order to shoot them, pup. Now up. Go." Then his big hands were scooping her up as they had done when she was a child, and she was on her feet, cursing him. He threw her boots at her and then pointed at the door. "There'll be food waiting for you up by Sabine's wagon. Now out – I want to sleep."

Grumbling, she pulled her boots on, grabbing her furs and weapons and exiting into the pre-dawn gloom. It was freezing out here, with the paths covered in fresh snow, but even so Dax was happy to be out here with her. "Well, at least you like me," she muttered, unable to hold back a smile. His enthusiasm was just infectious.

Trudging up the hill, stamping the stiffness out of her legs, she found the gate to Sabine's mini-encamptment already open. Perhaps he only had it closed when strangers came into town? Walking through the untouched snow, she made her way toward Sabine's wagon, knowing no better place to go. There wasn't anybody out here yet.

"Where are you going?"

Raven turned swiftly at the voice, uttered just loudly enough for the princess to hear. Emerging out of the shadows behind her she found the girl – Diana – with whom she would be spending the morning. It was the first time Raven heard her voice, and she found she rather liked it. It was gruff, as if the huntress was unused to using it, yet still feminine and melodic.

Raven curtseyed, immediately feeling ridiculous doing so in fur trousers in the snow. "I am the Princess Raven-"

"I know who you are," the woman cut her off. "Just as you know who I am – Diana, granddaughter to Sabine. That wasn't my question. I asked you where you were going."

"Um… I was looking for you, actually," she answered truthfully. "I didn't see anyone out here, and Walter mentioned you share Sabine's wagon…"

"I do, but I've been up for nearly an hour. Waiting." She was silent a moment befor adding, "For you."

Raven's temper got the best of her almost immediately. "No one told me I should be here any earlier than now," she retorted hotly. "It's before dawn – who in their right mind gets up any earlier, anyway?!"

The other woman merely blinked a few times, slowly, before saying anything. "On time is late and early is on time. As far as first impressions go… you have not made a good one. Now come," she said, turning and walking away toward the entrance to the gated village.

Feeling chastised, Raven ran after her, knowing at least enough to follow the woman's steps exactly in order to conserve her strength. No need to trudge through the snow unnecessarily. "I, uh… well, perhaps this is impertinent of me, but Walter mentioned there would be food…"

"I have already broken my fast," the woman said sharply.

"Well, I have not," Raven tossed back, trying very hard not to shout. This woman was going to sorely test her temper, she could tell. "We have no food as of yet. Walter said I would be able to eat up at your wagon."

Diana was silent for a moment, merely walking and fiddling with her belt. Just as Raven was thinking of saying something – reminding her that she had not eaten – the huntress turned abruptly and shoved a small bundle into Raven's gut. "Eat this. Tomorrow you will have your own food. Do not expect to have any of mine again."

Then she was walking once more. Rolling her eyes, Raven hurriedly followed, even as she opened the sack to find dried fruit and nuts, as well as some jerked fish. Her stomach rumbling, she began to eat as she walked, trailing a few nuts and fish in the snow for the poor, hungry Dax following in her wake.

"You are not patient."

Raven furrowed her brow in frustration. "I've been sitting here for hours," she whispered harshly. "I'm bloody freezing, and I'm pretty sure my trousers will never dry."

"And if you are not patient despite that, then you will not get a kill. If you do not get a kill, you will not eat," Diana replied, just as harshly. "It is as though you have never hunted before."

"I haven't," Raven grumped, looking away from the opening to the blind and frowning at the huntress. "This is my first lesson."

"What do you mean, you have never hunted? Is that not the first step to becoming a proven warrior such as yourself?"

Raven scoffed. "Bashing bandits about the head does not take nearly this much patience. I learned to fight in a castle, against my guards. Walter taught me. He is now teaching your people, as well."

"But he did not take you hunting?" Diana demanded.

There it was, Raven's self-righteous anger. "No, he did not!" she replied hotly, losing the war with her volume for a moment. Biting her tongue momentarily, she continued at a harsh whisper. "Little princesses do not learn how to hunt. They are not allowed out of the castle with a weapon, and they are certainly not taken out into the woods, at the mercy of brigands and bandits, who might hold her for ransom or take her maidenhood." She paused, huffing indignantly. "They are kept inside like pets, to be paraded around in pretty dresses. And later, their brothers behead their intended groom because she dared question how he treated the leaders of a riot."

It hurt. It hurt so badly. Not because she truly loved Elliot the way he clearly had loved her, but because he knew it and asked her to choose him anyway. He was so good. She should have chosen him to live, not to die. His purity was less stained than those damn peasants with their dirty clothes and their filthy words about her family. She wished now that she had chosen differently.

But a voice insisted that she had chosen correctly, given her impossible choice. Those peasants were just as innocent of wrong-doing as Elliot, and they did not deserve the death Logan would have given them. And choosing them for death would not have ingratiated her with her people.

Logan was the true enemy. And he would pay for what he had done.

It took the guilt away from the tiny voice inside of her that kept being relieved that she no longer had to either marry Elliot or break his heart.

That voice made her feel like a monster.

Her little speech, though, seemed to have swayed Diana, and after hours of only harsh judgments, the huntress's expression now showed sympathy. It was only there for a moment, but it was unmistakable.

"Come. We will fish instead. I assumed you at least knew how to hunt in the lowlands. This is not a good first lesson for someone who has never shot game with her rifle."

"But… what about eating for the winter?"

Now Diana was walking again, and Raven was following in her footsteps once more. "Game in the mountains is difficult to come by. One must be patient, and even then it takes more skill than you possess as a novice. You will accompany me on hunts, but you will not be expected to hunt yourself for the winter. You will be quiet, and you will watch me. And you will train your dog as our trainers do. I will teach you to fish, and this is what will feed you during the coldest months."

Raven frowned. "I have skill with a rifle. I have made kills. Why do you treat me like I possess none?"

The other woman actually stopped, turning to observe Raven for a moment. "It is not an insult. If you have never been taught, than how can you be expected to simply know?"

"It sure feels like an insult," Raven huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. Just like a petulant child… "It feels patronizing as all Hell."

The woman blinked a few times in confusion. "That is a strange way to think. You need to leave it behind in order to survive here."

Now it was Raven's turn to blink in confusion. "A strange way… to think? What does that even mean?"

"It means that you cannot get better at something if you cannot take the truth about your current skill level. You are a princess; people do not criticize you. Here, they do. It means nothing more than that you have room to improve. It is not a… judge against your character as a person. That cannot be judged by the skills you have, but by the actions you take. And so far, princess… you have done only good for our village." She turned back around and began walking once more. "And in return, I teach you."

Raven wasn't allowed some witty retort. Diana strode away so quickly that Raven could only bound after her, forced to think about the words Diana had given her.

Dax barked happily in the background, somehow knowing the time to be quiet was done.

They stopped at the main camp to grab a midday meal, and for Diana to speak with her animated grandfather. The Dwellers had their own language of sorts, a kind of mix between the common tongue that Raven – and the rest of Albion – spoke, and the ancient language of the hill peoples of old. This meant that Raven really didn't get a lot of what they spoke about, but in the end Sabine was agreeing to something, and then Raven was being led away. They were allowed a midday meal, to which Raven took with gusto, and then Diana was leading her away from the village again.

A half hour later, she was sweating under her furs as they hiked up a steep slope that seemed to never end. "Where are we going?" she asked incredulously, after a half hour of near-silence.

"All but the deepest lakes freeze in the winter. We are going to one that does not."

That was all she got. They merely continued on in silence, Dax darting around them. For a dog that had hardly eaten anything since the day before, he had a remarkable amount of energy. Raven had been worried about his paws at first, tromping around in this snow all day, but the dog breeders of the tribe have given her a kind of wax for his feet and fur that she had to apply every few days. It seemed to be doing the trick, as she had checked his paws several times and had not had to clear away ice or snow, and he showed no sign of frostbite.

Finally, after another ten minutes of trudging up the mountain, they reached the summit. It was absolutely beautiful up here. Raven took a moment to take in the view, breathing in deeply as she looked out upon the pine trees. They were gorgeous, draped in snow, the snow untouched for miles around.

"Come."

Diana's voice snapped Raven back to reality, and with a grumbled oath she looked down to where the huntress was headed. Now that she looked, they seemed to be on the rim of a giant bowl, as if the top of the mountain had been scooped out somehow. She had read of formations like this.

"We're in a dormant volcano?" she breathed in wonder, taking in the landscape with new eyes.

"What?"

"You… you really don't know? Look at how the land lies! This was formed by a volcano, more years ago than we can count, likely. Let me guess – there is a deep lake at the bottom of this bowl we're in?"

Diana was stopped now, looking back up at her almost skeptically. "Yes, there is… How do you know that without seeing it?"

Raven knit her brows. "I read about it, of course. There are lots of these old volcanoes in these mountains. There are also hot springs and geysers. It's really fascinating, but I've never gotten to see one up close. This is astounding…"

"Yes, well… come along. We have work to do if we are to catch any fish this day, with the late start we have."

The descent took fifteen minutes. Immediately upon reaching the shore, they ventured out onto the ice.

"It is important to test each step while the ice is still forming," Diana said as they walked. "It is still warm enough that the ice is thin in some places. This is especially important for you, as you are taller and bulkier than most of my people. But we also need the thin places – this is where we will find the fish." A few more minutes of carefully negotiating the ice had them at a curious divot.

"Diana? What is that?"

The huntress smiled, the first time Raven had ever seen the expression on the woman's face. "This is where we fish. There are several holes like this that must be maintained throughout the winter. Each day you will fish at a new one, maintaining each, making sure the ice does not overtake them to the point that they cannot be used." She paused as she slung her pack off her back, rummaging for something within. "We cut through the ice, remove what we can, then run the lines into the water. I will do so today, but tomorrow…"

They returned to the camp well after sundown, but laden with fish. For whatever reason, it seemed to be something to which Raven was well-suited. Perhaps because it didn't require sitting still in the snow. Or perhaps because Dax could run around the ice to his heart's content. Or perhaps it was because she herself had some freedom of movement, as you couldn't scare the fish through a layer of ice that was thick enough to hold a person upon it.

Whatever the reason, it felt good to have a knack for something, and it was with a beaming smile upon her face that she presented her haul to Walter. He had congratulated her, apparently having been informed of the change of plans regarding hunting, and they ate a plentiful meal of fish stew that evening, bartering some of the fish for hard biscuits from another Dweller.

She went to bed that evening full to bursting, tired, sore, and ready to sleep for an entire day. The rest of the fish were set out to be dried at the large, communal fire set aside for such things. Walter told her about his day, but she struggled to stay awake, and after only a few minutes, he bid her goodnight with a chuckle.

She fell asleep to dreams of a single, beautiful smile she had been unable to get out of her head.