A/N: Thanks for those reviews! Sorry I haven't updated for a few days. I got sick and have been working on makeup work. Not exactly the best time since I leave in 11 days! I'll do my best to get this story finished before I leave. I don't want to make you all wait from the 20th of June to the 11th of July for an update. I find that kind of mean. So I'll get those chapters up asap. Thanks for the reviews!

Disclaimer: I do not own Lyra, Pan, Will or Kirjava or anything from His Dark Materials. I only own the characters I made up; Mari, Klitus, Paul, hiw daemon and the other students (who go unnamed). Thanks!

Mari stared out over the railing of the ship. The waves crashed against the ship, but she didn't notice that at all. No, her attention was focused on the Aurora high above the snow covered land. She sighed as she watched the lights, and Klitus cuddled closer to her to try and stay warm.

"Are you all right Mari?"

She turned around and saw Professor Silvertongue walking towards her. "Oh yes, I'm fine. Just thinking about the Aurora and how I may be able to help you."

"You don't sound like you are fine. You sound like you miss someone,"

Mari's attention fell back to the sky. "I miss my family,"

"I don't mean your family,"

"There isn't anyone to miss outside my family,"

"Klitus," Pan asked, "is this true?"

He shuffled his paws and shook his head. "Not completely..."

"Mari..."

"But Professor-"

"Lyra,"

"Lyra," Mari sighed. "I'm not sure. I mean, I guess I could be missing Andrew, but it's not like-"

"He cares about you Marianne,"

"Klitus not now."

"Listen to your daemon Mari, he knows."

She sighed once more, and her gaze fell to the ocean. "I wish I knew for myself."

"You'll figure it out. You have time while you're here,"

She nodded. "Yes, I'm sure I'll get it figured out eventually. Like you said Lyra, I take a problem and look at from every possible angle until I solve it."

Lyra chuckled. "Yup, that's you. Now I want to warn you ahead of time, you may see some creature you'll not expect. We may even see panserbjorne, you never know."

Mari nodded. "I expected we may see panserbjorne, but I wasn't sure."

"You shouldn't be scared of them though. Just tell them you are a friend of Lyra Silvertongue and they will leave you alone." She looked ahead to where the boat was approaching a dock. "Best get your bags, we'll be on land before too long."

"All right," Mari sighed as she turned away from the waters and walked towards the door that lead to the hallway.

"You can't be blue this whole trip," Lyra laughed. "You have to have some fun!"

"I will," Mari called over her shoulder. "I'll be learning, and for me there's nothing more fun than that."

"Welcome, to the north," Lyra said.

"Where are we staying professor?"

"Well, first off, now that we're not in a classroom you are all to call me Lyra. And, for tonight, we will be staying at that cabin there." She pointed to a small wooden cabin with lights on. It looked nice and cozy and warm. And Mari couldn't wait to sleep in a bed that didn't move throughout the night. Five other students had also come along to study with Lyra, but none of them knew about the project Mari had been working on for as long as she had been.

Mari nodded and began trekking through the snow towards the cabin, with Klitus skipping through the snow trying to keep the cold away from his paws. "We'll get you some boots so your paws won't freeze."

"That would be greatly appreciated."

"Not tonight though, I don't think there's a store that's open so late. We'll ask Lyra in the morning,"

"Good idea,"

Mari quickly put her bags in her room and went outside to think to herself. Klitus objected to going out, but she insisted on going, and he finally accepted the cold. "It's so beautiful here," She sighed.

"Yes, but it's too cold,"

She laughed at her daemons complaints. "We've never liked the cold, but this is the exact experience we need to get a job. You know that Kli,"

"Whatever, can you just hurry up before we freeze to death?"

"Fine, just five more minutes."

Three minutes went by peacefully without anyone coming out to talk with them. Mari picked up Klitus and tucked him in her coat so he would stop complaining. She thought she saw something that resembled a building in the sky, but decided she was just seeing things.

"Terrible having a daemon that isn't exactly small, isn't it?"

Mari turned around to see Paul walking towards her. She shrugged and held Klitus closer and a bit tighter. "I don't mind at all."

"Oh, yes I don't either. Lucky for me though, my daemon can sit on my shoulder."

Mari nodded. "I suppose,"

"So what are you doing out here?"

"Studying the Aurora. I want to get to work, as usual."

"Why not just relax?" He asked taking a step closer to her.

She stepped a bit backwards. "There's no time to relax. I have an obligation to learn as much as I can while I'm here. I won't let Lyra down. She's one of my best friends."

"A teacher for a friend?"

Mari nodded. "Yes, is that so strange?"

He looked at her for a moment then shook his head. "No, not really. Just a bit different,"

"Well I don't mind being different."

He looked at her for a moment, but she was the first to break the silence.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I am going inside to go to bed. We have a long trip and we'll have to leave early in the morning."

"Oh, yes of course. Goodnight,"

"Goodnight," She quickly made it inside and locked her door. "That was odd..."

"I still don't trust him,"

"I know you don't Kli. We'll get this figured out soon enough. Won't we?"

"I say no to him,"

"Kli, can we just try and figure out-"

"No. We should stay far away from him Marianne. You know we should! How can you want to be with someone like him?!"

Mari sighed and looked out the window. "I don't know..."

"You know our past. We haven't had our hearts broken yet, and if you fall for him all you'll get is heartache, you know that. We just have to wait for that guy, as the Alethiometer said."

"I know, I know!" She shouted.

"Shh!"

Mari wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. "Sorry."

"Don't apologize to me,"

"I should be. Here I am doing what I love; traveling and learning about the climates and cultures and all I can do is mope around. I can't choose between two guys, even though I know the obvious choice. Here I am moping when professor Silvertongue knows who she wants to be with. She knows his name, what he looks like, knows about him, and she knows he loves her. Why can't my life be that simple?"

"She may have all those things, but they can't live together. If she went to his world she would die and if he came to our world he would die. Remember those journals? Lyra may have love, but they can't be together."

"And they will be together. I promise." Mari said holding up her fist. "I swear I will find a way so they can be together but won't get sick."

"Mari, it's-"

"Do you dare say it's impossible!" She snapped.

"What way is there?!"

"I'll find a way," She muttered. "Lyra has done so much for us, this is the least we can do."

Klitus sighed, "I know when you talk like that there's no way of stopping you."

Mari sat on the bed and nodded. "You can try all you want Klitus, but you'll never be able to stop me."

He sat up and licked her face. "I won't try. As long as you get me a coat and boots to wear out in that bloody snow."

Mari chuckled and nodded. "We have a deal."

"Mari? May I come in a moment?"

She quickly wiped her face with the back of her hand, just in case there were any more tears and answered the door. "Yes Lyra?"

"Just coming to say to get to bed. We have to leave early in the morning."

"All right, thanks. Will we have time to stop somewhere and get boots and a coat for Klitus? He's rather cold here,"

Lyra laughed. "Yes, actually I brought some. I realized that I hadn't suggest everyone get coats and boots for their daemons. Rather stupid of me, seeing as how it's so cold here... anyways, if you follow me I'll get a coat and boots for Klitus,"

"Thank you so much Lyra,"

"It's the least I can do since you two are helping me so much,"