In the distance I can see snow falling, it looks strange, nearby there is a dried up grass and dirt field and a mile or two away there is a huge blanket of snow covering the area. "There are animals in that blizzard, right?" Keaton asks. He is walking to my left again, no matter where I am.

"They will be scarce, but yes." The lead soldier answers.

"I'll grab a bite to eat before we start then." The Wolfskin shrugs.

"Surely it can wait? That blizzard may look bad now, but if we don't get there before nighttime…" He shudders.

Keaton growls, "Then I'll be sure to take a bite out of you when I get hungry."

But instead of cowering, the man straightens up and meets the Wolfskin with a glare of his own, "You can try."

Keaton ignores him and turns towards me, "Can I hunt?" He asks. "We went over what happens if you or I stay hungry too long."

"Estimated time of arrival?" I ask.

"Assuming no blockades, two hours." The lead soldier gestures towards the sky, it's already past midday?

"Five hours since breakfast and two hours in such a cold environment will be like another six on my body. Half a day would be pushing me."

"Kick him to the curb…" I hear a whisper from one of the soldiers, "...oof, what?"

I hear a low growl from Keaton while my own blood boils at the thought. "We could also take you to the side and give him a few minutes with you…"

"Apologies, Lady Yasei! I-I didn't mean…" I internally smirk at the soldier's sudden scent of fear. 'Kill, feast.'

"Big sister? You're kidding, right?" Elise is worried, "Oh wait, you didn't know what you just said, right?"

"I am completely aware of what I am saying." She gulps, "Come on Keaton, I'll help you out." He licks his lips and we set off opposite of the snow, he guides me to an area where he picks up a scent, as do I.

"They have some nerve…" He says, quietly enough as to not disturb the wildlife ahead.

"They don't understand what is like." I comment.

"They won't ever understand, this is why Wolfskin stick to the mountains, far away from these… meat bags!" He sighs.

"As long as my family isn't…" I glance at him.

"No! Not at all. I know I'm not talking much to her, but Elise is nice."

"Hold…" I say. "How does bear sound?" Up ahead there is a large bear scouring the area, he sticks his nose in a bush and chews on something, berries?

"Bear lasts a while." His stomach grumbles and mine responds with its own growl. "you should eat, too. I would be more worried if you lost control."

"You think I'm stronger than you?"

"In raw strength? I don't think so, but you can attack at range… and Beast Killers are much more common than a Wyrmslayer." There is a smell of pride coming from him, he is praising me! 'Take, claim .' Gods, it is so warm again.

"Talking won't kill this bear." He flashes his teeth and shifts, gaining the bear's attention, its face is partially soaked in berry juice. I shift and send a jet stream its way, my aim is off, I need more practice, it skims the bear's right hind leg, only slightly tearing into it. It charges towards me, Keaton winds up to slam its head into the ground, but the bear shifts and slams into him instead. It is enough to stagger the Wolfskin and the bear follows with a swipe, Keaton stumbles out of the way and loses his balance.

I close the distance and rear my head, slamming several of my horns into the bear's side. I follow up by slamming my tail into it, there is enough force to cause the bear to get lifted off the ground for a second before skidding across the ground. Keaton has recovered and slams a fist into the spot where I slashed it, he crushes the bear's ribs and the bear stops squirming immediately. "Sweet!" Keaton shifts back and I follow suit. "Time to eat!" He rips into the bear, the larger body causing more of the liquid life-force to splash around.

I take my own bite next, the taste of it all has just become so addicting. I don't care if I look like a bloodstained savage by the end of it, the pure joy of eating it is so worth it! When we both have had our share I ask, "Care to tell me what this heat is now?"

"Already? You just had it a two nights ago."

"And what is it?" I press.

"Not right now…" He looks away as he takes another bite.

I groan, "Why not? Is it a bad thing? Good? Can I at least know that much? And why are you being so evasive about it?!" Frustration comes up again.

"I'll tell you when we're finished with this Ice Tribe business and are out of that frozen hell, all right?"

"You promise?"

"I promise." The frustration leaves and I feel a little better. "Let's go, then." He offers and we both leave.

I try to clean off as much of the blood as I can and I hope I don't look like a blood-crazed beast when we return. It seems as if everyone has just finished their own meals when we walk up. Elise lets out another 'ewwww' when she sees us, and one soldier even chokes on some air. "We're ready." I say.

We cross the boundary and enter the snow-ridden land. Elise has taken to cleaning off the remaining blood with a disgusted look on her face. Several blood-stained cloth pieces are dropped in the snow. "There… both of you are clean." I mutter a thank you and Keaton shrugs.

I notice most of the soldiers are shivering, some even began coughing and we're only about an hour in. Gods, some of them are going to die out here. Elise, Effie, Arthur and I are fine, being royalty or retainers grants us the luxury of enchanted clothes and armor. My own armor feels like it is pulsing heat through me, even some of the snow that I step on melts. Thankfully my bare feet are included in the heat enchanted.

Actually, now that I look at it, the lead soldier and the one beside him are also doing just fine… 'I will ask Xander about them when I return.'

Keaton isn't so lucky, the Wolfskin has an advantage over the soldiers with his fur, but he is still shivering if only slightly less. "Hey, Keaton." He looks my way, "Come over here."

"N-need something, Yasei?"

"Get closer… I can share some of this heat enchant with you." I offer and extend an arm.

"I thought being that close was reserved for couples?"

"There are exceptions, like when you could die of hypothermia. Now get over here." He nods and leans on me. I wrap my right arm around him and pull him closer. He lets out a very satisfied growl that sends extra warmth through me.

"Have I ever told you that you smell nice?" He suddenly asks.

"I don't think so?"

"You smell nice." He says.

"Your scent is very pleasant, too." I reply with a blush on my cheeks. "I also like your fur, it's so soft… Your tail is wagging!"

"What? No, I am just trying to keep it warm…"

It has gotten worse, we have to leave several men behind, they were starting to drag too much and we couldn't afford to wait up. The blizzard seems to have grown in intensity. "The only positive is that the stronger the blizzard is the closer we are." The lead soldier says while casually walking beside his partner.

Elise has opted to get off her horse for a pair of soldiers to ride it, much to her horse's ire, another soldier in the hugging position with her. Arthur strangely has no hugging partner, Effie says as heroic as he is, he has a terrible case of bad luck. I feel bad for the guy. The two remaining soldiers are sharing the weight of the crate and one of the soldiers has to wipe the snow off the top every few minutes.

"Hey! I see lights!" Elise cheers.

"Thank the gods…" I sigh in relief, though I sense Keaton isn't sharing the same feelings, "What's wrong?"

"Much colder than I thought… I should have brought some of that bear with me." 'Uh oh.' "This Ice Tribe better have some food prepared." His eyes seem distant and they have a more feral appearance. "Or this 'suppression' will turn out bloodier than you would want."

"They'll listen, once I relay Father's orders they should stand down." I hope.

"If they want to rebel, it's going to take more than a few words to stay their hands." He points out.

Suddenly the blizzard dies down and a man approaches us. The change in temperature is drastic enough that my armor feels hot for a few seconds before the heat enchant shuts off. Keaton pulls off to me and stands to the side. "You are quite bold to set foot into my village, Nohrian Princesses." The man has just a long sleeved shirt and a pair of pants for actual clothing, a helmet covering the edges of his face and a halo-like piece of metal rising from behind his head. Grey and black were his colors of choice. "Has 'King' Garon ordered you to slaughter my people?"

I shake my head, "No, I just came to ask you to stand down, so…"

"Ask?" He laughs, "Ask !? Nohrians don't ask, foolish girl. Nohrians bring their arms and command others." He sneers, "The Ice Tribe will no longer bow to that tyrant dastard." Off in the distance I see a large number of troops gathering. "So give your 'King' that message, he will order us no longer. Do that, and I let you leave unharmed and without a blizzard dogging your every step." He glances over at the soldiers who were still shaking.

"Big Sister?" Elise asks.

"Please, just hear me out sir…" I try again.

"Yasei, all you need is one sniff to know he would sooner die than yield." Keaton comments.

He is right, I can just tell by the scent, "I know, but I was hoping…" I unsheathe Yato. "I will give you one chance, chief. Back down."

"Yato…" He breathes then shakes his head, "No." He retreats into the village. "Flora! Ready the defenders."

My heart drops… "Flora?" No, she is supposed to be back in the Northern Fortress, why is she here?

"My spear is yours, Lady Yasei." Effie says.

"Lady Yasei, my men and I are half-frozen, and this would be going against our orders, but command us to fight and we shall." Yet there is not a tinge of regret in his voice. In fact, I think I am even sensing excitement from him.

I shake my head, "Chief! Let these six foot soldiers leave."

He stops and considers, "No. We are past the point of bargains and mercy 'princess'." He resumes walking.

A blizzard begins to form behind us. "All six of you, stick together and watch each others' backs. We're going in."

"Yes, Lady Yasei! Men, to me!"

Keaton licks his lips as he looks the village over. 'Meat . ' No, I can wait. Animal meat is one thing… human is a whole different thing. They will be routed back, surrender, we will eat then leave… this has to happen. "Let's move out!" We charge.

I chose to wield Yato instead of shifting, the dragon protests but I need to use my sword more. Keaton has already shifted and I can instantly tell the difference in his fighting style. I thought he was always swinging his fists to the best of his ability before, Gods was I wrong for thinking that. It seems like whoever stood against him might as well have been wearing tin foil, armor is crunched, bones are shattered, blood flies several feet away from the remains, and organs are launched. 'Kill, rend!' The peaceful option is obviously out of the question.

"Lady Yasei! Thank the gods I finally found you." He pauses, "My word, I almost didn't recognize you. My memory must be failing me…"

Huh? That voice. "Jakob?" I turn to indeed see my Butler… and two new faces.

"I see we're late… a shame that so much pain has been missed." Darker skin, white hair to around his ears and an eye patch over his right eye, he is twirling an arrow in one hand and wielding his bow in the other. "It seems I'll have to make up for the lost contact." He turns his gaze my way, "Ah, Lady Yasei. Niles, Lord Leo's retainer." He bows, "Who shall I deliver a pleasurable amount of pain to first?"

"The darkness around me will kneel and heed my call! Fear not Lady Yasei, for Odin Dark lends his…" He pauses as he stretches out his right arm and his hand start shaking, "AH! My sword hand… it is trembling with untold power!" A red string adorned with a small jewel wraps around his forehead, short spiky hair. "Could this be my hidden potential? See my form and tremble! Odin Dark will bring your lives to a halt!"

I am speechless. "He was like that nearly the entire way here, Lady Yasei." Jakob camly states, "Even the blizzard wouldn't freeze his mouth shut, I am actually quite impressed. Now! It seems you have need of me, just tell me where to go." More Ice Tribe troops show up.

"We'll hold together for now, make our way across the lake." Am I the only one who can actually see Flora right now?

"We're saving the northern troops from punishment?" Niles asks.

I grimace, "Oh, they are being taken care of, and I would suggest not looking in that direction." From the heavy scent of blood, I can tell Keaton is making short work of them. 'Claw, blood, feast!' The dragon starts to protest more, it is actually starting to get hard not to just toss Yato aside and shift.

"As you command, Lady Yasei." We slowly manage to push the troops back across the lake, one by one they drop. Niles proves to be a superb shot, and for all of his theatrics, Odin is a excellent mage. I don't know where he gets his 'sword' hand from, though.

I am about to lunge at an axe-wielder when my feet lock into place. 'Flora!' Sure enough, she manages to weave her way around and is looking right at me. "I apologize, Lady Yasei, but I can't let King Garon destroy my home."

"Flora! You would dare go against your oath as Lady Corrin's retainer?" A dagger speeds through the air and expertly knocks the Freeze staff out of Flora's hand. Jakob is by my side. An arrow whistles past him and strikes the axe wielder down.

She chooses not to respond to the Butler and instead pulls out a hidden dagger and throws it my way. The ice has crept up on its own and my arms refuse to budge. I focus on the roaring. The dagger bounces off of my left wing and the ice around me shatters. I roar my challenge. I hear Keaton match it with his own howl. 'Death, ravage.'

"L-Lady Yasei?" Jakob is over his surprise nearly the second it comes. "Well, you have clearly… changed since I last saw you."

A growl is my response and I charge Flora. The maid stands perfectly still before nimbly dodging my right hand, she pulls out another dagger and slashes at my left arm's scales. It barely leaves a scratch, but daggers and shurikens aren't designed to be lethal, I keep my senses open in case an archer or mage appears. My feet are frozen over again, another Maid has picked up the Freeze staff Flora had before dodging both a dagger from Jakob and an arrow from Niles. Jakob ceased throwing daggers, he must be on his last one. The other maid notices the change and sends a dagger at him. The dagger lands true and lodges itself in his left calf, his Butler's garb given him much less protection than my scales. Another dagger, this one from Flora and she manages to cut the string on Nile's bow.

' ... Damn . ' An archer is no good without a bow. I was about to give him the order of falling back to be covered before remembering I still can't speak in this form. Thankfully he knew better than to continue engaging and took a spot by the two remaining troops. Thinking about those last two troops, they are holding their own just fine, the lead is using his bow while the other uses a lance.

Flora is blown back a few inches when she gets slammed with a fireball from Odin. "Tremble before my might!" He launches another and she dodges it, it instead hits an ice pillar, causing it to fall and crush an unfortunate sword-wielder.

"For Justice!" An axe sails by me, completely missing Flora, but thrown with enough strength that it somehow bounces of a building and lodging itself into the head of another soldier. If I were not in a situation of life and death, I would find it hilarious. The other maid sends her third dagger at Arthur, who trips on a mound of snow and it sails past him. I chuckle but it turns out as a higher pitch growl.

The ice encasing me is incredibly stubborn and shifting now would not help since I would be trapped inside. Again I want to yell, tell Odin to throw some fire my way, but I can't, and the mage is focusing on keeping his immediate allies alive to get me out.

Then the ice breaks… no, shatters into extremely small shards, I turn my head to see a blood-drenched Keaton. He only has a few spots on his fur that is actually devoid of the life fluid. The primal fury from earlier is gone, my stomach turns at the thought of him biting into some of the troops. 'Meat . ' The heavy scent of blood off of him invigorates me. Keaton slams the ground hard enough to cause both Maids to stumble.

"At least give me a challenge!" Effie shouts as she takes the other Maid out before effortlessly blocking two axes.

The fighting is starting to die down in our favor. Jakob is back out on the field with the help of Elise. Flora makes her way towards me, she throws her dagger before pulling out one that seems to be making its own mini-blizzard. Keaton slaps the sailing dagger away. "Back off!" He growls. I bide my time and repeat our tactic with the crazed William. A jet of stream exits my mouth, Flora nimbly dodges it and Keaton strikes, only for her to stretch out her arm and bounce off his fist, she lands a strike across his arm and lands on the other side, ice forms on the wound and breaks immediately afterwards and the shards tear into other parts of his arm. He roars but does not charge out of anger.

Effie is readying a strike behind Flora when she suddenly gets knocked back by a magical blast. The chief shows himself. "My darkness will consume yours!" Odin proclaims as another fireball leaves his hands. The chief raises his tome and a small barrier forms, the fireball harmlessly explodes on it. We're short on ranged attackers, then a dagger sails by me, it came from Jakob. I glance over and notice he still has his, he must have picked up a stray one.

"The business for punishment has re-opened…" An arrow lodges itself into the chief's side. Niles appears from behind a house before sliding back behind it. The chief grunts in pain and Flora deftly cuts the shaft off with the… heel of her boot? She must have more hidden daggers.

"Come get some!" A javelin soars through the air and the two remaining Ice Tribe units dodge it, only for Flora to get blindsided by a fireball from Odin.

"It's team-up time!" A slightly blood-stained axe flies through the air, the chief dodges, however, this time the axe just lodges itself in the snow.

The two bide their time, right now the chief, Niles, and I are the only ones with a ranged advantage, and unlike me, Niles can't take a hit from that powerful tome the chief is carrying. I charge and Keaton follows, Flora moves to strike but I shift back and slice into her side, the cut is deep and she keels over immediately. "Please stand down, Flora." I whisper. She does not respond and tries to stand. I feel an incredible power slam into me, the chief caught me off guard. I should not have tried to get her to back down. Keaton roars and brings a fist down on him, his magical barrier stops most of it, but the Wolfskin manages to overpower it and slams into his gut. The chief drops his tome and jumps back… then pulls out a dark tome.

"Nosferatu…" he whispers and Effie screams. The man now seems like he just entered the battle, rather than fighting for several minutes. I got up and charged, an arrow whistles past me, accompanied by a fireball on my other side. Keaton shakes the ground and I bring my sword to him. "Gah…" the fireball only grazed his left shoulder, the arrow pins his tome arm to the building beside him, and I ran him through with my sword. "Gods..." He gasps. "How dare you… use the sacred Yato, to murder…" I remove the sword and he drops, arm still pinned to the building.

"Father!" Flora chokes out. 'That was her father?' "No…" She's back up and wielding her dagger, other hand clutching the gash in her side.

"Flora, I'll ask one more time, stand down." Tears left her eyes, which turns to icicles as soon as they drop off. "Flora…" the ice dagger trembles in her grasp. Niles's bow is taught, a fireball dances in Odin's hand, Jakob has a discarded dagger on hand, Effie is wearily handling a javelin. "Please…" My own sword points towards her, Keaton looms near her. She drops her dagger. "Thank you." She lowers her head. "Get her wounds treated."

"No…" The defeated Maid says. "Leave me be."

"F-Flora? I'm not going to let you bleed out. What will Felicia think?" I realize the error of that question the second it leaves my mouth.

"Everyone else is DEAD. What do you think will happen?" She is shaking, "All you had to do was leave, but you pushed us. I-..."

"That is the price of treason, Flora, you should have known better." Jakob says. "There are no second chances." 'Was he always that harsh?'

The Maid looks at Jakob, then me, then at all the weapons still trained on her. "Just… leave me be." She got up and limps towards her father. "It's not like it matters anymore anyway." She plucks the arrow out and curls up beside him, blood still pouring out.

Gods, I never felt so bad in my life. And Father said suppress, not murder them all. 'They forced my hand . ' I try to tell myself. 'Jakob is right, they committed treason.' I pull myself from my thoughts and turn towards the rest, "Scrounge up what food you all can find and get a bed, we'll head out tomorrow." Without a blizzard surrounding us, it actually does not feel too bad, a little nippy yes, but not that cold. I head towards the frozen lake and sit on the snow away from everyone else.

I need some time alone.