Three days later, Alex and his eldest apprentice walk through the town square, villagers rushing past them, looking for anything to help keep them warm. Ares, trying to keep his mind off the cold, asks, "Master, any news of the missing princess, has she returned yet?"

"No...her horse showed up without her yesterday, it looked like something had scared it off, not a good sign. Though earlier this morning the prince and his men brought back the queen, along with those two Hessian mercenaries, all three of them in chains.

Ares, finally concerned, asks, "Is she alright?!"

"She's fine, but I heard they're keeping her in the dungeons for treason."

"What!? She's the queen, they're the ones committing treason!"

"Prince Hans said she was a danger to the kingdom, and unfortunately anything he says goes, at least for now. Anyway, if the princess doesn't return soon I might send you and Bryn out to look for her."

Alex barely has time to finish his sentence as a young couple race by on a reindeer, the man holding the youthful, yet white-haired woman in his arms.

Ares nearly yells at the man, but sees his mentor hold up a hand. "Quiet, learn to observe the situation, don't interfere... Not yet at least."

The two look on as the rider gallops across the castle bridge, dismounts his steed, and walks up to the gate, all the while never letting go of the woman in his arms. Two watchmen hastily open the doors, as some servants rush out to take the girl off his hands. The male servant, the one who had introduced the princesses a few days prior, thanks the man, and walks back inside.

The gate shuts as quickly as it had been opened, and the young man eventually turns to walk back across the bridge, his head hanging low, seeming to regret ever setting the girl down.

"That woman must've been Princess Anna, brought in all quick and quiet like that, she looked weak, as if she had hypothermia or something."

"You're right. Okay, I'll go inside the castle to make sure she is safe, I'll try to find the queen as well, although don't count on it if she truly is being kept in the dungeons."

Pulling his hood over his eyes, he tosses his coin purse to Ares. "Here, buy some food for you and your brother, then tell Bryn about what's happened."

Ares watches as his mentor silently infiltrates the castle courtyard, climbing up and over the wall in the confusion of the princesses' arrival.

Alex walks into a nearby general goods store, glad to finally escape the cold. He walks across the small shop and sets a single loaf of bread on the counter.

The store clerk simply says, "Fifteen."

"Fifteen? For bread?"

"Fif-teen."

"Whatever, here."

He reluctantly pays the clerk and walks out of the store, tearing off a piece of bread for himself. He turns to see a young boy standing in the cold, eyeing his bread from across the square, Ares walks across to him and takes a knee, "Hey lad, you hungry?" The young boy doesn't say a word, but gives a slight nod. Ares tears the bread in two and hands the larger half to the boy, "There you go buddy". The young boy starts to mumble, "The bigger piece... uh, I mean, thank you mister!"

Ares watches as the boy happily runs off with bread-stuffed cheeks, and a new-found skip in his step.

Bryn walks along the docks, staring out at the immobile ships in the icy fjord. A gust of wind blows right through Bryn's cloak, exposing the symbol of the brotherhood on the underside of the thick fabric. "Fuck it's cold...", he says as he passes through a small alleyway, looking to find a warm inn where he can take a seat and rest.

Ah!

Bryn looks to the sound of a food cart crashing into the ice, exposing the frigid waters below. He sees a woman dangling on the side of the wharf, and gets to her just before she falls into the freezing cold water. She thanks him as he helps her up, but just as quickly points in the direction of the culprit. "He, he took my coin, and destroyed my stand!"

Bryn slips his hood over his head and tells the woman, "Stay here, I'll be right back."

"Hey! Get back here asshole!" Bryn runs through the square after the man, but soon realizes he'll lose the mugger if he doesn't get to higher ground, out of the snow. The assassin puts his skills to the test, and begins to scale a two-story building, being careful not to slip on frozen footholds. Bryn finally reaches the top, luckily some of the townspeople had been adaptive enough to shovel the snow off of their homes, and onto the ground below, providing an advantage for the assassin.

The mugger runs through snow-filled streets, fearing the sound of metal boots chasing after him, even though the hooded figure who had rescued his victim was nowhere to be found... The criminal runs through a small market, pushing people out of his way as shadows leap through the air on the ground in front of him. He heads into a dark alley and turns right only to find a snowed-in building, where he had originally planned to escape through if worst came to worst. And worse his situation became, as the hooded figure landed in front of him, trapping him in the alleyway.

Bryn stands up, now towering above the small man, and walks towards him, his hidden blade drawn, reflecting white in the snow. He raises his hand as if he plans to ram it through the thief's skull, at the last moment retracting his blade and delivering a punch to the thief's gaunt face, breaking his nose.

Bryn pulls down his hood and grabs the thief's neck, forcing the thief to look at him while putting the blade to his throat. "Remember my face, because if I ever hear about you causing trouble in this city again, it'll be the last thing you ever see." Bryn rips the stolen coin purse out of the thief's trembling hands, and throws him against the wall, knocking him out.

As he's walking back to the wharf, where he had told the woman to stay, he opens the coin purse... "Holy shit, there's over two hundred coin in here! I could just as easily pocket it, or maybe…" As he turns the corner he sees the woman sitting there, a crowd of people having gathered around the guards, who were trying to lift the food cart out of the water. He decides against it, and walks up to her and simply says, "Here you go ma'am."

She wraps her arms around him, tears falling, "Thank you so much, you're a good man!"

His own eyes start to water as he hands her the pouch, Glad someone sees some good in me...

"Don't mention it… but I have to go." He heads off to the castle courtyard, where he's supposed to meet his brother.

Ares shows up in the castle courtyard to find Bryn waiting for him, "Hey. How was your day?"

Bryn thinks to himself, Tell him, he'd be proud of you... "Oh nothing special, just been trying to keep warm all day."

Ares tosses Bryn the half loaf of bread, "Here, eat up."

Bryn catches it in his hands, the loaf still warm. "I'm more cold than hungry, but thanks."

He notices half of it is missing, and curiously asks, "Where's your half?"

Ares takes a few seconds to come up with a good excuse. "Uh, I ate it on the way here."

Bryn begins to laugh, "Horseshit, knowing you, you probably gave it away to some beggar." He tears what's left of the bread in half and tosses it back at his older brother, "Here, take it, I'm not that hungry anyway."

A grin forms on Ares' face, "Thanks… By the way, Alex went to go check on the princess up in the castle, I'll fill you in while he's gone."

Bryn's face lights up at his brother's words, "Princess Anna is back?"

"Yes, but something's happened, now come on, let's get out of the cold and find Alex, I'll tell you everything on the way."