The dancing colors of the flames glowed off the girl's bright hair, reminding Cinder of an early sunset. For the first time since their meeting, she pulled back her hood and let the crimson locks cascade wildly around her face. Rosy heat lit her cheeks and nose as she dove into the food Kai had laid out; meat buns from his homeland he smoked by the fire. Cinder wondered if the girl could breathe between the handfuls she shoveled into her mouth.

Kai shot Cinder a hesitant glance – good, at least he was acknowledging her – when the girl polished off another three meat buns. "Here," Kai offered, holding out his own warm dumpling to the girl.

Narrowing her eyes in suspicion, the girl flickered her gaze to the food his outstretched hand and then back to his eyes. Weighing her hunger with her distrust of them, Cinder imagined. Hunger won out in the end. Snatching the bun with fingers meant for mischief, the girl mumbled a half-hearted thanks before stuffing her face into the bun. At least Cinder thought that's what she said. It was difficult to tell underneath the girl's loud chewing.

Tearing her own soft bun in two, Cinder handed a piece toward the now meal-less Kai. After a pause, he accepted, though averted his gaze from hers when he did. Once they had cleared enough distance from their attackers – and Nainsi gave a long lecture about her ingratitude at being chased — Kai had gone into an irritated silence that he only broke to tell them they should make camp and regroup. His deliberate attempts to avoid Cinder's eyes, even the accidental brush of their hands, made it clear she was the cause of his disdain.

Since their setting up of camp, the only words spoken amongst the three of them was when Kai assisted in wrapping the girl's wounded leg. She let out a string of curse words free, some that Cinder's sheltered palace life had prevented her from ever hearing before. Then again, the few curses she did know all came from Prince Thorne whose vocabulary was closer to a soldier's than a royal's.

Running her fingers through the fur on her dress's hem, Cinder tried to hide her discomfort at the lack of speaking. Every so often her eyes found Kai, from curiosity or habit she didn't know, but he never returned her stare. An apology for all the things she'd kept secret from him burned in her throat – if only she had the chance to set it free. Until then, her mouth remained wired shut.

Kai must've been as bothered by the soundless tension as she was. "So . . . who are you?" he asked the girl, careful to make his tone purely conversational.

She refused to look up from her food, but swallowed to make herself understandable. "Scarlet Benoit. Greenland native, big game hunter, and certified despiser of all things from the moon." She smiled, a devious grin made challenging by a chip in her front tooth.

Kai cleared his throat, "I'm Kai." He held out his hand to shake and Cinder decided not to think about how he had said the exact words to her not a day before. She decided not to think about how he intentionally left out his last name in his introductions. No, she wouldn't think about it at all.

Scarlet took his hand only partially interested, her attention still focused on sucking the crumbs off her fingers. Cinder tried not to gawk. When was the last time she ate?

Kai's attention flickered to Cinder – reluctantly, she could tell – and motioned for her to follow his lead. Their gazes locked for a moment before Kai turned away as quickly as they met. Somehow that one gesture hurt more than the ice shards slicing into her heart as it slowly froze over.

"I'm Cinder—" She began, only to be cut off by Scarlet's raised hand.

"I know who you are, Princess Cinder Linh of Iceland." Cinder couldn't help but notice an edge to the older girl's stare she addressed her. "If you recall, you are engaged to our prince – everyone in Greenland knows who you are."

A sharp breath broke from Kai with a white puff from the chilled air. Cinder saw it more than she heard it. "You're engaged too? Anything else you forgot to mention about yourself?"

Cinder's cheeks turned as bright as Scarlet's hair. She didn't see why her unwanted engagement had anything to do with this. "Would you really have let me come along with you if you knew I was the princess?"

Kai opened his mouth to answer but Scarlet beat him to it. "Why would you want to leave in the first place?"

A lump stuck in Cinder's throat, sucking all the excuses out of her. How could she convey her distress at the loss of her parents, the dangers of the Ice Queen approaching, and her slowly freezing heart? She couldn't even mull through most of the feelings herself. Dreading the thought – and the prospect – but having no alternative, Cinder knew her only option was to lie.

Princesses must never lie, her father once scolded her after she blamed a broken vase on an infant Winter. The words reprimanded her every time she even thought of lying. And still, her mother's words on lying were burned much brighter at the same time. Keep as close to the truth as possible so your trickery cannot be discovered.

"I need to find the Mirror of Reason."

Kai dropped the last bits of his bun into the snow looking at Cinder as if she told him his hair had started turning purple. His Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed a large gulp of air she knew he didn't need. Scarlet appeared less taken aback, but equally as curious. "The legendary lake at the end of the world? Supposed to be at the top of the world past the frozen sea? It's a fairy tale."

"No it isn't," Kai said quietly. His eyes had removed from both his companions and found themselves lost in the embers of the fire. "I know it exists. There are ancient legends about people who've gone there and returned, accounts of what they've seen even. I . . . knew someone who went there."

He had successfully grabbed both girls' attention. "You know someone who's seen the Mirror of Reason?" Scarlet gapped.

Pain twisted Kai's face for a fleeting moment. "No. I said I knew someone who'd been there. I'm not even sure if he actually saw the Mirror of Reason at all, but he wanted to. He crossed Heaven and Earth to find it in the hopes of granting his wish."

"What did he wish for?" Cinder asked lightly.

Kai turned to look straight at her, a hollowness taking over his pupils. "He wanted to bring his wife back from the dead."

Scarlet shook herself to warm a shiver. "I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure that's one wish you can't asked for."

"No," Kai agreed, an anguished smile on his lips. "No you can't. I'm pretty sure that's why he never returned."

"Was he your father?"

Scarlet and Kai's heads whipped around to face Cinder, still fondling the fur on her clothing. The guess was meant to be a harmless inquiry; she never expected it to be correct.

"How did you know?" Kai stared at her, bewildered while she could do little more than shrug. Winter always said she was good at sensing a person's feelings no matter how deeply hidden they were.

With a deep breath, Kai finally continued. "Yes, he was my father. My mother died of disease when I was very young and my father never recovered. He searched for any means to save her, even legends and wives' tales, and when he heard of the Mirror of Reason he never let it go. He abandoned me and everything else to hunt for it. The chaos he left in his wake . . ."

"Chaos?" Scarlet snorted. "Don't be so dramatic."

Cinder shot her a scolding look she had mastered after the numerous times she caught Winter stealing food from the kitchen before supper. It worked better than she expected; Scarlet murmured an apology before biting her lip firmly shut.

Kai didn't even address her statement. "In any case, the lake is real and there is a way to find it, if you have a map and a compass."

The odd comment caught Cinder off guard, "Why do you need a compass?"

"There's a special way to the mountains surrounding the Mirror of Reason," Kai explained. "A way that avoids crossing the frozen sea. You need a compass to use it, however."

Scarlet let out one of her frequent curses. "Of course, the one time I'm missing mine–"

"I have one," Cinder fished the one she bought at the trading post at the beginning of her journey. Had it really only been the day before? The cold of the metal bled through her gloves as she handed it over to Kai. He only managed to hold it for a mere second before Scarlet's eyes widened and her alarming reflexes startled Cinder once again.

Leaping across the fire without being singed, she nearly tackled Kai to the ground. If Cinder hadn't heaved him out of Scarlet's path at just the right moment, Scarlet would have landed on top of him. She scrounged the compass from the snow and held it in her grasp, running her finger tips over the scratched cover in a circular pattern.

Her eyes flashed to Cinder. "Where did you get this?"

"I bought it at a trading post in town–"

"Gilles," Scarlet hissed to herself. "That pig-headed tub of lard. I will kill him."

Cinder blinked, sparring a glance at Kai for support who seemed even more baffled. "He said it belonged to an employee of his. I'm sorry, I didn't realize it wasn't for sale."

"Don't worry, I don't blame you," she said, though her tone made Cinder think she meant exactly the opposite. "I'm just glad it's back in my possession where it belongs."

A pang of anger drove Cinder to speak out of turn. "Now wait a minute! Kai just told you I need that to get to the Mirror of Reason. You can't just take it!"

"Of course I can," she grinned. "As long as I come with you."

"You'll help?" Kai asked on Cinder's behalf.

"I figure I owe you after you may have saved my life back there," Cinder must have looked like she wanted to verify that they had, in fact, saved her life because Scarlet immediately narrowed her eyes. "Which, I am not going to admit that you did. Besides, I doubt that those moon soldiers are going to give up just after a couple of bullets."

"Why were they after you?" Kai added, concern hiking up the end of his question.

"The Snow Queen wants me dead," Cinder replied, knowing this statement wasn't a lie.

"Then it's settled." Scarlet stood from her spot and brushed off any lingering snowflakes. "We'll all head to Portland."

Cinder paused, giving Kai a chance to help her to her feet. She didn't need assistance – she was just glad he was willing to touch her again. "What does Portland have to do with anything?"

Scarlet pointed into the distance where the faint signs of civilization stood out against the white snow. She could hear Scarlet say something about being able to reach it by evening, but Cinder had already tuned her out. A city past the Northern Peaks – the one that had no name in the legends – their next destination on the way to the Mirror of Reason. The City of Wealth.

A hand brushed along her shoulder and Cinder turned toward its owner. Kai gently held her in place as Scarlet pressed onward, shoving the little belongings they took out back into Nainsi without caring where they landed. Cinder had thought Scarlet would be as awestruck as she was at the talking sleigh with holographic technology, but the older girl barely batted an eyelash. The technological world outside Iceland must have been vast indeed.

"Cinder," he breathed, then stopped realizing what he called her. "I mean–"

"Don't. Please don't," she pleaded. Before she realized it she had grabbed his arm and held it tightly in her hands. "Please don't call me Princess."

His eyes widened and she could tell how much his tongue longed to use her proper title. Finally, he gave in, flashing a small smile that heated Cinder from head to foot. "Alright then, Cinder. I just want to make sure you know what you're getting into."

Honestly, Cinder hadn't the slightest idea what awaited them at the lake. They could end up lost like some of the many others who searched for the Mirror of Reason's power. They could find themselves in the same position as Kai's father. They could even be killed by the moon soldiers before they ever made it.

But Cinder and her freezing heart didn't have any other options.

"I do," she said confidently. "Are you?"

The question was genuine – what boy in his right mind would follow a girl he barely knew to the ends of the earth with crazed, deadly soldiers on their tail? However, Kai only laughed, a comforting sound like the crackle of a warm hearth.

"Yes. I'm sure."

Long time no see :)

As I said on my profile, I will try to update at least once a month (two times in February since this one is for January) but I can only write on weekends. I'll try to update my progress on my profile so you guys can get a heads up on when updates are coming.

This chapter also concludes BOOK TWO! I'll post the quote for BOOK THREE in a few days, but it won't count as an update (I'm not that cruel)

Thank you all for your patience with me!

geekofthe21stcentury: Oh my gosh, thank you! I get all bubbly when people tell me they like my writing. And if you liked that Cresswell chapter, you are going to love what happens later :)

BookAddict510: I read your review 6 or 7 times cause it just made me so happy :) You are such a sweet person and I cannot thank you enough! About my age . . . I'm 16. And my education was pretty average. But I'm glad you think I sound experienced :) By the way, do you mind if I asked what blog that was so I can thank that lovely person who thought my story was good enough to mention? I had no idea and I'm just so honored and flabbergasted and trying not to giggle too much while I type this. Yes, Cinder was purposefully ignorant of all technology. I thought it would be interesting given her strong connection to it in the Lunar Chronicles. Thank you, thank you, thank you, again!

Lunartic510: You will get one! I've decided to rewrite it and add it later on :) Thank you for your review!

012001037: Thank you so much! And I definitely will! Promise!

Guest: No I appreciate advice! Seriously, I need it most of the time. I think I understand what you're trying to say and I tried adding it with this chapter (if I didn't, feel free to let me know or give me more advice. I really do appreciate it). Thank you very much!

LunarLover: Aww, thank you :) I'm glad you like it so much! My greatest thanks!

Thanks to everyone reading, reviewing, favoriting, following and or just enjoying my story :)