"Rise and shine, it's time to get up."

Pale blearily cracked both eyes open, a small yawn escaping her. She'd fallen asleep plenty of times in this body, and she still wasn't used to the sensation of waking up yet. Back in her true form, the closest thing she had to falling asleep was temporarily powering down her conscious mind, and she only ever did it if she needed to pass the time between missions. That stretch of time between being nearly destroyed by the Caatex and arriving on this planet had been the single longest time she'd ever put herself into hibernation, and she doubted anything would match it save for her eventual return trip.

That wasn't the case with this physical human body, however – despite the artificial nature of its creation and her mind, the body still had physical needs to tend to, sleep included, unfortunate as it was.

"I thought sleeping was supposed to be restful…" Pale muttered as she sat up in bed and stretched her arms out, letting out a small grunt as she felt several of her joints pop. "So why is it that every time I wake up, I feel terrible?"

"Good question," Evie replied with a smirk. "I've got some morning dew left, you know. You can have some – believe me, it will help, despite being cold."

Pale shook her head. "I would prefer not to use stimulants."

"I don't know what that means, but suit yourself. Kayla, you up for any of this?"

"I'm alright, thank you," Kayla said softly as she rose from her seat and stretched, a content sigh escaping her as her body adjusted to being upright. She peered past Evie to look out the window, frowning as she did so. "Looks like the snow has started."

Pale turned to look for herself. Sure enough, the entire town was now coated under a thick layer of white. From where she was looking, it appeared to be several inches thick already, and more just kept coming down with every passing moment. She frowned at the sight of it, knowing that they were stuck here until the blizzard subsided. When that would be, she had no way of knowing.

"Well, guess we know what we're doing today, then," Evie surmised.

"What would that be?" Pale asked.

"Nothing at all, that's what." Evie flopped back down onto her bed, interlocking her fingers behind her head as she stared up at the wood ceiling above. "Can't go anywhere with this kind of weather, and can't really do much of anything, either. So we're stuck here until the snow lets up."

"How long will that be, do you think?"

"Hard to say. My guess is that we're not going anywhere for at least a few days, possibly a week if we're really unlucky."

"And what's our time frame for making it to the Luminarium?"

Evie grunted. "Believe me, we'll get you there in time. Count on it. Until then… nighty night."

With that, she closed her eyes and attempted to fall asleep, only for Kayla to roll her eyes and shake her awake.

"Oh, no you don't," Kayla said. "We're not just going to sleep the day away. At the very least, we need to get something to eat first."

"Alright, I'm up," Evie acknowledged, rising to a seated position on the bed. "How about you, Pale? Got any ideas for ways to pass the time?"

Pale just shrugged. Truthfully, she was at a loss. Normally, this would have been an excellent time to go dormant for a bit, but she wasn't about to do that and leave Evie and Kayla by themselves, especially not when a murderer was still walking around town.

"Well, that's fine," Evie said. "Good thing I've got something in mind for us to do."

"Let me guess," Kayla began, "it involves drinking?"

"Just ale, and you can't really call something that soft a drink… well, unless you're you two."

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Evie just flashed her a grin in response, then jumped out of bed. "Come on, let's get something to eat. I'm starving."

Neither Pale nor Kayla argued, and instead followed her down to the first floor.

XXX

A short while later, and they were once again without anything to do. Breakfast had gone off without incident, though given that Evie was already on her third mug of ale, Pale doubted things would continue to be this calm for very long. That was hardly a concern for her, though – she was more wary of the prospect of a killer wandering around town than anything. Most of her time eating breakfast had been spent in silence as she ruminated over the possible identity of the killer. Try as she might, though, there just wasn't enough to go on – nothing led to any kind of conclusion for any of the few pieces of evidence they had, and in fact, if anything, it all just led to more questions she couldn't answer yet.

A frustrated sigh escaped her, one which didn't go unnoticed by Kayla.

"Copper for your thoughts?" Kayla offered, her wolf ears perking up as Pale turned to look at her.

"It's nothing," Pale answered. "Just trying to piece together what happened last night. I'm sure Evie's already filled you in."

Kayla nodded. "She did. And here I was, hoping for a simple trip to the Luminarium after all we've been through together… apparently, that was too much to ask for." She sighed, then shook her head. "The world's getting pretty scary these days, and I have no idea what to make of it."

Pale said nothing, instead turning to watch Evie, who had just finished off her third mug of alcohol and was about to order a fourth when the door to the tavern suddenly came swinging open. Pale watched as a man dressed in winter clothes trudged into the building, shivering the entire time, patches of snow and ice falling off his shoulders onto the ground below.

"Oi!" the tavern owner called. "The least you could do is not track all the snow and mud into my tavern!"

"S-sorry…" the man managed to get out through chattering teeth. "I just… I'm looking for someone? White hair, blue eyes, wears a-"

He turned towards Pale, his eyes widening in surprise when he saw her. Pale stared back at him, one hand drifting towards her holstered pistol as he approached, the remainder of the snow gathered on his shoulders and back falling onto the floor as he walked towards her, uncaring of how the proprietor shouted after him once more. He stopped a short ways away from Pale, bending over to rest his palms on her table.

Then, to her surprise, he stared at her with tear-filled eyes, and began to speak.

"Please," he managed to croak out. "I need your help."

Pale was taken aback. She looked over to Kayla, completely unsure of what to say. Kayla, unfortunately, seemed just as lost as she was, though she managed to gather her faculties quickly enough to clear her throat and address the man.

"I'm afraid you have us at a loss," Kayla offered. "Who are you, and how can we help?"

"My name's Adam," he managed to get out through the lump in his throat. "My daughter, May, was the one murdered last night."

That got Pale's attention. She immediately leaned forward, her hand leaving the grip of her pistol as she listened to Adam speak. She motioned for him to continue, and he took a moment to collect himself before continuing.

"...May was all I had left," he said quietly. "Her mother died giving birth to her. For years, it was just the two of us… and now she's gone. I want to make sure her killer is caught and brought to justice."

Kayla hesitated. "I'm sure the town guard is doing all it can-"

"That's why I'm here. Knight-Captain Allen, he came to see me – said you wanted to cut up my daughter's body, because it might give you information?"

Pale blinked, then slowly nodded. "Yes. It's called performing an autopsy – I wouldn't exactly cut her up into pieces, but I would need to open her up in order to examine her insides in-depth and determine what her exact cause of death was, among other things."

"And you think that would help catch the person who did this?"

"It wouldn't hurt, but there's also no guarantee that it would lead to anything, either," Pale explained. "I'll be completely honest with you – at this point, your daughter's body is likely being prepared for either burial or cremation. It's almost certainly been exposed to the elements during that time, and hasn't been taken care of properly. While this doesn't make performing an autopsy impossible, it does complicate things somewhat. Depending on how her body has been treated, it could render the entire procedure pointless."

"If I may?" Evie interjected. "My guess is, the mortician isn't working right now due to the weather. The cold will likely have kept your daughter – may she rest in peace – in relatively good condition, enough that it would be worth doing… whatever Pale wants to do." Evie gave a small shudder.

"So… it wouldn't be completely useless?" Adam asked, hope creeping into his tone.

Pale shook her head. "We have no way of knowing until we try it. But I thought it worthwhile to temper expectations before diving into things. Like I said, there's no guarantee of this leading to anything in the long-run."

"But it could," Adam pointed out. "And in that case… I want you to do it."

Pale blinked, taken aback by his declaration. "...You're sure? You understand what I am saying this procedure entails, yes? It is very invasive. If that makes you uncomfortable-"

Adam shook his head. "When her mother died, we burned her," he said softly. "I think May would have wanted the same thing, ultimately. If you have to cut her up to try and learn something… please, do it."

Pale exchanged a glance with Evie and Kayla. Both of them seemed uncertain about it, which earned a soft exhale from her. She thought about it for a few seconds, but then turned towards Adam and nodded.

"Take us to her," Pale said.