“Hey! It’s the muscle girl!”

Yuriko blinked in confusion as she joined Stormwalker Century’s formation. The legionnaires near her turned to look, grinning and chortling. Yuriko felt herself redden as she looked at the man who blurted that out.

The legionnaire, a Decanus from the sigils on his uniform, raised his hands placatingly.

“I beg your pardon, but yesterday afternoon was quite memorable, and since we didn’t know your name…”

“Yuriko Davar,” she answered tersely.

“Ah, Cadet Davar then.” He nodded. “Er, I’m Decanus Remi Belgarde. My squad will be in charge of you three today.”

Yuriko nodded, though she still glared at the man.

What muscle girl? She didn’t have bulging muscles! She held her upper arms under her cloak, squeezing and feeling them up. Nope, no bulging muscles.

Gwendith and Ella-Mai arrived from the trio of tents. It was half an hour before dawn, and both girls were yawning and scrubbing their eyes. They were dressed in their combat gear, same as Yuriko. She left her backpack and duffel behind, having transferred her necessities to a hip satchel attached to her right leg. The satchel contained a few days worth of rations, some spices, the melter canteen, and her crystal screen which contained the local map. Her side-blade hung on the left, the Plasma Lancet holstered next to the satchel. Her Plasma Caster hung behind her on the shoulder strap. The jade cartridges were slotted into a holder on her belt.

Decanus Belgarde led them a few paces away, followed by the rest of his squad, disparate men and just one hard-faced woman.

“Wilfrid, Mauri, and Nathan, you’ll be responsible for our guests for the day. Make sure they shadow you properly,” Decanus Belgarde instructed, before turning to address the rest of the squad. “We have the west-northwest district. We’ll head out for two leagues then loop around and return to camp. I don’t expect anything, but we can’t be complacent. Double wedge formation. Let’s head out.”

One of the men the Decanus called out approached Yuriko, with the other two headed to Gwendith and Ella-Mai.

“Good morning, I’m Nathan Belza, a Destroyer. I’ll be your guide.” He sighed. “Just keep up and try to stay out of trouble.”

“Oh, Yuriko Davar. I’m a Striker.”

“I figured.” He gestured to her Plasma Caster. “Ranged, of course. Range and accuracy?”

“Uh, mixed actually. Two hundred paces perfect and fifty percent at five hundred.”

“Huh, good enough, I suppose. Stay a couple of paces behind me and to the right.” He reached under his cloak and gave her a pair of snowshoes. “We’re not going over cleared paths and there’s no telling how deep the drifts are. You know how to put them on?” He stuck out a boot. “Just bind the ties like this.”

Yuriko hurriedly put the things on. It made walking a bit awkward but after a couple of minutes, she got used to it.

The squad had formed a double column with the Decanus at the front left. Nathan took a rear position, motioning for Yuriko to stand beside him. Gwendith was in the middle while Ella-Mai was in front. As soon as the column was formed they moved out at a quick jog that ate up the paces. They were soon outside the camp and the squad spread out into a loose double wedge, one in front of the other. Yuriko wound up at the rear left, with Nathan one man left of centre.

They slowed to a ground eating walk once they were out in the field. Even with the snowshoes, her feet sometimes went through loosely piled snow but thankfully it didn’t sink too deeply. With the awkward gait, it took them nearly until midmorning before the squad turned south.

So far, there has been nothing of interest. The snow masked the jagged nature of the hills, and they rarely went over the ridges, following the valleys and ravines. Every now and then, one of the scouts would scale the high points, look around for a few minutes before signalling an all-clear.

None of them spoke, of course. Thankfully, the past semester’s Reserve Officer Training included hand signals, though she only knew the basics: halt, go, all clear, and danger ahead.

At midday, they took a break within a copse. Yuriko retrieved a ration bar from her satchel and started gnawing on it. She swept the hood of her cloak off her head, letting her hair free. She’d braided the entire length of it, but it had somehow unravelled during their travels. Not that her hair was ever unruly.

“Why don’t you cut that short?” Nathan asked curiously.

The only woman in the squad, who had been resting nearby, opened her eyes and smacked Nathan upside the head.

“You never ask that of a lady,” she growled.

“Whaaat? Isn’t it a bother? Yeah, it's beautiful, prettiest I’ve ever seen, honestly, but you’re a cadet, ain’t ya?” Nathan spluttered. “‘Sides, you’ve got short hair.”

“Doesn’t matter,” she muttered.

“Uhm, it’s fine, I don’t mind,” Yuriko chuckled. “Da doesn’t want me to cut it.” She shrugged. “And it rarely gets in the way.”

“Huh, how? That must be, what, forty, fifty inches long?” The woman asked.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“Thereabouts.” Yuriko shrugged, “And no, really, it doesn’t tangle or get in the way.” With her hair loose right now, she gathered it into her usual braid and ponytail, fluffing it a bit to straighten it out.

“You must spend a fortune on shampoo,” Nathan muttered.

“A luxury, yes,” was her noncommittal reply.

They finished their break soon enough and continued on the patrol. A couple of hours later, they started to head back to camp. The sky was unusually clear today, not a hint of a cloud. For the first time in a week, Yuriko felt the sun’s rays warming her face and she couldn’t help but bask in it.

Unfortunately, it didn’t last. By the time they returned to camp late afternoon, dark clouds had covered the entirety of the visible sky and it was threatening to snow.

“I heard there will be another Chaos Storm,” Gwendith said at dinner. The three of them were seated around their campfire. The softly falling snow covered their heads with a light dusting.

“Will we be fine here?” Yuriko muttered.

“We’re far from the barrier, so we should be safe,” Ella-Mai said.

“I hope so.”

“Hi!” Yuriko looked up to see Lukas walking towards them with a slight smile.

“Oh, hi Lukas,” Yuriko waved. “Glad you could make it here.”

Gwendith just grunted while Ella-Mai nodded at the boy.

“How was the patrol?” Lukas continued.

“Boring, mostly.”

“If you don’t mind,” Gwendith cut in, “we’d like to converse in private, please.”

“Oh, apologies.” Lukas’ face went blank before he gave a short bow, spun on his heels and left.

Yuriko frowned at Gwendith. “You didn’t have to be rude.”

Gwendith gave her a surprised look. “He’s not of our class, Yuri.”

“Huh? I know he’s not a student.”

“Not that,” Ella-Mai interrupted. “He’s not from the Upper Ring or even the Mids.”

“Does it matter?” Yuriko asked.

“It does.” Gwendith sighed.

“Those who live in Rumiga City know their place, Miss Davar.” Ella-Mai said. “Those without the potential to advance to Knight do not belong in our circles.”

“I see,” Yuriko said, though honestly, she didn’t. She retired to her tent with her thoughts spinning. She supposed there was a reason why the city had three tiers, but from her conversation with Lukas back at the Fort, he didn’t seem much different from the people who lived in Faron’s Crossing.

Sure, his clothes were a bit threadbare and he stank of dirty sweat, but she wouldn’t hold that against him. He’d been nothing but courteous, after all. And at least he didn't bother her like most of the boys on campus.

She thought back on how the other two girls looked when Lukas arrived. Gwendith had turned up her nose and Ella-Mai didn’t look at him straight. Gwendith had actually acted the same with Yuriko when they first ran across each other during the Elite trials.

What was with the snobbery?

But, what could she do about it? Or for that matter, did she want to do anything about it? She felt that she was about to realise something, enlightenment, but it remained frustratingly out of reach.

She wrestled with her thoughts until she fell asleep, and throughout all of that, Damien was silent.

The next morning, “Achoo!” She almost sneezed her socks off. The air was freezing!

Shuddering, Yuriko flared her Anima, hoping to heat up the air. She was alone in the tent anyway and nobody would see. She focused on the Intent of heat, and slowly, over the course of several minutes, the small space warmed up.

It was a good thing her cloak was within reach. She bundled up, struggled in the small enclosure, before she opened the tent flap, only to be greeted by a wall of snow.

“Huh?”

She pushed her way out, keeping her Anima around her to control her slight domain. When she stood up, the snowdrift was almost to her waist, covering most of her tent and everyone else’s around her. The firepit was nothing more than a snowdrift, and it was honestly a good thing since, after the snow piled on, howling winds were blowing everything about.

“Help!” a muffled shout came from her right.

Yuriko scooted back inside and picked up a small foldable shovel from her pack and dug her way to Ella-Mai’s tent. She found the girl shivering inside her tent, face practically blue.

“M-miss Da-davar.”

“Hey, over here!” A faint voice from the distance. “Storm shelter!”

Yuriko helped Ella-Mai to her feet and dug towards Gwendith. Faint snoring came from the other girl’s tent though.

“C-come on, le-let’s get her.”

“Gwendith!” Yuriko yelled.

“Huh, what?”

“There’s a blizzard, let’s move to the shelter!”

“Huh, oh, sure. Haaaah.” Gwendith came out with her cloak open at the front.

“Aren’t you cold?”

“You forget my Heritage,” Gwendith said with another yawn.

“Oh. Well, let’s still head to shelter.”

“Sure.”

Yuriko and the others left the tents but took the blankets, bedrolls, and backpacks with them as they trudged to where the voice came from. The howling of the wind nearly drowned everything out, But Yuriko focused Animus in her eyes and that somehow made it easier to spot the row of longhouses.

A man was shouting and ringing a bell from one of the entrances, but they were only a dozen paces out when they were able to hear it. Yuriko let the other two precede her inside before she followed.

The longhouse was packed with people. There was barely enough room to lie down, and most of the people inside were men. The three girls exchanged glances before they headed to an empty corner and set up their bedrolls next to each other. There wasn’t a fireplace inside, but she could see glowing runescript running along the walls and ceiling. Warmth radiated from complex nodules of runescript. Where those nodules were, there, too, were the thickest clumps of legionnaires were. Well, aside from Ella-Mai, Yuriko and Gwendith were able to handle the sudden cold, so they squeezed Ella-Mai between them and kept each other warm.

There wasn’t much to do other than eat and sleep. Yuriko couldn’t settle down to meditate, with the press of bodies bothering her. There was only dim lighting, so she attempted to read Master Alfein’s book, but she couldn’t get past the first two pages without her eyes skipping back to each paragraph after she lost her place when she zoned out.

Gwendith was dozing and so was Ella-Mai. The smaller girl was still shivering, though with the other two’s body heat, she wouldn’t freeze.

The storm rattled the rafters, and some snow managed to worm its way inside, which promptly melted, adding to the misery.

They spent the entire day and night in the close confines of the longhouse. Someone passed around some ration bars and water, though nothing came Yuriko’s way. She still had some in her hip satchel, along with the flask of water.

Late the next day, someone opened the door to clearer skies, and the prisoners whooped and practically stampeded out of the shelter. The camp was a mess. The snowdrifts were taller than a man's height. Yuriko and the others dug their way back to their trio of tents.

She made copious use of Boost to shovel as much snow as she could. It took until midday before they managed to get to their gear and clear it. The tents held, amazingly enough. The runescripted pegs and poles somehow resisted the weight.

“Gah! Are we going to go through something like this for the entire time?” Ella-Mai grumbled.

“It’s not so bad.” Gwendith shrugged, “we made it through easily. Heh. We’re all Apprentices here.”

That was right, Yuriko realized. If she had been younger and unawakened, she’d probably catch her death of frostbite, but now, other than feeling a bit nippy, she was fine.

“Well, come on,” Yuriko said, “let’s see how we can help the camp.”

That was when bloodcurdling roars came from beyond the palisades and the alarm bells sang a song of murder and death.