The last of the breakfast disappeared from their bowls.
Sunlight slowly crept deeper into the forest, melting thin crystals of frost that clung to the cave entrance.
Samuel carefully wiped his wooden spoon clean with a piece of bread before placing it back inside his satchel.
Unlike most travellers, everything inside his pack seemed to have its own place.
Nothing rattled.
Nothing was tossed carelessly.
Years of living on the road had turned packing into habit rather than thought.
Viktor watched quietly.
Samuel noticed.
"You've been staring at my bag for a while."
Viktor hesitated.
"...Sorry."
Samuel chuckled.
"No need."
He loosened one of the leather straps and opened the top flap.
"What did you think was inside?"
"...Food?"
"Only a little."
Samuel reached inside.
Instead of food, he pulled out a small pouch of dried herbs.
Then a neatly folded piece of dyed cloth.
A bundle of leather straps.
Several sewing needles wrapped carefully in waxed paper.
Finally...
A silver necklace decorated with a tiny blue stone.
It wasn't expensive.
But it caught the morning light beautifully.
Viktor's eyes widened.
"You sell all those?"
Samuel nodded.
"Sometimes."
He gently placed the necklace back inside.
"It depends where I am."
"I buy things people have too much of."
"Then carry them somewhere people don't."
Viktor frowned.
"...Why?"
Samuel laughed.
"Because people are strange."
Everyone looked at him.
He continued.
"A village surrounded by forests has more leather than it knows what to do with."
"But cloth?"
"They'll pay well for cloth."
He picked up another small pouch.
"The mountain folk gather herbs."
"The plains grow grain."
"The fishermen have salt."
"No place has everything."
"So, I walk."
"And people pay me because I save them the journey."
Viktor nodded slowly.
As though fitting another piece into a puzzle.
"...So"
"You don't make these?"
Samuel shook his head.
"Oh, no."
"I'd starve if I tried."
"I'm terrible with my hands."
Gavril raised an eyebrow.
"I thought merchants always exaggerated."
Samuel placed a hand dramatically over his chest.
"I would never."
"You just admitted you're terrible at your job."
"I'm terrible at making things."
"Not selling them."
Gavril laughed.
"Fair point."
Samuel leaned back against the cave wall.
"I've spent twenty years convincing people they needed things they didn't know existed."
"What sort of things?" Viktor asked.
"Oh..."
Samuel scratched his beard thoughtfully.
"I once sold a fisherman winter boots in the middle of summer."
"...Why?"
"Because winter eventually arrives."
"...Did he buy them?"
"He bought two pairs."
Gavril barked out a laugh.
"You're lying."
"I wish I was."
Samuel grinned.
"His wife thought they were a bargain."
The laughter faded naturally.
No one hurried to fill the silence.
After a while, Samuel spoke again.
"I was supposed to head for Whitehold this winter."
Gavril glanced toward him.
"Were you?"
Samuel nodded.
"Had a fellow there who usually bought leather from me."
"Paid well."
"Always complained."
"But paid."
"What happened?" Viktor asked.
Samuel shrugged.
"Rumours."
"They started long before I reached the city."
He held his hands near the fire.
"People coming down the road talking about corpses walking through the snow."
"They said caravans stopped coming."
"Some even claimed the city gates were closing before sunset."
He shook his head.
"I've travelled long enough to know..."
"When five travellers tell the same story..."
"It's usually wiser to believe at least half of it."
"So"
He smiled awkwardly.
"I decided my profits weren't worth finding out which half was true."
Viktor slowly looked toward Gavril.
Before Gavril could answer…
Kaavi's calm voice echoed inside his mind.
"Don't talk about Whitehold."
Gavril paused for barely a heartbeat.
Then scratched his beard.
"We heard the same stories."
"Figured it was better not to linger."
Samuel studied him for the briefest moment.
Not long enough to be obvious.
Then he nodded.
"Smart."
"The road usually rewards cautious people."
Kaavi finally spoke.
"Sometimes."
Samuel smiled.
"And sometimes it rewards lucky ones."
Kaavi looked toward the cave entrance.
"I've never trusted luck."
For just a second...
Neither man spoke.
Samuel simply held Kaavi's gaze.
Then the smile returned.
"I suppose that's why you've lived this long."
The moment passed.
As naturally as it had arrived.
The last traces of breakfast disappeared into the fire.
Kaavi poured a handful of snow over the remaining embers.
Steam hissed softly before the glowing coals disappeared beneath wet ash.
He scattered the ashes with a fallen pine branch until they blended with the cave floor.
Old habit.
One that had become second nature long before any of them met him.
Samuel watched with quiet interest.
"You leave camps cleaner than some villages."
Kaavi stood, he said nothing.
Samuel gave a thoughtful nod.
Everyone began gathering their belongings.
Blankets disappeared into packs.
Waterskins were refilled from melted snow.
Straps tightened. Buckles checked.
No one hurried.
Experienced travellers knew that five extra minutes spent packing carefully could save hours later.
Samuel adjusted the weight of his own pack before looking toward Gavril.
"You folks travel light."
Gavril shrugged.
"Less to carry."
"Less to lose."
Samuel chuckled.
"Spoken like someone who's carried too much before."
"I have."
"I once packed an iron cooking pot across three mountain passes."
Samuel blinked.
"...Why?"
"I thought I'd use it."
"...Did you?"
"No."
Samuel burst into laughter.
"Then why keep carrying it?"
"Stubbornness."
Samuel slapped his knee.
"That's the most honest answer I've heard all year."
Even Viktor smiled.
Kaavi secured the last strap on his pack before stepping toward the cave entrance.
Cold morning air rushed inside.
The forest looked entirely different beneath daylight.
What had been an endless wall of darkness the night before had become a sea of towering pines, their branches bending beneath fresh snow. Sunlight slipped between the trunks in long golden shafts, making drifting flakes sparkle like dust suspended in the air.
The world felt strangely peaceful.
Samuel stepped outside first and stretched until his shoulders cracked.
"Oh..."
"I think my bones are older than I am."
"They complain more, at least."
Gavril walked past him.
"Wait until fifty."
"I'm trying not to."
The narrow trail wound gently between the trees.
Fresh snow covered much of the old path, though here and there worn stones still peeked through where countless travellers had passed over the years.
The group settled into a comfortable rhythm.
Kaavi in front.
Veyl a short distance behind him.
Viktor between Veyl and Gavril.
Samuel naturally drifted toward the back beside Gavril.
For a while...
Conversation came and went as easily as the wind.
Samuel pointed toward several trees whose bark had been stripped away.
"Elk."
"They've been feeding here."
Gavril glanced over.
"You hunt?"
"When I have to."
"But I'd rather sell dinner than chase it."
A little farther along, Samuel stopped beside a cluster of strange blue berries poking through the snow.
"Don't eat those."
"They won't kill you."
"They'll just make you wish they had."
Viktor immediately withdrew the hand he'd been reaching toward them with.
Samuel laughed.
"Curiosity gets more travellers into trouble than wolves."
"I'll remember that," Viktor said quietly.
"Good."
They continued walking.
After nearly half an hour, the forest slowly began opening into a broader valley.
The trees grew farther apart.
Sunlight reached the ground more easily.
Samuel looked ahead before speaking.
"I was planning to head toward Birch Hollow."
He scratched his beard.
"Should be another day's walk if the snow doesn't get worse."
Gavril glanced toward Kaavi.
"What about you?"
Kaavi answered without turning around.
"We're heading north."
It wasn't entirely a lie.
Samuel nodded.
"Then our roads are the same for a while."
Silence lingered.
Samuel didn't immediately continue.
He walked another dozen steps before speaking again.
"If you don't mind..."
He shifted the weight of his pack.
"...I'd appreciate the company."
He smiled sheepishly.
"The roads are quieter than they used to be."
"Bandits."
"Wolves."
"Winter."
"They're all easier to deal with when someone else is around to complain with."
Gavril looked toward Kaavi.
Veyl did the same.
Even Viktor waited.
Samuel noticed it.
"So"
"Is that a council decision?"
Gavril grinned.
"Something like that."
Kaavi continued walking for several more steps.
Long enough that only the crunch of snow filled the silence.
Finally...
He spoke.
"As long as our paths remain the same..."
"...you're welcome to walk beside us."
Samuel's shoulders visibly relaxed.
"Much appreciated."
"I promise I won't slow you down."
Gavril looked him up and down dramatically.
"That depends."
Samuel raised an eyebrow.
"On what?"
"How many stories you've got left."
Samuel laughed.
"Oh..."
"I've got enough stories to make you regret asking."
Gavril groaned loudly.
"We've made a terrible mistake."
For the first time since leaving Whitehold...
Laughter echoed through the forest.
It drifted between the snow-covered pines before disappearing into the endless winter beyond.
Ahead...
The road continued north.
To anyone watching from afar...
They looked no different from countless others sharing the same lonely road.