I looked in the mirror and was fervently glad that I had Diane as my actual guardian instead of Sandy. Sandy turned out to be the type of lady who loved to dress up anyone she could get her hands on. She had spent over an hour putting my hair up in several elaborate braids. She had also brought her makeup with her, and at this point, I didn't even recognize my own reflection.

I did look very nice, but it just wasn't me. I still smiled at Sandy, "Thank you."

Diane passed me a winter hat, "Here, it might keep anyone from recognizing you if they catch a glimpse of you."

Diane's original plan had been to put up my hair in a bun and hide it under a winter hat. If I had grey or brown winter clothing, I could easily be mistaken for a boy. No chance of that now with the amount of makeup that was on my face.

Diane had spoken with Dave and both had agreed that out of sight was out of mind when it came to me. It shouldn't surprise them too much to see Diane with a trader group, besides, they knew she was out there somewhere. It was just me that was the big mystery.

The trucks had barely come to a stop when the people on this trailer raised the thick canvas walls that formed a boxlike tent. I remained inside as everyone else went out to pull out the supplies that this place had requested.

I listened to the conversations outside. The locals were a bit surprised to be greeted by Dave, but their confusion eased when he explained that the trading group had grown so big that we had split into three parts. They started discussing trading possibilities while we got everything set up.

It sounded like we could be here longer than planned since Toga Place had done a thorough inventory of supplies and realized that they were very short to make it through the winter. Mice had gotten into some stored grain and their crops had not done well this year at all due to some sort of insect pest.

I was curious about what Diane was doing, but there was no way for me to peek out of this tent. It had simply been built too well. I wasn't worried about her though, since I knew that Ace wouldn't let her out of his sight in case they were still scared that she was infected. Although, after this much time, the answer should be obvious.

I heard the old leader's voice, "Diane! Good to see you in good health. Joined the traders, did you?" I tilted my head, he seemed honestly happy to see her. I faintly recalled that the leader had been one of the few who had been somewhat regretful to see her leave last time.

Diane responded and I could tell from her voice that she was very close to where Phil was. "Yes, and I am having a great time with them. How are things going here?" Her voice was warm, so Phil's greeting must have been genuine.

"Going well enough. The harvest wasn't quite what we had hoped for, some sort of pest got into the wheat and caused the heads to fall off. Probably the wheat sawfly, but we have no pesticides to protect the plants. I don't suppose you have grain to trade by chance?"

Diane chuckled as she sidestepped that question, "You might want to check with Dave on that one. I am not entirely sure what all we have in those trailers at this point."

"Thanks. Uh, Diane?" His voice was now tentative.

"Yes?"

He sounded somewhat uncomfortable asking the question, "Ah, have you, uh, seen Laura around?"

Silence followed and many small conversations from the traders below stopped as they focused on Phil and Diane. Phil quickly clarified, "The day you left we couldn't find her. We searched high and low. We are pretty sure she followed you. I am just asking to ensure that she did find you. We have no desire to try to bring her here. We just want to make sure she is alright."

Even if they did try, I would escape again. I had more skills now than I did then. Sanctuary shone in my mind like a compass that pointed north, and I knew I would have no problem getting there on my own. I was smarter than that though, I would stick to the main roads and I would almost certainly encounter a Messenger or one of the other trading caravans from Sanctuary.

Diane was silent for some time before responding, "I have seen her and I know where she is currently located."

I grinned at her evasive answer. He would probably fall over if he learned I was hiding up here.

Phil sounded relieved, "Thank you. That is a burden off of my shoulders. How was the trip down here? I still can't figure out how you people camp in the snow and cold..."

I tuned out the rest of their conversation as I dug through my backpack for my textbooks. Diane had been amused to see them in my hands. There wasn't a teacher in Sanctuary yet and most children followed their parents and learned about various tasks in Sanctuary. If a teacher did come, I wanted to be at the top of my class to impress Diane.

I also made a small fire in the middle of the long fire pit. It warmed the air noticeably. A few traders came in to warm up and visit occasionally. They brought news and updates with them. Diane was being welcomed as much as any trader was and the locals were now satisfied that she was not infected.

We would also be staying the night instead of heading back north to get several hours closer to home. This place wanted quite a few things on Dave's list, but most were buried near the back of the tightly packed trailers.

The light was already starting to dim, not that it bothered anyone in this group since we were all fired. The winter solstice that marked the shortest day had occurred just the other day, so darkness fell very early.

Snow crunched and I recognized the footsteps. I bounced towards the tent flap and danced from foot to foot impatiently. Diane barely got inside before I tackled her in a hug. She chuckled as she caught me, "Missed me that much, huh?"

I grinned at her, "That is one way of putting it."

She laughed and put me down as she went to sit in a chair. I claimed her lap as she passed me a bag. I opened it up and found that she had brought me supper. Most were my favorites too. I wasted no time digging into the food. There was far too much for me to eat in one meal, so part of it must be for my breakfast.

Joel entered the tent came to sit down nearby, "Looks like we are stopping here with our next trip to that Walmart."

Ace looked at him in curiosity, "And why would that be?"

"That guy in charge wasn't kidding when they said their harvest hadn't been good. Their grain and their hay had serious problems. It rained for a week after they swathed the hay and it rotted in the field. They don't have enough by half and are almost out now. Dave mentioned that he was after more sheep, particularly any kind with good wool.

"The people had a discussion and they are going to give us most of their sheep in exchange for enough fodder to see their remaining stock through until spring. By the way, we are talking about close to eighty sheep. They also had a different type of wool sheep, but no one here knows how to use the loom so they are trading those twenty sheep for a couple pallets of rice. Dave also traded some of the basics like pots, bug spray, jackets, and other stuff for another dairy cow."

Wow. Most settlements didn't like trading their livestock away since it was so valuable. Their harvest and hay must have been very bad that they were letting so much of it go for fairly basic supplies.

Diane shook her head, "Good thing Roland got those mechanical balers and had us hay as much of the ditches, open fields, and meadows as we could find before the snow fell."

I nodded in agreement. Without those balers, we wouldn't have been able to support so many sheep since they had a hard time digging through deeper snow that the cows and horses could.

Once I finished eating Diane looked down at me, "You have been cooped up in here all evening, feel like a run?"

I jumped to my feet in excitement, "Yes please!"

Diane chuckled and got to her feet, "It is dark enough now that anyone watching won't be able to see our faces. Just dim your eyes and we can go."

It took me a few seconds, but soon the world was darker and I knew that my eyes gave off no light at all. I could still see better than someone without Heartfire, but it wasn't by much. We exited the tent and climbed down the ladder to the ground before sneaking out of the camp to go for a run in the forest.

Others outside were also suppressing the glow in their eyes to avoid spooking the locals. Some were also leaving for their runs and a few were already returning. Ace came with us as he usually did. Once we were out of sight of the palisade, we let our eyes glow once more.

I had energy to burn tonight and ran here and there to check out trees and shrubs. Diane and Ace sprinted side by side along the main trail. Ace's eyes now glowed as strongly as mine or Diane's did. He could feel the heat if it rose of its own accord, but he still could not feel it as a constant presence.

He had been able to push himself hard enough to feel the burn in his muscles a couple of weeks ago. The muscle pain and weakness afterwards had shocked him. He had not realized that it had been that bad. Others had wanted to spar with him at that time so they had half a chance at winning, but he refused to take their bait. I tried to convince him to play catch-me-if-you-can, but he had also refused that too, much to Diane's amusement.

He had been fired around three months ago and the changes he observed had slowed noticeably. Diane's upper hand in their sparring matches was now closer to equal footing than anything else. Those who had been faster before getting fired were faster after they were fired, and I suspected that it wouldn't be much longer before Ace was able to repay some of those past bruises.

We occasionally saw a pair of glowing eyes in the distance as we ran. After about two hours, we returned to the trailers. I had ran hard as I darted back and forth along the trail and my energy was down to something that would let me sleep.

We headed back through the forest before climbing up on a trailer and entering the tent on top. Since we already shared a house back at Sanctuary, Diane, Sandy, Ace, and I all shared one of the big tents on top of the trailer. Diane and I slept on one end, Sandy had the far end, and Ace slept in the middle.

We all headed to bed since we would likely be leaving before 5am. It was an easy time for those with Heartfire, although it was going to be killer for the two newcomers who had decided to come with us to Sanctuary.