AS ANDORRA and Tofu set up camp for the night, Andorra wondered what this trip would have been like without the large leopard. What would it have been like with Callum? Tofu had scooped out the perfect little cave carved into the mountain-side, and as soon as the sun began to set, he stopped there.

Andorra was thankful, but she hadn't realized it would be an overnight affair. When packing, she hadn't thought to bring extra clothes, or blankets. She stared at the empty cave with a smidge of contempt. But now was not the time to really dwell on her misfortune of not thinking more clearly.

She took her bag and laid it on the ground. That would have to work as a pillow. What should they do now? Start a fire? Andorra didn't know the first thing about making fires. This wasn't what she learned at Girl Scouts.

But then it hit her. She could start a fire. She looked around the empty cave, and decided that she would have to venture out for twigs and sticks. Something to keep the fire going. Tofu stood at the entrance as if he were guarding the spot, but Andorra moved past him, brushing a hand down his side.

"I need stuff for a fire. You stay here."

The cat let out a mewl of disagreement, but Andorra rubbed his nose a little bit. "I know, but I can make myself a human flashlight, and I'll be okay. Someone has to keep track of this hidden cave. I'll be right here."

Right here had a lot of snow covered trees. There were absolutely no twigs on the forest floor that weren't blanketed in a thick layer of snow, so Andorra began moving around the cave, trying to find somewhere a little bit more dry.

It was official: the Winter Court was her least favorite court. It was cold, wet, and made it impossible to find good kindling for fire. She would grumble to herself if her teeth weren't chattering so hard, and she tried to rub warmth into her arms, but it was no use.

She was freezing.

She reached a thicket of trees that were close together, and underneath their branches was a dry spot. There was still snow on the ground, but it was less dense. When she stood underneath, the lowest hanging branches were miraculously dry.

Or, as dry as they could be, out here in the snowy woods.

She began breaking them off of the tree, holding them in the crook of her arm as she continued to gather. She let her skin glow to keep her alight, and she moved as quickly as her numb fingers could go.

Once she gathered what she deemed was enough, she moved back towards the cave, following her footprints in the snow. The cave was hidden well enough that it would have been harder to find without a cat standing guard, but thankfully it wasn't snowing. Yet. Hopefully never.

As she ducked back into the cave, she put her sticks towards one of the back corners. With her finger, she drew forth a flame, and held it to the pile of sticks and branches until it caught fire. Now, it didn't take a genius to know the fire wouldn't last without more wood, but Andorra was greedy for the warmth. She sat down, holding her gloved fingers towards the fire, relishing at the feel of the flames against her frozen cheeks.

She looked at Tofu. "Are you gonna come in, or what?"

The cat sent another look out towards the forest, let out a long meow, then came back into the cave. He padded towards her, then laid behind her, allowing Andorra to lean back on his warm body. She let herself relax into him, blowing out a long sigh.

"Tofu, I don't know what I would've done without you," she admitted. "You've saved me twice now. I owe you my life." She let out a laugh, but it morphed into a whimper. For the first time since she'd been kidnapped, she let herself feel the fear and exhaustion that filled her. She was terrified, out there in the Northern Mountains alone. She had no idea what she was doing, and she felt it in her bones. An imposter, she thought, but tried to banish it as soon as it came.

She could be more. She could be so much more. She just had to believe in herself.

She was so exhausted, too. She was tired of constantly fighting for her life. She was tired of proving she was good enough to be queen. She was tired of learning things about her life she should have been born knowing.

She closed her burning eyes and let herself think about her life back home, in Maine, with her parents. How she would be in her bedroom right now, curled up on her quilted bedspread, probably reading a book. Maybe working on her homework. She knew her parents would be downstairs, cooking dinner, or perhaps cleaning it up. They would be talking and laughing, maybe playing music, maybe dancing, maybe spinning in their homey kitchen that made their house a home.

She could practically hear her mother's tinkling laughter in her ears. The way it would travel up the staircase and into her bedroom, even when Andorra was listening to her own music. She could practically hear her father telling his wife how much he loved her, on a random Wednesday night.

Andorra could smell her candles, the ones she would have burning on her nightstand. The way her christmas lights would glow in her bedroom, the way the warmth from the heater would push through the vent above her bed.

She felt the strongest wave of homesickness she had felt since leaving them behind.

Her human heart struck again.

"I miss them," she whispered to Tofu. "I miss them so much. I miss my old life. I miss not having to be this big, important person with this big, important prophecy to fulfill. And I'm tired of everyone hating me. I miss being the invisible Andorra."

The cat purred in return, rubbing its face against Andorra's. "I could just leave, you know? I could just go back home, right now. Make the gate and just... disappear."

It was tempting. So tempting, to just open the gate back to her old life. Waltz right into it like she'd never left. Only, she knew what Noah had done to her parents. She knew what they thought had happened to her.

And, if she left, who would save Callum? Who would save Anlithamy from Anders taking the throne and becoming the savage dictator he desperately wanted to be?

Her people had been so excited to see her, excited that she had finally come home. And she had been so excited to meet those who had known her birth parents, had been so excited to travel to the Summer Court and find solace there in her home.

She belonged here, and she knew it. Felt it deep in her bones. Coralia was her home. Callum and Win were her home. Clini and Mar were her home. Eve was her home. She couldn't give that up now, not when she'd come so far.

"Do you think we can really save Callum?" She continued to brush her hand down Tofu's neck. "I don't know how we'll figure it out, but we can't leave him behind, you know?" She snuggled deeper into the cat's fur, so thankful she had a warm animal to keep her company.

The cat purred in response.

"I'm scared, Tofu. I'm scared of being in this cave, and scared no one will want to be my guard, and scared that I won't be able to take the throne without Anders there. He'll kill me, I'm sure of it."

Tofu seemed to wrap his body tighter around Andorra at her words, like he could protect her from Anders. As if he could save the Princess from her own miserable fate.

She let the fire and the warmth of Tofu lull her into a deep sleep, one that would be dreamless, but not restless. And the last thought on her mind was who she would rather be married to, who she would rather have on the throne beside her.

* * *

The next morning, Andorra stretched against Tofu, her body sore and her left arm numb from where she'd been laying on it.

The cat blinked up at her when she stood, reaching for her bag. In her haste to get out of her dorm room, she hadn't considered packing food. Now, her stomach grumbled almost painfully, and she groaned into her bag. Not even a little snack was hidden in there.

"Tofu, I hope we reach the guards today. My stomach may not make it another day." What she didn't add was that she really didn't want to spend another night in a cave. While it wasn't the worst experience, it also wasn't a great one.

She flexed her arm, trying to get some feeling back into it. It felt like pins and needles were racing up and down.

The cat stood and stretched as well, letting out a long meow. It paced a little in the cave, then ducked outside, looking around. Trying to find potential threats. When Tofu felt it was safe, he turned back to Andorra and lowered his body for her to climb on.

She secured her bag around her body. "Okay, lead the way. Let's hope we didn't sleep in too late." She looked up at the sky, trying to figure out what time of day it was, but she had never been good at telling the time by the height of the sun in the sky.

Once she was secured on Tofu's back, he began to run again, moving through the trees and snow like it came naturally to him. And as a snow leopard, maybe it did. She pushed her face into the scruff of his neck to avoid the burning chill of the wind against her bare face.

She couldn't help but think that this was the place that Noah, so many months ago, had talked about in that diner. The place he had dreamed of living. The magical world that he had wanted to be a part of for so long.

The burn of the cold didn't really feel magical to her. But she wondered if what he felt was how she had felt that first time she'd seen the Summer Court. If he had entered the Winter Court and immediately felt right at home.

She caught herself wishing that they were still close enough to have conversations like that. She caught herself wishing she could sit across from him and listen to the way his deep voice formed words, listen to how he felt about Anlithamy now that he was here, listen to the way his voice soothed her like magic.

It didn't matter if she was in his Clan territory, she had to stop thinking of him. Had to stop wishing he was there with her, even when she knew it was wrong. He was wrong, and dangerous, and maybe wanted her as dead as Anders did. And that should have been enough to keep her away.

* * *