The princess reluctantly agreed with Richard giving him the requested supplies. Even though Samantha was indignant with the requested to accompany the party, she saw the logic, with such powerful threats looming nearby how could the kingdom survive without their lead physician, that and she really had no choice in the matter. When Reeya finally felt well enough she continued her tale of the amulet.

"I was banished from my birthplace so I had little choice in coming here, luckily I arrived mid summer. Despite my good fortune the first day nearly killed me, being stuck in a strange land dealing with the frigid cold and gun ho residents The odds were definitely against me. The only reason I survived was when I stumbled upon that strange cave. It looked like any other cave from the outside but it felt... different. I staggered inside just glad to be out of the snow. After I took a quick nap I accidentally fell through a fake wall... don't ask how." She stops and blushes a little. "Inside the hidden room I found it on a table or altar, or something... There was a name plate under the amulet and, that's how I know what it's called."

Everyone seemed to accept that explanation accepted for The Traveler whose wheels were clearly turning in his head.

"And so after that the cold did not affect you?" Richard asked.

"Right." Reeya confirmed.

"But the downside is you remain the temperature that you were, therefore by that time you put it on your were just warm enough to survive but not to, 'live'." The Traveler reasoned. "So now that you had a chance to finally get warm the amulet should keep you that way."

They all looked at the Traveler and were a little surprised at the sound explanation. Sam was sitting in the corner not even trying to hide her contempt with this situation but still following the conversation contemplating what this means to her, and how to get out of it.

The Party gathered what provisions that remained placing them in the cart that The Traveler brought Reeya in the day before.

"Is this really it? I've seen hobos with more stuff. How do we expect to make the journey to the nearest town?" Richard reasons.

"What? This? this is more than the most materials my migrations most often manage to muster at a mere prelude without any misdemeanors m..." The Traveler alliterated before being cut off by Reeya.

"Just shut up." She objects. She gives him a menacing glare then all of them burst out laughing even sam. Thus there journey began on a high note, the first few miles were cold but filled with many stories and worm laughter.

"We better make camp soon the night is not the best time to travel." Richard announced.

"I concur, I need a rest my feet are ready to fall off from the cold and all the walking." Sam agreed.

The group set up camp with the castle still in view standing strong and impressive in the night sky. Each one in the group had their own little tent

"Sam do you prefer Sam or Samantha?" The Traveler asked after he set up his tent.

"*Pibbfff*" Sam replied not wanting to talk.

" Oh! It's Pibbfff. I pronounced it wrong this whole time."

She gave him a particularly menacing glare while the others put the finishing touches on the tent. When the last tent was pitched and the group had finally settled down Richard broke the silence.

"Traveler you single handedly took out an entire army of goblins, an army so fears the Queen left to ensure her safety, How?"

"Cabbages." The Traveler proclaimed.

Reeya chuckles to herself

"No seriously how, you just used an undinising number of them more than any bag could carry. There was a long silence before The Traveler answered.

"There is many things I know that can not be easily explained, especially with sleep hanging drearily close." The Traveler explained while stifling a yawn.

"I admit, I am weary from travel but you must tell us first thing in the morning." Richard insisted.

The group secured the best sleep they had in a fortnight, Richard and Samantha had no army to worry about, Reeya was finally back to full health all were well, except for The Traveler who received very little sleep and left the camp for much of the night. The first rays of sunlight were greeted by Reeya who was the earliest to rise out of the group, but despite being the first to rise The Traveler was already awake cooking breakfast for the lot.

"Good morning, did you sleep well?" The Traveler asked without looking away from fire.

"Yowhh yeah I hhhaaa slept great." She yawned.

"Definitely sounds like it, I made baked potatoes go ahead and help yourself."

Reeya grabbed one of the iron pans and digged right in.

"So why'd you do it."

"This morning I was a little hungry so I made myself breakfast. When I finished I thought it was rude to only make some for myself so I gathered enough food, built a fire and cooked everyone breakfast." The Traveler explained

"No Thats not what I meant, Why did you help me when we first met." He took a few long seconds to answer

"When I first heard there was a demon in the mountains I thought, 'That sounds like a problem I better see what I can do'. I saw you and looked into your eyes expecting to see hate and revenge but what I saw was... was you. Someone afraid for their life, someone in need of help who didn't want to hurt anyone. You didn't look like some monster. " As soon as The Traveler finished his tangent Richard crawled out of his tent, sat next to the fire and started eating, clearly not fully awake. "You look like someone who was stricken by the Damuranits." Reeya joked

"The what?" The Traveler asked

"Oh right... I forgot, you don't know about the Malgenor. The Damuranits are a task group decided to wipe out any opposing ideas to the Syzygy."

"So like the S.S. I mean, uhh nothing. Umm what is the Syzygy?"

"The Syzygy is the head leaders of the Malgenor. There are Three that make the main decisions." Reeya stopped in mid thought, memories of her former life preceding her exiled were shown clearly on her face.

"That bad huh?"

"Yeah." Reeya set down the rest of her food and made her way back to her tent.

The Traveler and Richard were left with their thoughts and the silence. The only thing to break the latter was the crackling of the fire.

After most of the food was eaten and Richard regained full alertness he tried to wake up the last sleeping member of the group. Richard was right about to enter her tent but his mind caught up to him. Fear full of the many possible things that could go wrong he instead called out to wake her up. The only way he knew he was getting through was the angry grumbling sounds that came from the tent he was yelling at. The grumbling grew to more of a roar preceding her emergence from the tent.

"Good morning Pibbfff. I hope you slept well." The Traveler stated, happily. Sam glared at him for a good moment prior to sitting down and eating what was left of the food. "So how are we this morning" The Traveler asked.

"Better, now that I'm awake, but we really must get going, I want to get past Dead Man's Pass prior to the end of the day," Richard informed everyone.

"Dead Man's Pass? Is that really what someone called it?" The Traveler mocked.

"No, but it is much easier to remember than the actual name."

"Well, thats interesting." The group packed up their tents to continue on their journey