When Hauke finally reached the front gates of the fortress, he moved stiffly with a bone-deep weariness. Captain Lennart had offered to pull him most of the way on a sled, but the young man had his pride. Unlike Ashlynn and Virve, he'd suffered no real injuries beyond the strain of his encounter with the ghosts of the ancestors. He refused to be carried when he was capable of walking.
When he reunited with Ashlynn in the small gatehouse, however, he was surprised to see how much she had changed in the time it took for him to return with the others.
Ashlynn had traded the comfortable and practical clothing she wore to the fishing trip for an elegant green dress trimmed in luxurious black furs. Her long blond hair had been styled into an elaborate braid that included a long strand of emeralds and a second strand of sapphires as if to provide a subtle reminder of how closely she was entangled with Nyrielle.
