*
Lady Diana and Fiona sat huddled around the fire, their breaths visible in the cold night air. The men had been gone for almost an hour, and the sun had set already. A chill hung in the air, and it swept down on them from the forest, kept at bay only by the fire where they sat and waited.
"What do you think it will be like, when we arrive?" Fiona asked, her eyes shining with excitement. “Xania, I mean.”
"I don't know," Diana replied, her voice tinged with unease. “I suppose it will be more or less the same as Avarel. I mean way could the difference possibly be, aside from the fact that it’s a kingdom of werewolves?”
She glanced over her shoulder as she heard something moving in the trees. But there was nothing except for the chittering of unseen insects.
“Is something wrong?” Fion
