Elowen's POV
The first snow of the year fell on my eighteenth birthday.
I was working through practice problems at my desk when I noticed the condensation on the window glass, and when I wiped it away with one finger I saw white flakes drifting down onto the balcony railing. I sat there for a moment and watched them settle, and it occurred to me that I'd been living in the Northern Reach for over six months.
I put down my pen and decided, with the particular resolve that comes from having nothing to lose, to take Kael out to dinner.
A small gesture. A token for the past six months of clothes and lessons and a piano that rang through the whole cabin, for Aldwin being kept somewhere safe, for the handkerchief in the car. It wouldn't come close to covering any of it, but it was the only t
