Three days on the mountain path had a way of removing everything unnecessary.
Not comfort, the mountain had stripped that long ago, but the unnecessary weight of everything that lived in the mind when the body was not fully occupied. Out here, between trial and terrain, between the memory of the Keeper's ground and the unknown territory ahead, thought simplified. The mind gave up the elaborate constructions it built in safer, more sedentary places and reduced itself to essentials.
This was what Elowen found herself thinking on the morning of the third day, as they made camp on a narrow ledge that overlooked a sweep of frozen valley below. The sky was pale and enormous. The wind had calmed overnight, leaving a silence so complete she could hear Lyra's breathing inside her as a separate rh
