Sorry its been so long, I've had a hard time writing lately 😅

So heres chapter 14! and in case you're wondering I introduced a new character :)

Leah had followed the tracks with great interest, not sure where they led. But she knew whoever had made them couldn’t be dangerous. At least she didn’t think. She had always been more curious than her twin sister, Sarina who had plainly crossed her arms and stalked back inside their warm home when Leah had begged her to come along. Their mother didn’t care that Leah had left, she had never been favored. Her parents had only expected one child, actually they only wanted one child, but when the second twin had been born they named her Leah. This gave them lots of times to remind her that her name meant tired, or weary like she made them with her constant energy. But her sister had been named Sarina, which meant princess. That was actually quite suiting for Leah's sister, who had never done anything wrong in her life, was the most beautiful doe to ever be seen, and was offered many opportunities to be brought to First Warren. But Sarina had stayed, Leah and her had made a vow that they would never move too far from each other that contact would be hard. Leah could imagine Sarina breaking that promise though, rushing through a castle to meet her prince. She might promote Leah as a servant and Leah would spend all her time cleaning the floors and mopping the windows.

Wait… is mopping a window a thing?

I don’t think it is…

Maybe I should make it a thing…

I bet once I meet whomever ran through the snow like this I could teach them how to mop windows…

A branch smacked her across the face, sending her out of her trance of deep thought. She rubbed her head where the branch had hit, mumbling under her breath about the cursed trees of the land. She was certain that they were more than just alive, that trees had feelings. But some Suddenly a muffled scream met Leah's ears, and she spun, wide eyed into the distance. Her heart pounded in her chest, like a drum, the beat uneven. She didn’t believe that was supposed to happen. It felt like a ball of dread had crawled into her throat, and worried thoughts flooded her head, as if they were whispering negative possibilities. She took a breath, trying to calm herself and took a step forward. The snow sank below her and she let out a gasp as the pieces fit together in her head. She couldn’t breathe as she eyed the ground nervously. “Hello?” She whispered. “If- if you're there, give me a sign so I can find you.” Her voice grew as dread filled her stomach. She fell silent as a small bit of snow moved, where it was deepest.

She cursed under her breath before taking a cautious step forward. Nothing sunk beneath her this time, the snow must have started melting and then re-frozen, which meant whoever was under the snow couldn't get out without help. She trotted forward as quickly as possible, her light gray eyes bouncing back and forth to many places at once. She stopped abruptly at the place where the snow had moved and crawled to her knees. She started digging, praying out loud which she hadn’t done in years. Her fingers started to bleed as she got deeper, the snow was turning to ice quickly. Tears landed on her hands, and she didn’t even realize she was crying tears of fright. She finally gripped something solid, but not as cold as the snow and she pulled with all the strength she had. She closed her eyes as she was flung backward, the rabbit she had been pulling broke loose and was lying at the bottom of the steep hill, breathing shuddering breaths. Leah sprinted forward, crashing onto her knees as she turned to does face, checking for any sign of injury. There were lots of small cuts, but otherwise she was unharmed.

“Hey.” Said the doe, pulling her face away. Her light brown eyes still full of terror. “I’m Kat. Thanks for saving my life.”

Leah cocked her head, she knew she would like this doe already. “Hey, I’m Leah, and I want to teach you how to mop a window.”