Take a walk outside. Try to clear my head.

“Fuck it.”

You walk over to Alexandra and tell her you’re going to take a walk to get out of the cave air. She blinks and looks at you. “Oh, really?”

“Yeah, I’m tired of this place and want to stretch out a bit.”

“I took a walk outside yesterday for the same reason, but I didn’t go alone.” She comments.

“Don’t worry. I won’t go off far.”

Alexandra makes a face, worried about something. “Be careful. I’d like it if all 3 of us return to Amara No one hurt. No one missing. Just us unbattered. I really need this to work out.”

“Why?”

Surprisingly, she smiles at your question. “You know what, Warren. You’re not so bad. You and I should hang out a little more after all this shit is over with.”

You let out a laugh. “Wow. Look at you. I thought I was only good for one thing.”

Her smile widens. You realize she’s actually kind of cute on her own. Then, her smile fades into a loose smirk, and she regards you with a friendly glance. “I know, I know. So shut the fuck up about it, yeah? Take your walk. Thanks for the heads up. I’ll know better than to panic when I don’t see you now.”

Once you’re dressed up and armed, you go outside; you find that the snow is melting and the weather is much better. Of course, it’s cold, and the wind bites through your layers, but you can ditch the snow shoes after a couple of feet. You even manage to find a trailhead buried under some snow that would have been wholly hidden when all the snow first came.

You use this trail to continue your walk. The clearing is a little rough, and you encounter a few patches of thick mud, which slows you down slightly, but you continue without much worry.

Your mind doesn’t clear. Instead, it becomes busy, and your mind works overtime in making ideas to get Flora out of Amara's grip. You also considered the outcomes of double-crossing Amara and the rest of the ARS, but when that happens, you also remember Kenji’s warning that they have a long list of enemies.

You watch your feet as it disappears in the snow and reappears on the reflective surface of the powdery flakes. You are aware of how stupid you are right now, but you cannot snap out of your train of thought. So you press on for several more minutes until you suddenly walk up to a ledge.

Luckily, you aren’t in danger of bodily harm. The ledge is more of a step. You look up and spot a cabin. You lower yourself and spy on the building for a few seconds before you start looking around. There didn’t seem to be any other people, but if they didn’t want to be seen, it would be easy to stay hidden.

Feeling a little curious, you decide to explore the building. Once you close in on the cabin, you are surprised to see it in relatively good condition. The windows are unbroken, the door is closed, and there is no sign of recent activity. It might have been strange, but you figured it was used by the smugglers and hasn’t been accessed since the snowstorm.

When you get to the front door, you try to open it. To your surprise, it opens without a struggle. Once you are filtered inside, you find only one room. A fireplace is built into the wall, and a small cooking area is on the right. On the left are bunk beds. A large couch in the center of the cabin is big enough to seat 3. Everything is clean and ready for use.

You got over to the fireplace and looked inside. It’s empty, but next to the fireplace are logs and tinder. Now wanting to stay in here, you go ahead and start a fire. Once you have a fire snapping in place, you sit on the couch and listen to the relaxing sound of the fire.

You know this isn’t right, but you feel too comfortable to be alarmed. You lean your head back and sigh, closing your eyes as the warmth takes over. For some inexplicable reason, your pants tighten as your cock grows.

“You seem troubled,” a voice says beside you.

One of your eyes opens, and peek over. It’s Astrid, and she’s a black shirt and a heavy black sweater. Her hair is in its natural ponytail. You blush and look away, apologizing as if you’ve walked in on her naked. You can’t see it, but you somehow feel her smile warm the room like the flames in the fireplace. “You can stay here,” she tells you.

“I wasn’t expecting you to,” you say. “How…where am I?”

Astrid comes over and hugs you softly. You could break down in her arms. All of your earthy emotions are with you, and all the stress you’ve buried threatens to spill. “You’re just with me,” is all she tells you.

The feelings that your mind wants to express go further than Flora than your contracting. It goes back to every troubling moment in life. All the trauma you’ve experienced. All the bad things that haven’t yet been forgotten. You wrap yourself around her like a long-term wife and press your face into her shoulder. She squeezes you tighter and tells you she understands, and you know it’s true.

“Take your time,” Astrid says. “Take your time, baby. I’m here for you.”