Terran listened with disgust.  This woman was simply a girl and was going to get herself killed.  It was not his fight, but his conscience pricked him.  He could at least see her safe to the citadel.  after that the little fool was on her own.  He knew his wife wouldn't have approved, but she was not around anymore.  The realities of a cruel world had caught up with her, in the end.  If there was anything Terran had learned over the years, it was that you could not fight reality.  Ducking your head and believing that some pollyanna goddess was going to keep you safe was foolish.  The gods simply watched, judged and only occasionally intervened.<br/><br/>Terran signaled for the group to move on.  The darkness would descend in a few more hours, and he waned the comfort of a warm inn, instead of another night huddled on the frozen ground.  He cursed whichever god had created the frozen wasteland.  It served little purpose but to give one a space to exist in.<br/><br/>After another three hours of trudging along, the citadel was in sight.  It was a massive, rounded, stone keep, surrounded by smaller buildings.  Red Imperial banners flew from every tower, mocking Terran's attempt to escape Imperial influence.  The citadel stood on a high hill, with a small town circling the base of the hilll.  From a mile away, Terran could see the smoke of fires and the movement of large wagons.