Following Pylea's lead, Ember stood and stretched a little to work the kinks out of her muscles. Of course her body had maintained more uncomfortable positions and upon more unforgiving surfaces... but she could not remember anything of those days. The more she learned of others in the wagons, the luckier she sometimes felt that the span of her Durance was a relative, if unsettling, blank in her limited memory. Smiling at her weary host, she offered no kiss as her freely affectionate friend did, but simply ran her fingertips for a moment over the parchment-like skin on the back of his hand. "May your sleep be restfully dreamless," she murmured.<br/><br/>Then she was off, snatching her patchy, hand-me-down cloak from the hook by the small door at the rear of the wagon and tying it securely on. She was not nearly as immune to cold as Pylea, and it was a chill wind indeed that blew around the wagons as they descended the ladder. Of course, the other girl had her cheeks hot and a deeper red than usual by the time her feet hit the ground and she drew the cloak more firmly around her, falling into step alongside the wagon together. "You really are an unending font of gossip," she observed, and the serious girl feeling particularly light of heart in the false brightness of the swirling, lanternlit snow, asked playfully, "Is that something else the Sisters train you in?"<br/><br/>As they came to the front of the wagon they both fell quiet, and Ember's bright blue eyes peeked around the edge of her moss-and-bark colored hood as the expected figure came into view. As always, the sheer bulk if the man took her breath away, even as he seemed to half-blend with the snow thanks to his pristine fur. How he had found her shivering form in this unending storm whilst pulling the wagon she did not know - perhaps one day she might borrow a dram of Pylea's courage to ask him.<br/><br/>Then Liam greeted them with an elaborately florid bow that sparked bright giggles from her companion and softer but no less amused ones from her own throat. But they didn't stop, though she thought she saw Hannibal's lips move. No doubt the big man could have made himself heard if he really wanted to. She kept her peace until they were several steps out of earshot along the next wagon, and tugged the side of her hood out of the way to make a girlish demand. "All right then, Gossip Keeper - what if anything can you tell me about him?"<br/><br/>Handing out that piece of bait, knowing it would be an irresistable little challenge to bring spilling forth from her friend's lips just about every relavent tidbit she could possibly want. Ember kept silent as they strolled, listening with interest. Yet her lesson had not left her, and her gaze roved thoughtfully over the cookfires that made a second ring inside the circle of wagons protecting the brief camp from the worst of the snowy wind. As their walk curved, she was able to steal a glance back toward Nikodemus' wagon - where she saw Liam sway, and fall.<br/><br/>It stopped her in her tracks - and then the snow erupted. What was there for the unpleasantly surprised girl to do. Ember caught her breath and let out a scream, grabbing for her friend and backpeddaling instinctively toward the shelter of the nearest wagon's side.