The following day, Irene woke up to more snow piled on the roof, but the sun shining down on them was far different than the days before.
Before going to sleep, Sir Gunnar told her that if the snowstorm was behind them, they would leave that day.
The thought of having to leave caused her to sit down for a moment. Despite how motivated she was to return to the Duke's Tower, there was a bit of sadness that her father wouldn't be coming back with her, nor would he be there when spring rolled around and the floodplains filled.
She collected herself enough to know that these thoughts weren't going to motivate her and there wasn't time to wallow in self-pity when there were so many duties ahead.
No longer was she merely an apprentice training to prove herself as a knight, she was the highest-ranked active knight's apprentice which meant that she needed to stick to Sir Gunnar and do whatever he asked of her.
