She dreamed that day.
In her dream.
She had a warm fireplace. She saw Mother and her brother smiling, and the puppy, now fully grown, sleeping soundly at her feet. The door opened, and her father came home after a long day's work. He had kind eyes and leaned on a cane. She rushed over and threw herself into his arms, and he held her tightly, so very tightly. She would never have to endure the bitter winter cold again.
But his embrace grew tighter and tighter, until it hurt, until she felt as though her bones were about to shatter.
Her father seemed to have changed.
He raised his cane and brought it down on her.
She jolted awake from the nightmare, gasping hollowly. Beside her ear, she heard the puppy whimpering as it licked her cheek. She reached up and touched the back of her neck.
Her fingers found that long scar.
Winter drew closer.
These past few days, the freezing wind had even woken her every day.
By then, she had finally saved up a good deal of food and made herself a ragged garment against the cold from scraps of cloth she had scavenged. Shirley had told her back then how to take advantage of being a child, how to sneak aboard a ship unnoticed and travel from one place to another.
She began spending some time every night watching the dockworkers when the freighters docked in the early hours.
She watched them carry pile after pile of cargo aboard the ships.
She also learned that those ships traveled to many places.
But that day, Mother had told that man.
She would take the last scheduled sailing of the day to the Southern Continent.
And each month's sailings followed fixed routes and timetables.
She waited quietly,