(Occurs during Chapter Four, when Kaelen crosses the Iron Moors.)
Kaelen's horse collapsed two days into the Moors. Starved, frostbitten, and afraid. He buried it with stone and continued on foot, haunted by a memory colder than the wind.
It had been a year ago, before the fires. Before the Crown.
Aelis had begged him not to leave.
"You don't owe the king your soul," she'd said. "You've given enough. Just stay. One season. One."
Kaelen had shaken his head. "They need me on the northern wall. The Rimefolk are pushing again."
"What about me?" she said. Her eyes had brimmed with tears. "You always leave when I need you most."
"I'll be back by harvest," he'd promised.
But the snows came early. And Kaelen had returned to smoke and silence.