In a room at the inn, you were packing your travel gear. Outside the window, the sky was gray. But the window, which you had locked last night, was now half-open, and the fire in the hearth had dwindled to a small glow. Frost was quietly creeping up from the edge of the tatami mat.

The shoji screen slid open smoothly. Freezing rain was smiling. But the tatami at her feet was already frozen white.