30 XXIX. Let the game begin

There was a little ray of sun that morning. It put it lukewarm fingers through the opened curtain in Nä-ræl's chambers, tapping the forehead of the princess who opened her eyes slowly.

She sat up straight, pulling the eiderdown off her body and placed her cold feets on the floor. Her nightdress clung to her body like a leech while she stretched her body that felt stiff. She sat back in the bed, wriggling her toes in order to exercise them a little before standing up and going over to the window. That was her morning ritual.

To look at the snow clad hilltop that could be viewed from her window and look out below at the snowy ground. She noticed that the snow on the ground was deeper than she had seen it yesterday so it most likely snowed at night.