The fortress Isidor-Fol made Selena feel like she was living in an anthill.

The long night, the dreaded storm of Luminos, had decided to pull one of its more devastating and dastardly tricks and arrived too soon. It wasn't upon them yet, but Selena had heard that some of the northern fortresses had taken a heavy pummeling. The problem, as Ragnar had explained to her, was that there was no way to predict where the storm would start from.

One year it was the southern forest, on the next it was the northern desolate plains.

Be that as it was, the storm had kicked every living soul on Luminos into action.

As it was her first year there and she was in the middle of her studies, Selena had gotten a pass at most of the work that needed to be done. She felt weird being shipped off into one corner of the fortress with the pregnant women and children who couldn't contribute, but Piper had eased her conscience.

"They're the people who need you the most," she'd told Selena. "Learn by doing."

That was a terrifying prospect, but Selena had agreed. No one else seemed to have any problem with her lack of duties either. Even Mjorn had started treating her a little bit better after the harbinger had revealed her strange specialty to the other warriors.

She supposed it was one of the few humanizing things about them – they did care for the women on Luminos. It just came with an insufferable sense of superiority and ownership.

Selena was sitting on one of the upper levels of the Hall of Earth. Her feet were dangling over the edge of the platform and she was observing the mayhem below.

Kathleen was commanding the forces like a general. The gigantic Gechs, the harvester titans that walked the planet for resources that couldn't be mined, had been called back in a hurry. She was in charge of distributing and organizing – a female's job, like Mjorn had announced to Selena a few days ago.

"I don't mind it," Kathleen had said when Mjorn marched away to judge her work. "It's for the good of the fortress. I might not like it, but Isidor-Fol is all that stands between us and a horrible way of death. For all the women and children here, I'll take a few days of Mjorn being a bigger asshole than he generally is."

Selena had laughed, nodding.

The relationship between her and Kathleen was strange. Awkward, to say the least. After the disastrous meeting, Piper hadn't taken her along for any other secret club meetings. Selena figured she'd gotten a lifetime ban for that.

"Does she still plan on going through with it?" she'd asked Piper when they were alone.

Piper had shrugged.

"I don't know, Selena," she said sadly. "She kind of blames me for what happened. I vouched for you and, well..."

"I'm sorry about that," Selena had said quickly. "I didn't mean to get you in trouble with the others. I just had to say it. Someone had to say it."

"I know," Piper replied, giving her a tired smile. "But I'm out of the loop now too, I'm afraid. Kathleen gives me monosyllabic answers when I try to pester her about it, so who knows? I hope she listens to you and postpones this, at least for a year. You were right. She has to think this through. Either she gets a pilot who can fly or she needs to do a practice run."

"Both are impossible," Selena pointed out. "No Nayanor will flip sides for us and she will be caught if she takes off in a ship and dares to return."

"Yeah," Piper agreed. "So it's anybody's guess what goes on in Kathleen's mind."

That had been that. Kathleen kept treating Selena with cold kindness, but she could feel the distance between them like the woman was dealing with her over a chasm. She was kept at an arm's length and now that Piper had lost her credibility too, they were in the dark.

From time to time, Selena saw the other women she'd met at the meeting. None of them gave her the time of day, not even a word of greeting.

She was being shunned.

And it didn't bother her nearly as much as she would have thought. Truth was, Piper was the only person there Selena genuinely liked. If she had to do with one close friend instead of a hundred passable acquaintances, Selena was fine with that.

Then, of course, there was Ragnar.

The reason why the fortress was – for a short while, at least – ruled by women, was that the warriors were hunting. The harbinger had sent out squad after squad to look for fresh meat before the fortress closed its gates. The winds outside were rising with rapid speed and there wasn't much time.

He assured Selena that he would be safe, but it didn't stop her from worrying every morning when Ragnar led his men out onto the fields. Apparently right before the storm was the best time to hunt, if Nayanors happened to be lucky to get some warning. The animals that lived on a planet where even an intelligent species struggled to survive were tougher than nails.

But they, too, were victims to the storm and animals were still animals. They had instincts and their time-tested method of survival was to bunk down for the month. Most of them were huge mammals capable of hibernating like bears for the long night.

If the warriors could find their underground caves, they were in for a feast.

One night, Ragnar had invited Selena outside. The smell of blood had been so violent she had almost thrown up, but the gesture was impressive nonetheless.

He'd killed a Fermanoli for her.

The humongous beast laid in the middle of the throne room, massive and so recently dead that Selena could have sworn it was still twitching.

Ragnar was beaming like a cat who'd just caught the biggest, baddest mouse there was.

"You will not be cold this storm," he had told her.

His armor was coated with the deep crimson of the creature and for his effort, Selena had done her absolute best to thank him with a smile before she darted away from the horrible smell.

"Admittedly it needs to be aired a bit before," Ragnar said, his voice carrying a hint of apology later that night when Selena had struggled to eat a single piece of meat.

Such was her life the day before everything changed.