As she looked around at the scenery, Adrianna was stunned. It looked like a land lost somewhere off the face of the earth. It was beautiful yet eerie. Cold wind was blowing at them at a high velocity, making them shiver each time the wind passed by. Dmitri wrapped Adrianna in his arms when he saw her teeth chattering. Together, the three of them went to the inn and knocked on its door. Moments later the door opened and trio looked at him with surprise.

"Grandfather!" shouted Adrianna with thrill in her voice. She leapt at him to hug him tightly.

​​

Ed was equally surprised to find them outside as he embraced his granddaughter. He gave out a loud laugh as the tears gathered in his eyes. "You found me!"

"What do you mean? You sound as if you were lost in this winter wonderland," she complained.

Ed laughed again. He was so happy that he felt words would just fall short. He hugged his granddaughter tightly forgetting the other two standing on the door. Suddenly a gush of chilly wind lashed around them. It slammed the doors and windows somewhere inside the inn as if they were chaotic drum beat. "Come in all of you or you will freeze!" said Ed as he ushered all of them inside and closed the door.

As they walked inside, they saw a small fire burning inside in a corner and the place was unusually warm inside despite the freezing cold outside. The walls were made from red shiny rock as they underground when they were climbing the stairs. There was a small bed of dried grass in the corner and a faint smell of freshly roasted meat. Adrianna saw in the background. There were burnt embers of charcoal in a barbeque, which were still glowing red.

"Have you come to spend the day with your old grandfather?" asked Ed as he lead them to the area where the dried grass was.

Adrianna sat down and wondered about the place. Why was her grandfather there? She had thousands of questions in her mind. She was about to ask him when all of them heard a low grunt from somewhere. They looked in the direction of the sound and saw a beast with a deer body and a bird's face coming towards them. Shocked, Adrianna and Fleur became alert and were ready to cast a spell on it when Ed stopped them. "Don't worry, he is my pet Mun…" he said as Mun came and leaned his face in Ed's hands as if showing gratitude to him.

Ed remembered how Howard had asked him to stay in the inn to take care of it since Grant had died. He had gone to the forest to gather wood for the inn one day and never returned. Mun was abandoned and would cry for his master everyday. His cries were heard one day when a herd of wizards flew over the area after attending the council meeting. This was the same inn Ed had come to stay while on his way to the council meeting a few months back. He shook his head when he remembered Grant…

"Mun is also my guard. Unfortunately, he couldn't go out much these days due to the weather…" said Ed as he patted it.

Adrianna was finding everything strange. "Grandfather, why are you here in this strange place? Please come back to the wizard kingdom."

"Adri, sometimes one has to make decisions in life and I have made mine. I want to spend the rest of my life in this place. I like it."

"There is nothing here Grandfather except vast expanse of snow. Who would come here to ever meet you? Coming here is such a huge problem," said Adrianna feeling terrible for her grandfather as to why did he want to spend his life in a desolate place like that.

Ed laughed, "Adri, this inn does get its share of visitors. Witches, wizards, humans, werewolves, vampires… everyone come here…"

"Why would anyone come here grandfather?" she asked feeling all the more weird. There was nothing around and it wouldn't exactly be called a holiday destination.

"When the time comes you will know, child…" he said with a smile on his old, creased face. "Now tell me why have you come here risking your life. Who allowed you to come here?"

Adrianna looked at Dmitri in a reproaching way. He was looking towards the ground. Then he looked up and answered bravely, "Ed, I have ordered execution of Kuro and his sons for rebellion. They had waged a war against the Blue Moon Pack showing their dissidence in open. Had they not openly shown their rebellion, I would have considered but now being the supreme alpha, I had to take a tough decision."

Ed looked up at Dmitri with wide eyes. He felt a sharp pain in his heart. His entire race was being wiped out in a matter of minutes. Slowly, he stood up and walked outside the inn. Adrianna rushed after him, but Dmitri stopped her, "This is not small news… let him vent it out…"

Ed gave a loud howl and shape shifted. He ran towards the snow-covered mountain. He had always known that a time would come when Kuro would be executed, but he hadn't expected for his grandsons to also be involved. He had done so much on his journey to save Adrianna that he hadn't spared any time for his immediate family. Even though his grandsons had never really cared about him, they were still his blood and he would be happy even watching over them from afar. His emotions were in turmoil.

Back in the inn, Adrianna cried as she tried to mentally communicate with Ed, but there wasn't any answer. As they continued to wait for Ed's return, it began to get late into the evening. Adrianna became worried.

"Adrianna, we need to go back," said Fleur. "It is getting dark and returning to the portal is going to be a problem if we don't go now."

Adrianna nodded and they started to exit the inn. Dmitri removed the rock. Just as they were about to go back, Ed howled from behind. They turned around sharply. Adrianna was so happy that she ran towards her grandfather. Ed shape shifted and embraced his granddaughter. "Take care my child. And don't come back here unless things have settled, okay?"

Adrianna nodded.