Once they were away from the hustle and bustle of the village full of excited, shocked people, Mikail and Silvana embraced by the oak tree. Silvana was just in ecstasy at his side, but there were many thoughts troubling Mikail. Out of the twelve mysterious maidens, would poor, good, true Silvana be chosen for the Gods, to die that day for spring to come faster? Also, their behaviour together might seem somewhat inappropriate to the older men in the tribe, by now Mikail ought to have betrothed to Silvana. Mikail tried to push his demonic thoughts off his mind and instead concentrate solely on the angelic qualities of his love, but he could not. Too much did he treasure every single second with Silvana, too much did he he want her with him for the rest of his days.

They ended up leaning against the tree, holding hands rather than hugging.

"You seem to not mind my small stature, my large nose,and the dimple on my chin," Mikail commented playfully to Silvana. "How could you possibly love a man as unappealing as I am?"

Realizing it was a tease, Silvana laughed and then seriously replied, "It is not for your looks that I love you. You have a fine, strong air, you have blessed manners and a good, kind, true heart. You are also knowledgeable of other people You are modest in your knowledge, which shows your humble side. You are the best man I have ever met, so I can little help being in love with you. And it is not just for my looks that you love me, my good man?" she nudged him playfully, grinning with humour as she had never done before.

"Of course not my treasure," he whispered, clutching her shoulders gently. "You are very sweet, humble, modest and kind. You are so strong and you excel in all your work. Not only are you stunningly beautiful, but you are such a wonderful person, with a likeable personality."

Silvana kept blushing, betraying the white of her attire. Instead of saying more she again hugged Mikail, wonderful, good Mikail. They then gave each other one last gentle kiss, before they both heard the leader of the mysterious maidens shout:

"Silvana! Funerary preparations!"

"I must leave you," sighed Silvana. "We will hopefully have time together soon."

"Indeed, goodbye my sweet."

As Mikail stayed by the tree, Silvan rushed across the snow, the front of her dress in one hand. He thought briefly of the people who died in the night. Mikail had not been well-acquainted with any of them, but acknowledged that it was a dear loss to the community. Two unmarried women, two able farmers, one healthy wife and two young children had been crushed underneath the roof and walls of their home, no longer protected by their once trusted sanctuary.

After several minutes of standing and doing nothing, Mikail began to pace slowly towards the village. His brother Wellem ran up to meet him, his face grim with anxiety.

"Mikail! I was looking everywhere for you! Where have you been? Oh never mind, the elders wanted you to go out with a hunting party, else we won't have a sufficient amount of food for the funeral and the sacrificial ceremony."

Mikail, nodded, ran off, stared at the ground and scowled. He disapproved of the "celebrations" of funerals and sacrifices, why there should be feasts at these times he had not an inkling. Nevertheless, the village would need more meat at some point and at least he would leave the gossiping, grumbling air of the village for a few hours or so.

Meanwhile, Silvana was beginning to work very hard. She needed to rush about from certain huts passing on supplies, errands and messages to mysterious maidens throughout the village. Secretly, Silvana's leader was angry with her for being distracted by the dirty, flirtatious Mikail and decided making Silvana work so hard would be a fit punishment.

Until the funeral, Silvana had virtually no rest, only one cup of water to drink and no food. Having had no nourishment had a very profound effect on Silvana, she developed a searing headache, lost strength to rush from house to house as fast as she was ordered and she only barely managed to run her errands well.

Mikail had less of a hard time. Although he had to stay crouching for over fifteen minutes at a time, waiting to shoot animals in the depths of the forest, the weather was not as bitingly cold as it had been, Mikail did not need to work so hard and he had a little food and water even before he left to hunt.

The hours passed slowly, Silvana rushed about performing errands and Mikail crouched and ran across the snow to shoot deer. At noon that day, the funeral began.