As Brent finished tracing some of the constellations that had come to mind, he looked back at his shivering girlfriend and realized his protective spells had done nothing. Nothing...at all. He could feel his heartbeat quicken in panic, and he was almost sure his stomach had started turning flips.

"SKYLAR!" he called out again, although this time it was because a degree of panic had rose inside of him, and he was becoming desperate to help her. In that moment of desperation and somewhat anger, he raised his foot to give the cage a swift kick, but he luckily stopped himself in time. His girlfriend was inside that cage, and as angry and hurt as he was to see her inside of it and shivering like that, he needed to get a level head.

A tiny tear fell down his cheek.

...and then another.

He knelt down beside the cage and lowered his eye level to her own eye level. Yes, he was technically kneeling in the snow, but he was confident in the protective spells he'd cast and didn't think for a second that he was putting his own self in harm's way. "Skylar?" he half-whispered, as he thought he heard a hint of his own name escape her lips. Her icy hand was being raised to his, and at first, he thought she was simply trying to hold his hand.

Then he saw it--something. He couldn't tell what it was just yet, because it was enclosed in her hand. "Is this a clue? Do you know something?" he asked her. "Skylar, how can you help me? What do you know?" He reached out and accepted the off-white object she held out to him. He almost wondered if it was a star chart or something. It would be helpful. A sextant would be useful, too, even though Brent was pretty sure he had no idea how to use one.