“How did you do it?” Kole turned to her.
Her lip curled. “You will likely only learn that if you ever find yourself on the other end of one of my arrows.”
“I guess I will need to learn to go on with never knowing,” he mumbled, and she then smiled fully.
“Boy!” Edda called for the attention of a Bavadrin child. He scurried over to the old witch at once. Large warm brown eyes looked up at her. “Run ahead and make sure a warm bath isprepared for the Leader Superior.” The boy nodded and ran off into the forest towards the town. Ariana was going to need that bath to bring her back to life after freezing out in that lake.
Everyone endured the cold, watching the fire consuming the pallet. Ariana remained in that water, her back to all. I wondered what emotions her face portrayed at that moment and then regretted even thinking about it. I did not wish to see her tortured and sad. Yet, I could not look away. While everyone watched the distant fire, I watched her. A breeze gently pulled at her hair yet did not touch the mist that she controlled. There was a distant sound of a liquid droplet falling into the water, and I wondered if it was the sound of a tear that had escaped from her.
Still, we had not spoken since her return, not really. I told myself that I would allow her some time once she returned, but it was challenging to stay away. I walked past her room last night just to make sure she was safe. The rhythmic beating of her heart let me know that she was in there. The heavy sigh let me know that she was awake even deep into the night. Neither of us slept well that night.
Ariana and Willis finally turned, making their way out of the lake. Though she stood straight with her shoulders back and enveloped in fog, I could tell she was shivering. Shaking, wet, and hardly dressed for such weather, she made her way past some of her people, and everyone seemed to come alive as if awoken from a sorrow-filled trance. They began gathering what belongings they may have brought, turning to start the track home.
Ariana appeared drained, each of her steps incredibly slow as she walked. What energy she had was zapped by the freezing cold. A tremble worked its way down her body, yet she did not fold her hands across her chest to warm herself. She might nothave minded the torture of the cold, but I could not bear seeing her this way.
Fire was not the only thing my conjuring allowed me to do. I called on my strength, pulling it to my skin, releasing heat before a fire ever sparked. Never had I needed for cloaks or anything for warmth. I only wore them to fit in with everyone else when the seasons changed. In seconds, my cloak warmed enough that wisps of heat curled from it.
Weaving through the slow-moving Bavadrins, I made my way to Ariana.
“Better let her be right now.” Kiora appeared at my side. A trace of worry passed over her as she looked in Ariana’s direction. I moved past the Sparrow, carefully stepping around others.
“Hey.” It was all I could think of to say.
Ariana slowed, turning her green eyes to me. She looked a shell of who she typically was, haunted by pain. I hated it.
Slipping off my cloak, I wrapped it around her while she simply stood there, viewing me without so much as a word. Her lack of protest was taken as acceptance, and I began fastening the buttons to keep the heat in. Her gaze weighed heavily on me, observing.
When I finished, her hand lifted, touching mine, and I halted, looking at her once more. There was such a mixture of emotions swirling in those eyes, and I found myself wishing that I could have done more for her.
“Thank you, Erik,” she whispered before her hand dropped from mine. Turning, she continued the journey home with my cloak around her. I would have given her my shoes if she hadn’t been likely to fall in them.
“I’m surprised.” The Sparrow came up beside me oncemore. “I imagined you trying to swoop her up and carry her home.”
The thought had crossed my mind, but Ariana would likely not have approved.
The Sparrow viewed me with narrowed eyes. “Are you not now cold yourself? Or do you think you’re a big strong Lysian, and so the cold won’t touch you the way it would her?”
“It won’t,” I answered her, holding up my hand. In an instant, a fire began dancing across my fingertips.
“Neat trick.” She smirked. “How do you do it?” Her question did not make sense, for surely she knew what I was. Though Kole had recently asked the same question of her, I just realized that she was subtly providing an answer.
“Find yourself at the end of one of my flames, and then you will know,” I said, and her smile widened. That was how the Sparrows did it. How each of their arrows found their proper marks in such conditions. They were conjurors, all of them.
3
ARIANA
The departure had been perfect. Obscure shadows painted the morning, reflecting the feelings of my soul, cold and dark. It provided a seamless atmosphere to dive into the depths of mourning.
My life had been forever changed by a cruel twist of fate. The worst was that I had been warned. The Spirit told me of the difficult path ahead, and I had not heeded the prophecy appropriately. Had I listened, then perhaps Landin would still have been living amongst us, making us laugh at his foolish jokes.
His laugh. I would never hear it again.
My shattered heart managed to crack further.
I numbly walked to the hot bath drawn for me, steam still rising from the water. Gently, I removed Erik’s cloak, hanging it on a chair. It smelled so much like him. The scent brought a sliver of life back into my broken and mangled soul. The smell of him probably gave me more comfort than even the warmththe cloak provided. Peeling off my dress, I dropped it on the floor before going to the tub.
Sore muscles contracted as the bathwater touched my cold skin, burning as I sank into the tub. I sat there, too tired to clean myself. After a while, my bones began finally warming.
