When Seiled began to speak, Lixue paid close attention to the musical words he linked together with ease. Her hands cupped her feet under her and nearly green eyes were focused on his form. Even though he was leaned back in the chair, holding a relaxed position, his body was tense. Lixue noticed in the way his muscles were tight and the way he did not move. His dark eyes were staring at the wall over Lixue’s shoulder. If Lixue had to guess, she would have assumed Seiled was reliving the event even as he told it.
“The day was young. In truth, the sun was barely winking over the horizon and kissing the Avanthal snow. The city was still asleep, tucked in their beds and dreaming of the future. But not I. I was up early, had been lying in my bed and trying to muster the courage to move for several bells. My nerves were shot and I had talked myself out of the adventure several times. As it was, I still slipped from my bed. My young mind convinced itself my friend would go without me and I feared being left behind. I foolishly thought the adventure was the most important thing in the world. Slipping from my warm bed, I snuck out of the Arvinta. I went to sleep dressed the night before, so I would be ready and would not wake my family.”
Seiled took a deep breath and continued on. “As we had agreed, my friend met me outside the hold. On silent feet, we pushed through the streets toward the outer wall. Our breaths mingled together, little clouds of air. The Icewatch guards asked us only a few questions that includes where we were going, what we were going to do, when to expect us back, etc. I was surprised at how few questions they asked us, two young children who wanted out of the city at an ungodly house. I was certain they would notice how I was nervous and paranoid. But our excuse of taking a morning hunting trip was believed, even though we had no weapons. Once we were out of sight of the gates, my friend and I were ecstatic. Slipping under the radar had been so easy!”
There was a pause as Lixue readjusted. Seiled’s eyes flickered to her and then away again. “My friend and I were on a hunt. We had not lied to the guards, but we had not explained either. Together, we were determined to find a Frostfawn Deer. Even if we had to search all day and all night, we would find one, even better if it was a Frostling. We childishly believed if we had managed to see one of the creatures we would become popular beyond belief and would be able to tell stories about it for the rest of our life. We also believed people would come to us for advice on how to hunt the creatures. Neither of us paid any mind to the fact that we were in the Whitevine Hold instead of the Frostfawn. This was not what our lives were supposed to consist of, but we had both been romanced by the stories the elders told.”
The way Seiled strung words together left Lixue in awe. His deep voice rang with both emotion and strung the words together as if there were no spaces. Seiled’sVantha accent rang true and Lixue, like many others who were not used to such a beautiful language, could only compare it to a spoken song. There was a hesitancy to tell his story, as if Seiled was uncertain if Lixue would understand. The insecurity echoed in the undertones. When he glanced over at Lixue again and saw her enraptured expression, Seiled continued speaking, a little bolder now. Lixue offered him a gentle smile and flicked a hand at him, as if to encourage him to keep going.
“For bells upon bells, we trekked through the snow. It was not a fun task and my friend and I would switch places occasionally. One bell I would lead and shove my way through the deep snow and then he would. Though our legs grew heavy and our stomachs growled, we continued to press on. Along the way, he and I discussed what the meeting would look like when we finally found the Frostfawn Deer and, hopefully, a Frostling. In our young minds, we assumed the Frostfawn Deer would welcome us and perhaps even allow us to pet it.” Pink painted Seiled’s cheeks, to Lixue’s amusement. “So, bell upon bell we walked. And we talked about everything. About the fame we were sure to receive for such an accomplishments. About how our parents were most likely awake by now and searching frantically for us. In our minds, we did not think about how they would still get after us when we got back. In our minds, finding a Frostfawn Deer would make everything alright."
There was a pause as Seiled grabbed his sandwich off the desk and handed it to Lixue. She knew better than to argue with him by this point and bit into the food. Even if the man was persistent, Lixue respected him more for noticing the turmoil her situation had caused. He was helping her out, keeping her healthy, when he could be working with another patient and monitoring the doctors who were new to the staff. Well, newer than Lixue. The ones with less experience and the ones who had to be watched for mistakes.
Seiled waited until she bit into the sandwich before falling back into his story. "Anyways. Only when the sun was high in the sky and beating down on our backs did we begin to question what we were doing. Neither of us had been looking for tracks of any sort and we had not told our parents where we going. Besides completing a task better left to a different hold, we had no experience being outside of the gates. No food lay in our stomachs and no weapons were on our person. If something were to happen, we were truly defenseless. At best, we could use our marks of Morwen. At worse, we could and probably would die.
"I urged my friend to turn around, to come back to the city with me. I was hungry and, even with the mark of Morwen and my three layers of clothes, cold. Worry was snaking through me at the prospect of scaring our parents and what they would do in retaliation. The wind was picking up, increasing in velocity as the day moved on. Soon enough, snow bit at our uncovered faces and mercilessly teased our open fingers until they were blushing and stinging with damaged pride. My friend insisted on going onward and, being the boy I was, I followed.
"Only when we were too far from the city to turn back and reach it before dark did my friend realize what had happened. Only then did he turn to me for guidance and ask my opinion. Only then did the tears start to fall, both in worry and fear. What if we did not make it back to the city? What if our parents had given up looking? What if one of the many wilderness predators found us? The prospect was more frightening to us than the question of how we were going to make shelter. We did not even think about how we were going to survive the night when we were so used to the cozy beds in our Arvintas.
"When snow began to fall on top of us, we panicked. When we tried to turn around to go home, we discovered our tracks had been wiped away in the wind and covered with the white tears of the sky. Scared and hungry, we huddled together and tried to keep each other awake. Coming from the Whitevine Hold, we had enough knowledge to know what frostbite and hypothermia looked like. But we were also inexperienced in the field and knew nothing besides the advice of: Keep warm and do not sleep." Seiled sighed. "So, we did just that. One after another, we shared jokes and stories. We shared memories and gossip. We kept talking and talking and talking. I think it was our fear of the silence that kept our mouths moving and our eyes constantly checking the horizon. I am not certain of what we looked for. Perhaps help, perhaps the Frostfawn Deer we had set out to find, or perhaps death coming to find us.
"Bells passed. When we ran out of memories to share, we started making things up. Such as trying to name all of the stars or trying to see if we could spot Dira's face in the distance. Occasionally, we drew in the fresh snow. Anything to keep our minds busy." Didn't that sound familiar? "The storm we were caught in relinquished its hold when the sun rose. By then, we were covered in snow and the shivers we had once experienced were gone. Our fingers were numb and our faces chapped. We both looked near death and we both felt the whispering call of Dira. Together, we fought against the urge to give up and go to sleep. In an attempt to concentrate, we played with our marks from Morwen to see who could create the best picture with the ice.
"I had the idea of using our marks for something else. What if we could protect ourselves from the elements? I had seen workers use their marks when building. Why couldn't we?" Here, Seiled gave a faint smile, as if remembering a detail he did not share with Lixue. "Half-frozen, we began to work. By three bells time, we were on the inside of a dome made completely of ice. There was no room to move and it was still cold, but at least we were out of the biting wind. At least we quit looking for the predators we knew would be near us soon enough. Fitfully, we slept with the agreement of waking the other up within half a bell. Before we started sleeping, though, we both told each other what to do or say in the case that one of us did not wake up.
"I think I told him to make sure my medical kit was clean." Lixue had to smile, even at such a depressing statement. "Sometime during our sleep cycle, both of us fell asleep. I am not certain for how long or what we dreamed about, but I remember awaking with a start and shoving my friend awake. How could we let such a thing happen? What if one of us had not woken up? The prospect was terrifying, but what was even scarier was our surroundings. So upset at our folly were we, we let our guard slip. The soft crunch of snow outside of our dome silenced up quickly and we huddled together, sharing looks of fear. Something pressed against our dome's wall, growled, and then disappeared. We stayed huddled together for bells after that, uncertain if something was staying outside of our dome and waiting for us to make noise so it could eat us.
"During this time, we both fell back to sleep. The next time I awoke, many things had happened. According to the doctors, my body shut down in order to survive. Our parents had sent out an Icewatch Patrol, who discovered our dome in the snow. We were both passed out inside, too hypothermic and out of it to even notice. The Icewatch Patrol rushed us back to Avanthal, where we were immediately seen by doctors. My friend was in intensive care for a week before he was released, having suffered frostbite and hypothermia." Here, Seiled closed his eyes. Lixue wanted to reach out and place a hand on his shoulder, to comfort him and encourage him to keep going. "I was in the medical center for a season. My body had shut down in order to let me survive and it took that long just for my body to reawaken. My family did not think I was going to make it." Seiled murmured something else, as if admitting a secret detail, "I did not think I was going to make it."
Lixue tapped her foot against his, effectively catching Seiled's attention. The man's head snapped in her direction and, for once, unguarded eyes watched her. Lixue offered a gentle smile and teasingly repeated his words from earlier, "Avanthal is glad to have you back." |
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by Lixue on November 6th, 2012, 1:42 pm 
