House of Winter

Chapter 18, Part 1

L U M I

They travelled by wing or by foot, further and further Dorth, with the suns on their back, and long shadows stretched before them. Lumi became familiar with the ambling, shifting shape of her own shadow, which she followed for hours at a time. On sunny days she stepped into the path laid before her by her own shadow. But on grey days, she felt her own shadow's absence almost as strongly as the absence of her own kinnling.

Winter engulfed the land around them. They'd come a long way from the balmy heat of Singtsu. As they travelled further Dorth it was hard to believe they were still in the Fire Lands. They were glad for the winter supplies they'd picked up in a town they had passed, and the tents they slept under every night.

One night Lumi woke up feeling cold. She pulled the blanket around her, shivering into her kit. It was still dark outside the tent, and it probably would still be dark for a few hours. The night around them seemed so quiet. Eventually Lumi eased her way out of the blankets and pushed out through the tent flap. It was so cold. She looked up, to see the stars above her, the familiar constellations that she'd once seen when she lived in the mountains.

It seemed too quiet.

Lumi couldn't stop thinking about the fire army officers who had tried to stop her. She'd killed someone. She'd taken the life from someone.

She clutched at her body, trying to contain her breathing, trying not to panic. She had the overwhelming desire to burn everything, and mostly to burn herself. If she gave herself the familiar comfort of the burns on her skin, then maybe she wouldn't feel this desperate guilt and horror and sadness at her own actions.

But even in the middle of the night, while Tom and Doctor Hart were sleeping in a tent, Lumi knew she couldn't burn herself. She wasn't in the safety of the palace, with warm baths and good food and comfortable beds available to her. She already spent every day in pain, whether it was from the long days flying on the back of Kobuk or the cold nights lying on stony ground. She was constantly hungry, constantly tired. If she burnt herself, she'd feel even worse. And she was terrified that Doctor Hart or Tom would find out.

She stood outside the tent, watching Mondli and Kobuk sleeping soundly, their giant bodies easing up and down with their breathing. Lumi considered nestling against Kobuk's body for warmth. Instead, she looked up at the stars.

She saw the first snow.

It seemed to fall so slowly, gently drifting through the air, and landing on her hair and nose. She held her hands out and watched plump snowflakes melt on her palm. She inhaled deeply, feeling the sting of the cold air in her lungs, and then breathed out again.

She remembered seeing snow at Hilverton College - it had snowed earlier, because it was higher up in the mountains, and Lumi remembered seeing the snowflakes at night, after her first training session with Doctor Hart, Ari, Katja, Sanna, and Tom. Lumi felt a sliver of sadness, wondering where the girls would be. She hoped they were safe.

The fire they'd set had long since gone out, and after a few minutes of watching the snow, Lumi considered relighting it and sitting by it for warmth. But as she bent down low over the fire, she found she couldn't start her own fire in her palm.

She stared down at her palms, willing the fire to come. It had blazed so brightly after she had quelled the starrling's life. She had quelled, and the woman had died. Lumi had killed her. She had pulled her power and her life from her, and afterwards her magic had blossomed and burned. Again, as she remembered the moment, panic surged through her body.

But now, as she sat shivering, her palms remained cold.

Lumi rubbed her hands together and then crawled back into the tent, where she found her blanket had still retained some of her heat. She wrapped it around herself twice, covering her face so her own hot breath warmed her face against the blanket, and she closed her eyes.

When she woke in the morning, she saw just one sun on the Lothern sky. It was Frostsday, the coldest day of the week, where one sun was eclipsed by the other. The ground was blanketed in a thin white layer of snow that had melted in the footprints Tom had left when he walked across the campsite.

They packed up after breakfast, just as more snow started to fall.

Lumi clutched onto Tom's back as Kobuk launched the two of them into the air. When they'd been on the ground the snow seemed soft and gentle, but they flew into harsh crystals of snow that bit at their exposed faces.

Tom's magic allowed him some control of the snowstorm as they flew, and he pushed the snow away so that it left them a clear path through the air.

Below, the land was covered in white. They flew for hours over thick forest blanketed in snow, and saw no movement or sign of life anywhere. The day never warmed up, and Lumi spent all of it pressed into Tom's back, shivering.

They flew into the night, knowing it was safer to find a town and beg for shelter than it would be to try to camp in the forest. They had no food and not enough warm clothes, so when they finally saw flickers of fire below, they started a descent towards the light.

The town sat perched on a river, with ice floes drifting past. There was a wall around the town, marked with fires in torches, and they landed at the gate to see two tigers and their starrling riders keeping guard.

"Who goes there?" came a shout, in the fire tongue.

Lumi took a breath and dismounted from the wolf. "I'm Lumiko Tsukasai, granddaughter of Empress Kiyo. I've come to seek shelter."

"You've no tiger, and you have companions with a wolf and a lion," the guard said. "What is your business?"

"I'm fleeing the Singtsu capital. My brother is a tyrant like his father and intends to kill me. I'm heading Dorth in search of the town of Reunsgar where my mother was born."

The guard stared at her. "You are the daughter of the fire twins," he said. "I remember them passing through, twenty years ago. They looked just like you."

Lumi breathed out. "Will you host us for a night? We're in desperate need of a place to sleep, food to eat, and more warm clothes."

"We'll do whatever we can to help you, princess. We don't want another war. But we are so isolated out here. We trade once a month along the river that heads to the port and we get news then. The last we heard, you and the prince were in Lombardia, and you were engaged to the Lombardian prince."

"Tai killed the Lombardian prince," Lumi said.

"Stars," the guard cursed. "Please, Princess, come inside and get warm. Who are your friends?"

"This is Tomas Wilder and Doctor Hart, both are Lombardians."

"You're Tomas Wilder?" the guard said. "You're a kinncharger! I've read about your fights! And this is your wolf Kobuk!"

The guard seemed delighted and yelled out to his other friends, all of whom came to look at Tom.

Lumi grinned. "I'm lucky to be travelling with you," she said quietly to him in Starg. "They're all fans."

Tom grinned. "Of course they are."

Within minutes, Tom was dragged away by a group of young men who wanted to talk to him about battle strategy, despite the fact that Tom spoke only a few words of Kaio, and none of the men spoke a lick of Starg or Norrlish.

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