Iron Frost - Clan of the Rim Chronicles #1

14

WHEN NOON CAME I found myself fully unprepared for what this lesson with Calder was going to be like. Not only was I worried about how my powers would react, but of being with Calder after our instance in the supplies pantry. After the knight warning he acted like it had never happened, but I couldn't forget something like that. It kept replaying over and over in my head, and it wouldn't stop. I wondered if it had done the same in his head, too.

I wanted so badly to know what he was thinking. I wanted to get inside his brain and figure him out. If only I could somehow push down his walls so I could let myself in, but they were like steel. For one vulnerable second they would lower down and he'd seem to open up, but then he'd realize so and a second later they would close again. I just wanted to know why.

Astrid acquired me different attire today than what I had been in since I'd arrived to the palace, and I was so relieved. It wasn't a dress but a brown shirt that seemed to be made of leather which wrapped around my waist, along with long sleeves and a row of buttons down the side of my stomach. I was given dark pants and high-kneed boots, and she did the usual of fixing my hair though I avoided the makeup today.

Calder was already in the garden waiting for me when I arrived, and I couldn't help but stare in awe of how beautiful the place was. Tall trees surrounding us were blanketed with snow, and a beautiful stone fountain with frozen water sat on the right of the entrance. There were snowy hedges and a perfect white archway that led to a sitting area on the end of the path.

Calder stood tall with his hands laced behind him, dressed in a black buttoned shirt and tan pants. Seeing him surrounded by the snow flurries starting to fall around us my heart fluttered. I then mentally slapped myself for even letting my heart do so, trying to brush off the heat flooding to my cheeks as I approached.

"Captain," I formally greeted with a smirk, trying to start the mood light so things wouldn't turn so dark like they did yesterday.

"Princess," Calder greeted back with his own smirk, and I was surprised he was playing along. "Shall we begin?"

I nodded. "Yeah, what's first?"

"First we go over the basics," Calder enlightened. "To use your powers you have to know them, and know how they work. All of us are different in how our chemistry uses the magic and puts it out when we need it to. Your power is driven by emotion, which is why it comes out at the least little you feel of fear or sadness. You have to learn to use those emotions at a controlled advantage."

"What. . .does that mean exactly?" I questioned, feeling absolutely dumbfounded.

Calder lightly chuckled, coming over to me. "It means you need to learn to put forth your powers in a way that you can handle. When you're upset you don't want to ice over an entire building unless you will it. Give me your hand and I'll show you."

He outstretched his palm for me to place mine there, but I was hesitant. I didn't want to get too close to him and things be awkward, but I also didn't want to hurt him like I did in that cave just a few days before.

"O-Okay. . ." I complied, slowly placing my hand in his.

Calder paused a moment and clenched his jaw as he held it. My stomach swarmed with butterflies and anxiousness of what he might do. But he quickly sprung back into the lesson, obviously shaking off whatever he was thinking. He pointed my hand out in front me while still holding onto it, my arm straight and fingers slightly seperated.

"Just take a slow, deep breath, and focus," he told me, his breath close to my ear and making me shiver. I did as he told me, not to focus on my power but to keep my knees from going weak.

"Aim for that tree," he pointed out, one that was about ten feet from us. "Your power will do the rest for you."

I nodded and focused my eyes intently on the tree, but when I tried to bring any ice to my fingertips nothing happened. I remembered that single moment yesterday when I was able to bring out my powers to break open the passage to the bottom wing, but it looked like that would be my only victory. I sighed, already frustrated. We tried like that for probably thirty minutes, and I was close to simply just giving up and retreating back to my room.

"You're not thinking hard enough. You need to bring emotion," Calder said.

"Calder, I really don't want to think about everything that's happened over the past four days," I told him, biting my lip.

"It doesn't just have to be about fear or sadness. Any emotion can bring out your power if you yearn for it. Happiness. . .love."

I turned my gaze to him and his eyes met mine, the air growing silent for a moment as we stared. I felt the awkwardness rear its head, and Calder cleared his throat. I turned my head back to facing in front of me and Calder continued.

"Okay, think about. . .the first time you felt the sun on your face. Remember the first time you heard Hanir and Linnea's laughs. Think of your parents, and your sisters. How they loved you so dearly they let you go so you could survive."

I let those thoughts and memories run through my head, and all of it tugged at my heart remembering the life I left behind and the one I was deprived of. But it also gave me a small smile thinking of Hanir and Linnea's happiness, and the fact that my parents did love me.

I closed my eyes and felt the familiar bubbly feeling in my core, and it spread through my hand. There was then the sound of something like glass breaking, and I re-opened them to find pieces of icicles lodged in the trunk of the tree.

"You see? All it takes is practice," Calder spoke from behind me. I nearly leapt for joy.

"I-I did it. I actually did it!" I squealed, turning around and nearly bumping into Calder's chest with how close he was.

"Oh. Sorry. . ." I awkwardly apologized, but in reply Calder chuckled.

"Are you always this ungainly?"

I laughed along with him, scratching at my arm and feeling embarrassed. "Yeah, I am."

I looked up at him as his eyes gazed down at mine, a heat of blush rising to my cheeks and hating myself for it. I then saw out of the corner of my eye something in one of the palace windows above us, grabbing my attention. Calder's gaze followed, and we saw none other than Gulbrand eyeing us.

Irritation suffused me, and I really wished I could've flipped him off. As Calder turned back to me I could see by the look on his face that once again, the process of letting me in was faulted.

"We'll continue after lunch," he told me, glancing at the window once more before going back inside the palace.

Watching Calder leave with confusion, I turned my gaze back to the window where Gulbrand surveyed me a few more seconds and then dissapeared. I mentally groaned.

An even bigger suspicion of Gulbrand suddenly hit me from what just happened, but also of Calder. It seemed like whenever Gulbrand was anywhere near him apart from yesterday, he immediately became closed off if he was the least bit open.

It was as if Gulbrand was controlling Calder, keeping him cold and distant and I didn't know why. I knew he had taken him under his wing when he saved his life, but in the back of my mind I felt there might just have been something else to tell of that story.