Ice Within

Chapter 3: Faustian

The coach ride was somehow eons longer than my nine-year-old self had thought it would be. 

After riding the train to the end of the tracks into the mountains, there were still days left to go by coach, with the others who were attending Sky, and then after that we would have to ride horses to make it the rest of the way. 

At first, the swirling clouds of snow that fell gently around us were captivating, and I watched them wonderingly, but after a while, I, like the few others next to me, began to doze off. 

The ride up the mountain was not a pleasant one. We frequently had to stop because of snowfall, and once because of hail, and all the way, every time I slept, I had nightmares of my twin sister calling out to me, cursing me, yelling at me, begging me to come back. When we finally made it to Sky, I was feeling more guilty about leaving than I ever had. 

Someone poked me awake from another nightmare. I rubbed my eyes, headache coming in strongly. 

"Are you alright?" he asked, blinking at me. He had snow-white hair with a tint of blue. That was interesting. I'd never seen someone with hair like that before. Mine was just blond, like my mom's. 

"Yeah," I groaned. "I'm coming." 

"Your horse is waiting," he said, stretching out his hand. "The Sky headmaster paid for them himself." 

"Did he . . ." I said, disinterested. I didn't take his hand, standing and walking out. 

"I believe so," the white-haired young man persisted as he followed me. His voice was light and sounded sort of wonderingly convicted about everything he was saying. There was a slight accent I couldn't place. 

We were directed to our horses, which were already saddled and bridled, and we hopped on. The next rest would be in a few hours, at a bigger building farther up the mountain, and we started up almost immediately. 

"I go by Faustian Mortumal," the same young man said, leading his horse next to mine. 

"Ivory Flame," I sighed. 

"Pleasure to meet you, Ivory," he smiled knowingly. "I've never met someone who was half dragon before."

I almost leapt out of the saddle in shock, but, looking around me, everyone else was quietly chatting or gazing off at the white landscape. No one seemed to have noticed.

Faustian chuckled. It was a strange laugh - I suppose to go with his hair and his accent. It was light and innocent, and yet studious.

"Please don't be ashamed of your heritage," he said.

"I'm not ashamed . . ." I defended. "I'm just . . . surprised."

"Evidently," he agreed. 

I lowered my voice. "How could you tell?" 

"I'm not sure," he replied thoughtfully, finger on his chin. "There's something about you that gives it away. A . . . warmth of some kind." 

"I . . . I didn't realize it was that obvious," I stammered. 

"To most people, I don't think it is." 

"So then you can tell how . . . ?" 

Faustian tilted his head, thinking. "Perhaps we leave it at heritage of my own." 

~~~

I was much more exhausted than I'd thought I would be when we arrived at the next stop. After devouring more than my fair share of some hot stew, I took one look at the warm beds in the next room and passed out. 

~~~

The sound of someone sighing brought me drowsily into waking. 

It was Faustian, of course. 

"To be quite honest, Ivory, I'm not sure what you do where you come from, because it seems to me you'd have slept through the entire semester if I hadn't been here." 

"Shut up," I grumbled, pulling back the covers. The shock of cold air met me, and I almost instantly felt more awake. 

"Is that a dragon thing, if I might ask?" Faustian inquired as he followed me to my luggage. 

"What?" I demanded. 

"You're especially grumpy when you wake up." 

I rummaged through my suitcase. "And you're especially chipper. Is that an iceberg thing?" 

"Iceberg?" 

"You won't tell me what's with your hair. It looks like an iceberg," I droned. 

Faustian thought for a moment. "I couldn't say, really. I've never met an iceberg." 

"And I've never met a dragon to compare all my personality traits with," I shot back, standing up with a change of clothes in my arms. "But you know what's a human thing? Girls generally don't like it if guys watch them change." 

Faustian sort of stuttered incoherently before taking the hint and quietly excusing himself, embarrassment written in red across his face. 

Smirking, I made my way into the bathroom at the back of the room. 

That one's for you, Suri, I thought. She always made remarks like that, making other people into fools. Maybe I'd finally learned something. 

I'd have to write to her about it later. After all, I'd made a promise.