A Wolf of Ice and Iron [OLD]

Chapter 22

Adras

"Winter?" I knock on his door. He's been working for a solid week, and I'm a little worried because I haven't seen him leave, and there is nobody else here to make sure he leaves to eat and drink except for myself and Morel. And Morel isn't going to be doing this in a while.

It takes a long minute for Winter to open the door. He blinks in surprise as he sees me. "Adras? Goodness, it's early, isn't it?" He smiles and opens the door.

I blink, surprised. I haven't seen him this happy for a long time. Well, I suppose I have, but... it's still confusing. Winter hasn't smiled like that for a while. Not in my presence, at least. He hums softly and leaves the door wide open to welcome me inside.

I walk inside and sit on the blue couch with golden trimming. Behind another door Winter's bedroom and bathroom is hidden, and I can see the faint outline of it behind the misty glass door.

Winter smiles and pours me some cold water, which I take gladly. He sips his delicately, as always. He smiles and laughs a little as he watches me. "What?"

"Nothing, I'm just- you're in a good mood," I say, laughing a little awkwardly. I'm a little surprised at his chipper attitude, but pleasantly so.

Winter waves a hand. "I'm happy because I've finished most of my work and I can relax a bit now." He stretches, arms above his head, like a cat. "I'm rather looking forward to swimming."

I tilt my head. He likes swimming? He didn't strike me as the type. But Winter seems genuinely curious, genuinely interested, in swimming in the warm pools.

"Did you need something?" He asks, skimming across the room as he walks, graceful. Light, as if he may be floating, without a tether to land. He smiles a little back at me, a radiant smile no matter how little teeth show.

"No, I- I didn't really. I just wanted to say hello." I say quickly. I didn't really need anything, but I somehow wish I did. I don't want an uncomfortable silence between us, a little unnerved by how quickly Winter has changed in demeanour. Somehow, I don't think he's actually happy.

But the silence that falls is comfortable. Winter holds out a plum to me and I take it, biting into it gratefully. I can't get enough of faerie fruit. Winter seems satisfied, and he sits on his table and chews on his own plum.

It's a comfortably warm atmosphere. Outside it is chilly, but the tension between us has eased completely. When we first met, Winter was defensive and prickly. Now, some time later, he is calmer and more at ease with me, and with others. And I can tell more and more from him each day.

The way he holds himself, the way he talks, the way his eyes shift. I can tell what he's feeling sometimes, I can tell what he's thinking. If I concentrate. And I'm fairly sure that's what the faeling bond is all about. I'm no faerie, not at all. I'm a human. The direct opposite of mythical and fantastical.

Humans have never understood faeries. But I suppose the faeling bond is all about that. To help them to do just that. And it's working for me, at least.

I didn't need to be afraid of faeries. My mind was drilled with these strange pictures of Fire dances and sacrificial rituals, blood bathing and blood drinking (at least that's only true for the Blood Court fae, and not all of them). I was spoon fed these warnings of faeries that would rip me limb from limb and eat my corpse raw, and would laugh as I screamed. And then go for my family.

But they're very different. I've met a few faeries while I'm here, and none of them have been bloodthirsty and cruel. Not at all. And I think what made it different was my mindset when I arrived. I think part of me was scared of living somewhere new, somewhere strange, somewhere without my family. I was sad to leave them, sad that it had come to this. I was afraid of dying without them, living without them. But the fae weren't the ones I should have been warned about. They weren't the ones I needed protection from. That wasn't them.

I could have been afraid and walked in and been torn limb from limb. But I wasn't. It truly made a difference. I was afraid of a lot of things in the faerie courts, but one thing was for sure. I wasn't afraid of the faeries.