Permafrost

13: Dust

⭐️Chapter 13: Dust

Ryn's friends stared at her.

They...had heard correctly, right?

"Are. Are you sure" Jack said, making sure he knew what Ryn had said.

"Yes, why do you ask?"

"We're just going to...go in? Like that?" Jack continued.

"Oh, well. We'll train and get a few allies, of course"

Jack facepalmed.

"Ryn, you can't just...ugh...YOU HAVE TO THINK IT OUT MORE THAN THAT!"

"Says who? Besides, we don't know what's going to happen if we try! For all we know, we could have good luck or bad luck or moderate luck! We just have to try!" Ryn exclaimed with a smile.

"You seem really happy about this" Cosmo said, tilting his head. He was confused.

"Of course I am! Now that we're all back together, I can be happy that my friends will help me with whatever troubles I face!"

"Well, I'm glad to hear that, at least..." Silvia said, nervously smiling.

"Anyways, do you guys want to get out of this open forest area?" Ryn asked. She wasn't getting cold, but she didn't want to risk anything spotting them.

"Yeah...we should probably skedaddle inside..." Jack replied.

And with that, Ryn and the rest of her group turned around and went inside of the house. When they got inside, they made sure to shake off all the snow onto the mat by the front door. They then took off their shoes and coats, also placing them by the mat in a neat and orderly fashion. Ryn didn't see Talon or Stag as they walked further in, however.

"Um. Is someone supposed to be in here?" Cosmo asked, looking around.

"Yes, ah...there was an osprey and a stag beetle insectoid in here...perhaps they've gone off to do their own chores? Ryn said, also not seeing them as well.

"Well, if they're busy, they're busy," Silvia simply replied, "Where do you sleep?"

"Ah, I'll show you!"

And with that, Ryn took them upstairs  to her temporary room. She set her bag down, and the others sat on the floor as she sat in "bed". The others had a look around. Nothing had changed since Ryn left. They were kind of surprised it was holding up this well.

"Is it...comfortable at least?" Silvia asked, concerned as to how well Ryn did during the night.

"Yeah, it was. I slept well here last night-wait, how did you guys even...huh?" Ryn was confused as to how her FRIENDS had slept through the night, ESPECIALLY if they ran away on a cold, snowy day.

"Oh. We slept in the bushes in the woods. Not exactly the best sleep we've had, but it was sleep" Jack replied.

"Oh...I see."

"Anywho, now that we're back together, what should we do?" Silvia asked.

"I was thinking we could come up with a team name!" Cosmo said.

Ryn hesitated.

"I uh...actually had one..."

"You did?! Why didn't you say so?!" Jack exclaimed.

"I thought it sounded stupid and didn't want it to get made fun of...?"

Jack shrugged. If she didn't want to, she didn't want to.

"Ah, fair enough. Let's move on the-"

"No no, I want to hear it!" Silvia said.

Ryn, who was actually ready to continue the conversation without telling them the team name, was taken by surprise.

"Oh, w-well I uh. I um, didn't actually ah-expect to be saying it? Are you sure? I don't want our name to be made fun of by people, a-and I really don't know if I-"

"Pleeeease?" Cosmo asked, giving her puppy dogfish eyes.

Ryn sighed. He always did this. He was so tiny and cute that there was no one she knew that was immune to this.

"Alright alright...we could be called..."

The others waited for her to finish as she paused for dramatic effect.

"The Infernos..."

Silence for a few seconds. Ryn waited for the others to laugh, or to comment that it was a stupid name.

"What do you mean you thought it would sound stupid?! That's the best name I've heard!" Jack said, awed by how cool he thought it sounded.

"It has a nice ring to it!" Silvia added.

"But guys, it's just one name! I thought Cosmo came up with more!" Ryn said, trying to get out of the mess.

"I didn't, actually..." Cosmo mumbled.

All of them heard anyway.

"Oh."

"Well in that case, I vote we use that for our team name!" Jack said.

"I agree!"

"It is nice..."

"G-guys, are you sure?"

"Absolutely!"

"Positively!"

"Yup!"

"W-well then, alright. I guess we're going to be called the Infernos from now on!"

The group cheered, but paused. They heard something, a noise coming from somewhere. Was it a door opening? they couldn't tell. But they definitely heard footsteps. It didn't sound like the Frost Army however, as their footsteps were loud thuds sometimes accompanied by the jingling of the metal chains they wore. These footsteps sounded lighter and were actually barely audible.

"Is that noise from the two creatures you told us about earlier?" Cosmo asked.

"I hope so..." Ryn mumbled, "I'll go check."

She stood up and got out of the bed, but before she could open the door, Jack stopped her.

"Whoah wait, are you sure about this? We don't want you in danger again!"

"Please be safe!" Silvia exclaimed, standing up from sitting as well.

"Don't worry guys. If you hear me screaming or a loud thud or something, assume something's happened and escape via the windows"

The group nodded, and Ryn resumed. She walked into the kitchen, only to find Talon and Stag unloading groceries. She sighed a breath of relief, and was about to go back upstairs to tell everyone when Talon spoke.

"Hello, dear. Could you help us? Or would you like a snack?"

"O-oh no, it's okay! I found my friends in the woods when you left!" Ryn explained.

Talon set down the bag she had in her beak.

"Oh? Where are they now?"

"Here...in this house...?" Ryn said nervously, unsure how Talon would react.

Talon thought to herself for a moment.

"I see. I suppose I could use some help here..."

"You...want them to help?""As long a as they don't make a mess of things."

Ryn nodded, and went back to tell the others. The others heard her coming and quieted down from talking. Ryn opened the door to the room. Everything was still fine.

"So uh. What's the deal?" Jack asked, turning towards her.

"Talon wants to meet you all!" Ryn exclaimed.

-----

Waiting wasn't fun.

He didn't like it.

But he had to, as there was nothing else to do.

It was still snowing outside.

Corrin rhythmically tapped his sword on the ground gently.

oh well.