Permafrost

43: Hail

⭐️Chapter 43: Hail

Ok, the snow had really begin falling now. The Infernos had initially thought nothing of it when the snow started picking up the pace, but now they regretted it. Corrin had explained that sometimes the snow would pick up like this. His personal thoughts were that it was that Ice Spirit doing this, but he didn't want to tell the others about her just yet. Besides, he'd hardly told them much about the kingdom, and it was going to stay that way until they asked.

Ryn couldn't take this much longer. She wanted to head back down the mountain, and back to the village to recover so the group could actually bring proper supplies. But it was too late because nobody knew where Tempest was, and she wasn't ready to lose progress when they'd come so far. She knew that she herself would probably also get a resistance to cold due to her being a Fireling or Pyroling or whatever it was, but she was also concerned for her friends. They wouldn't have a resistance.

She had to admit, she kind of felt like this was all her fault. Sure, the Frost Army invading her town was not directly her fault, but...maybe if she hadn't had to have been saved in the first place? No, no, her friends still would have joined up with her anyway. She wanted to blame herself for something, but she couldn't figure out what it was. She was certainly not in the mood to blame anyone else either.

As the group trekked through the snow, they felt themselves get more numb by the second. This must have been Rinkling magic, because they were pretty sure that mountains this high wouldn't be snowing and cold already. They really, REALLY wished they'd brought better pants too. Still no sign of caves or foes, or any sort of breaking area. They just needed something to pass time...

"Man...this reminds me of the time we had to go on that one hike for a picnic...except it was daytime and way warmer, haha..." Jack said.

"Oh yeah! That was nice. We should do that again sometime, when our home isn't threatened by the Ice Kingdom," Cosmo replied.

"Definitely considerable, though it does make me wonder if we should invite more people," Silvia said.

"Sure! I'd agree to that...when this clears up," Ryn sighed. "Who would we even invite?"

Cosmo began to count on his fingers.

"Well, the Thistlins of course, maybe our family..."

"Do you think we could make peace with the Rinklings?" Ryn asked.

"What makes you say that?" Jack grumbled, the cold still nipping at his legs.

"Well..."

Ryn turned to Corrin.

"Is the Rinkling kingdom a place of stone-hearted ice cold inklings who aren't willing to befriend others?" she asked.

"Why yes, it is," Corrin joked, not sure if these cephalopods would understand his sarcasm.

"Oh. Never mind, then."

Ryn resumed walking without another word, leaving Corrin rather shocked at her choice.

"You...you ARE aware I'm joking, right?" he asked.

Ryn's smile dropped to a flat expression, but she didn't turn around.

"I. I uh...actually wasn't. Oops."

"Well. At least small talk made this...stow storm a little more bearable, heh..." Silvia said with a smile, though she still shivered along with everyone else.

"I just hope it doesn't turn into hail..." Corrin muttered.

"Hail?!" Fang exclaimed, though it was more out of anger than shock.

"Yeah. The ice bits aren't super large, though. It'll just feel like we're being pelted with small pebbles...gently?" Corrin said with a nervous smile.

"That doesn't help!" Jack shouted worriedly.

"Look, I'm here because you forced me to join, okay?! Would you rather me not be here?!" Corrin exclaimed.

"Guys, guys, let's not break into a f-fight when we're entering the t-tough areas, okay?" Silvia stuttered.

The cold was starting to make everyone shiver and shake even more now. Except for Ryn and Corrin, of course.

"Yeah, y-yeah..." Fang grumbled.

"Right..." Jack muttered.

And they resumed the trek once again. Ryn looked up at the side of the mountain, just to see if she could see how high it went. Unfortunately, the snowstorm made it nearly impossible to. She hoped it would clear up soon enough. Corrin meanwhile, was inspecting everyone in the group.

Maybe...maybe they weren't actually too bad. They could probably join forces with him to take down his dad and that spirit if he promised no more raids on their place or other creatures. Sure, they were just normal inklings-and an octoling-shivering in the cold...well, except for one. But other than that, they had turf weapons, so they must be some good.

Wait a second...

"Hey, aren't you cold too? You're practically wearing the same thing as your friends, right?" Corrin asked, raising an eyebrow at Ryn despite her back facing towards him.

The Infernos stopped in their tracks, causing Fang to run into Jack and Corrin to bump against Silvia. Fang glared at Jack, who held up his hands instinctively.

"Err...what do you m-mean?" Cosmo asked nervously.

"Well, all of you are shivering except her," Corrin replied, pointing at Ryn.

"Y-yeah, so?" Jack stuttered.

None of the Infernos or Fang were to explain to Corrin...or Nyroc or whoever that Ryn was a Pyroling. Heck, they haven't even told him their names, and it was probably better that they didn't. Corrin didn't reply to Jack's question, he just gave them all a look.

"Uh...you guys okay?" he asked, now rather uneasy.

"Oh! S-sorry about that!" Silvia laughed, though still shivering. "We uh...th-thought we saw s-something fly by us, so...so we stopped."

"Okay, but that doesn't answer my question."

"I just...don't get super cold easily?" Ryn said.

"But I haven't seen a single species that hasn't been able to tolerate this cold like this! I get it, you all are at least a little shaky, but you?"

"We can answer the questions later. Right now, we should continue going up," Fang said.

"But-"

"No. Later."

Fang pushed past everyone despite the cold, and kept walking on. The others watched without a word, then slowly began to follow him. Corrin only squinted at them.

Something was off about this group, and he was determined to find out what.