Blood, Sweat, and Kreutzer

Chapter Five - Will

Will misses the final descent into the Hallaholm airport. He had dozed off a few minutes after their departure from Skorgjihl, utterly exhausted after the long, stormy night. Cassandra nudges him awake as the landing gears clatter noisily into place.

"Will, wake up! We're here!" Her eyes are sparkling with excitement.

Will's eyes aren't sparkling with anything - they're more groggy than anything else. But he sits up straighter in his seat, yawning and stretching as best he can in the confined space. Then he looks out the window.

The light is blindingly bright, reflecting off of more snow than Will has ever seen in his entire life. Yes, it was winter in Araluen City too, with a decent layer of the white stuff frozen to the ground from the last couple of months, but the Skandian countryside sports a thick blanket of several feet of snow.

"It's beautiful," Cassandra breathes, leaning forward slightly so she can see out Will's window, too. "I've never seen so much snow before," she adds a moment later in an awed voice, echoing Will's earlier thoughts.

"I don't see any buildings or anything," Will says a moment later, squinting to try and make out more details in the landscape below them. "Hallasholm's the capital of Skandia. You'd think we'd be able to see something by now."

Cassandra shrugs. "Beats me," she says.

A few minutes later, the plane touches down with a soft bump, coasting to a rattling stop. All Will can see out of the window is a few wooden buildings, with some people milling about.

Svengal, the copilot, appears from the cockpit. "Well, kids, are you ready to meet Skandia?" he booms in his thick accent. "Get your things and let's go."

Will and Cassandra release their seatbelts and stand, stretching. Will's legs protest at the motion after sitting for so long. Svengal opens the overhead compartment for them, and Cassandra carefully takes down her violin, slipping her arms through the straps and settling the case against her back. Only then, after her instrument is taken care of, does she pull down her suitcase and carryon.

After she's moved out of the way, Will pulls his old, battered suitcase down. His music is in his backpack, which he slings over one shoulder.

Svengal opens the door and leads the way down a rickety metal flight of steps. Following him and Cassandra, Will steps out into the blinding sunlight, and is hit with a blast of absolutely frigid wind. The cold takes his breath away for one long second, and it kind of shocks him.

Ahead of him, halfway down the steps, Cassandra squeals "It's cold!"

Will forces a breath of icy air into his lungs, grimacing at the pain. "You don't say," he grumbles.

As Svengal leads Will and Cassandra toward one of the small wooden buildings, Will realizes why he couldn't see Hallasholm from the air. The assortment of wooden buildings is Hallasholm.

Cassandra comes to the same realization a moment later. "I kind of thought it would be, I don't know, bigger," she whispers to Will.

"We thought the same of you, young'uns!" a voice behind them booms. Cassandra jumps. Will, who is used to Halt sneaking up on him, manages to hide it.

Erak, the pilot, lumbers past them to join Svengal. "I swear, you get smaller every year," he continues. "Must be that weak Araluen air. Up here, the air is fresh and hearty. Grows strong young Skandian children."

Cassandra scowls. "Araluen air is not weak," she mutters.

Erak laughs. "Enough. Let's get you wee young'uns inside before you freeze from the inside out."

Hallasholm's Center for the Arts, true to the Skandian aesthetic, is another one of the small, squat wooden buildings. The Skandians don't appear to believe in multiple-story buildings, Will notices. But this building, while low to the ground, is very spread out, with many different winding hallways branching off in different directions. Will and Cassandra are allowed to take a peek into the small concert hall, which Erak proclaims "the pride and joy of Hallasholm," before being hurried along another of the endless hallways.

"All right, missy, you'll go with Gerta there to the wing where all the female guests for the competition are staying," Erak says a moment later, when they reach a fork in the hallway. He gestures to an older Skandian woman waiting there, who bobs a quick curtsey to Erak and beckons to Cassandra.

Cassandra looks doubtfully at Will. "But -"

Erak guffaws. "Oh, you two are adorable," he chuckles. "The star-crossed representatives from Araluen. The international concert world will eat that up."

Cassandra flushes bright red, and Will feels his face heat up. "We're not -" he stammers.

The woman, Gerta, cuts in disapprovingly. "I don't care what you are," she sniffs, "but here in Skandia, we hold to our traditions and customs. And here, boys and girls stay in different wings. Unless, of course, you're married."

"Heavens, no!" Cassandra bursts out. "We're barely sixteen! And we're just good friends!"

"Yeah!" Will chimes in, slightly late. That hurt a bit. He doesn't think of Cassandra in any way romantically - she's like the sister he never had - but it does sting slightly to hear her say it in so definite of terms.

"Very well," Gerta concedes. "Well, come along, little miss. You're the last of the representatives to arrive, delayed as you were by the storm. Competition activities start bright and early tomorrow!"

And with that, she bustles down the hallway, Cassandra in tow. Cassandra doesn't even have time to say anything else to Will, but she casts a concerned glance over her shoulder at him.

"And you, young Will," Erak says, "will be staying with the rest of the male representatives in the boys' dormitory." He begins to stride down the opposite hallway.

"Dormitory?" Will wonders aloud.

"Dormitory," Erak confirms. "You see, we're not like the Araluens, all fancy buildings and all that. We make do with what is sufficient, so we can focus on what's really important."

Suddenly feeling more alone than ever before, Will follows Erak. Not for the first time, he wonders exactly what he's gotten himself into.