The Warmth of Ice

Chapter 18

Nature was a maze, whether or not one had a map; and Gabi had no map. She had only a vague idea of the direction in which Nyla and her companion had gone, but not a single clue as to where Kaleo decided to go. To make matters worse, Kaleo followed his heart more often than reason...or maybe it was better that way; it was most likely easier to make a guess on Kaleo's intuition than his reasoning.

Nevertheless, should two people meet, fate would always have its ways to lead them to each other. Ensuring that she was going in a direction away from home—and not accidentally circling her way back home yielding no results—one day, Gabi came upon a sachet, hanging from a branch. She took it and examined it, and immediately recognized it as the sachet that Nyla had once sewn for Kaleo. He must have dropped it by mistake when he passed through this area, because Kaleo treasured the sachet so much he never went anywhere without it.

Of course, Gabi also acknowledged that it was just as odd if he dropped it by mistake, precisely because of how much he cherished it. For now, though, she pushed aside that thought and prioritized finding him.

After parting with Julian, Kaleo continued down the path his new acquaintance had directed him. He recalled how Julian had told him about his family—a loving family of four, been put in danger since his decision to embark on a journey to seek his beloved—and how, after such a long time had passed, Julian finally decided to return to them and liberate them after all.

Kaleo encouraged him strongly then, to return to his family, for two reasons: family was important, and that Julian's affection for Nyla was too abrupt a news for Kaleo to accept. It was all the better if Julian gave up his pursuit.

He rested against a tree one late afternoon, lost without direction. Kaleo would not return without bringing Nyla with him—or at least, not without having spoken to her first. As he sat there, someone dangled a sachet before his eyes.

The sudden appearance of a sachet—his sachet—made him jolt, as a result banging his head against the tree trunk. "Yow—! Gabi?" He was in the middle of yelping in pain when his sister's face emerged from behind the tree.

"It is me," she confirmed, lowering the sachet into his hand. "Did you drop this? If so, how could you?"

How could you? That wasn't a technical question. She was asking how he had allowed it to happen, how he could be so careless as to lose Nyla's sachet.

"It's...wait." Kaleo was about to admit that it was his, when his other hand searched and found an identical sachet hanging from his belt. Kaleo untied the sachet from his belt and held them both out to Gabi, who sat beside him and examined them.

"Didn't Nyla make it when she was...I don't recall exactly, but she was a child then," Gabi said.

"Yes, she was seven, and she only made one—but these two look exactly the same to me, even the crooked lines of the tiger."

"So...someone knew about this and deliberately put it there to confuse—no, to lead me to you," Gabi mumbled to herself, thinking hard.

"Where exactly did you find it?"

Gabi nodded to her back, from where she had come. "Not very far from here. I needed only to walk in a straight line to reach you." After a moment of silence, she lowered her voice and added, "Someone must have been watching us."

She studied the two sachets some more before returning to Kaleo the one he retrieved from his belt. Kaleo lifted his gaze from the sachets to Gabi, studying her now rather than the items. The normal thing to say, here, was "what should we do?" But never once had Gabi asked him that question—not when Nyla fell sick for the first time when Fuzi wasn't around, not when Gabi herself got stuck training for a particular aspect of the imperial arts that he was also learning with her at the same time, not when Nyla went missing, and certainly, not now.

Was it because Gabi always knew what to do, or that she never expected anything good of him?

Kaleo sighed, and after tying his sachet back to his belt, placed his hand on Gabi's. He beamed. "Keep that one for now. Let's look around. Whoever dropped the sachet couldn't have gone very far."

His younger sister looked up, clearly surprised. Then, she smiled, softly, and nodded.

After walking around in the area for a while, Gabi and Kaleo still couldn't find anything or anyone. They couldn't find any hints, but the hint came to them.

Coo-coo.

Gabi looked up to see a singular bird flying toward them. She tugged at Kaleo's arm. Kaleo turned his attention to her, then followed her gaze, finding the bird, which landed on the nearest tree to Kaleo. Tied to one of its legs was a letter. Its beginning read:

Dear Kaleo,

I write to you with a heavy heart.

Circumstances have changed, and I am personally too preoccupied to look for you myself; but please take the following message with great heed, and miss not a single word.

Your sister Nyla is not in immediate danger, but should she continue down the path that she is now, she might be put into one—and not because her companion will hurt her. In fact, I am quite convinced that hurting her would be the last thing he wants to do.

As absurd as it sounds, please be sure to return home, whence you came. There, you will find whom you seek. Be ready to make sacrifices, and I strongly advise you to decide who it is that is dearest to your heart. Once you have decided, do not sway.

Yours truly,

Julian