MARIA

It took days to fashion a halfway acceptable Infirmary for the growing Outpost with the runic generators underneath the city working at full capacity, but not nearly as efficient as she needed them to be for anything more than a basic alchemy station. We'll also need to get some woodworkers to fix some of these cabinets... and I need some sort of ledger on their agriculture and how they kept plants alive... Maria slipped phials into the few drawers in good condition to keep dried, packed herbs while the others prepared the beds, not the most comfortable, but the Outpost would have to make do until they could send more supplies.

Others swept the grounds clean of any haphazard, frozen bodies to set them to a burning pyre in the cold nights, with Neven subdued as they saw off the old deceased of Irimount's fall. Shadows flickered across his wheat-spun feathers when he turned his back on the dying pyre with nothing but ashes left and some scattered bones which they buried around the center statue.

Sheets spread out and tucked while the heat from the runic generators filled the lamps and the thermal vents in the corners, she savored the warmth it provided and Neven's kindness in concentrating on the Infirmary to get most of the heat for anyone who got hurt at the Outpost. There was a lot of work left to do, but she left for their temporary lodgings in the barracks with a sense of accomplishment of what they got down around the courtyard. Lights shone along the tall fence and through the windows of several of the buildings. Wardens cleared out the snow from the pathways to reveal slippery white stones.

Her steps faltered at the sight of a certain pale-haired Naveeran squeezing himself between the metal gates. Maria checked on the Wardens who turned in for the night in the barracks before sliding to follow him out into the streets of the ruined city of firmament piercing towers, with the largest sending its grand height far past the clouds and its own mountain cradle which provided natural shelter from the consuming blizzard. The shadowy figure continued on, their head wrapped around in a scarf and an ear hat to go along with it as their fingers hooked against the fabric to keep it over their nose as their pace quickened.

Now, what do you think you're doing? Maria trailed through the labyrinth of stone to catch up to the wrapped figure when they entered a massive gatehouse beside a pearlescent portcullis. Maria hung back underneath the shadows of a trellis as he pushed out a sailed raft with a slicing undercarriage underneath each of the planks. He tugged on the ropes to set up the sails, and it dawned on her what the Naveeran intended. Out of her hiding spot, she called, "I thought I told you that you aren't going alone out there."

Sapphire irides met her when the sails rustled, packed tight against the small mast. His fingers pulled the scarf down to reveal Neven's angular features. "Ah... Maria." He let go of the ropes as they slinked into a small heap beside the mast, but he took the end to wrap them around hooks which dotted around the raft itself. "You should be more bundled up out here." He opened up a small compartment, hauling out a strap of glowing orange tinctures, running his thumb down them before taking a swift drink of one before placing the others inside.

"Fire tinctures?"

Neven nodded and finished the rest. "I like to have the extra protection in the Frozen Wastes," he said, and she reached the side of the raft to look up at him. "I know you do not approve, but I need to confirm the map's accuracy. It must be done, and better that it is me."

"You're the one who said that the Frozen Wastes changed constantly, day by day. Mother told me much the same thing when I sent her a letter." Maria hauled herself up onto the raft. "You can say you know Irimount, but you can't trust your memory of the area surrounding it."

Neven hummed and unfurled a contraption on the mast to reveal a white compass with a spinning needle. "While that is true... it makes no difference." He pushed his thumb into its center, and the needle stopped spinning, concentrated on Irimount's center. "As we do not have any surviving Gryphlings to pull frost carriages, I'm afraid our only means of fast transportation are Snowshears." He patted the mast then readied the sails. "I'll simply have to trust the compass to take me home." His fingers trailed down the pale iceberg, blending in with the environment. As he went to sidle past her, she grabbed his shoulder. "Aiya, what?"

"Yuven bid me watch out for you." Maria let him go.

"I got the same spiel about you." Neven went to close the compartment with his foot, but Maria lodged her boot to stop him.

On her knees, she grabbed her warming tincture to take a swig. It sent a burning taste down her tongue and straight into her throat and nose. Tears threatened to prick at her eyes, but she shook out her head and huffed out the breath it gave her and the warmth it released into her magick and body. Maria wrapped her scarf tighter around her shoulders and fashioned it around her head. "Then we're at an impasse," she said and set her hands on her hips. "Do you have a destination in mind?"

Neven unfurled the map from his strap, and its edges rattled in the breeze, though a sapphire glyph kept the bulk of it in place. "We're going to head to the closest settlement from here in a county called Usokul. He wrapped it to shove it back into place. "I am not foolish enough to go farther than that, just simply confirming it still exists will have to be enough until the Outpost is more solidified." He motioned at her to take a seat, then tugged on the ropes to let the sails loose.

It caught the wind in an instant, and Maria held on tight when the Snowshear sped underneath the multiple portcullis' and over the bridge splitting two mountain passes over a pale abyss. Once the shears hit the snow, it cut through the packed frost like butter. Neven kept both ropes tied around his arms. Maria threw a glyph in front of them to try and block the snow from slamming into her face and cutting her cheeks, but she drew her hand back when her flames sputtered out.

"It is too harsh for your flames, Maria," Neven called over the howl, then sent his own sapphire glyph forward. It steeled itself against the falling icicles, giving them a shred of reprieve. He returned both hands to directing the sails. Maria twisted on her hips, and her heart dropped when Irimount's light spluttered behind the dense, dancing fog. Dark gray clouds stood frozen above their heads, though the land of Naveera constantly moved on the wings of snow. "We may be out here for a little while," his voice quieted, and Maria frowned when he gazed at her. "You need not have come with me, Maria... we can't turn back now."

"Just keep this thing moving," Maria said and tried to cover her face with her scarf, and the fire tincture trailed against the ice forming in her lungs. Ancients... and I thought inside Irimount was bad... this is... hellish. Maria edged closer to hold onto the mast when Neven guided them over large dunes, a frozen desert as their speed picked up when he used the downward momentum to speed along their journey. Icicles continued to slam into her brow when Neven's sapphire glyph struggled against the tempest, but she jolted when the Snowshear slowed to a stop. "Neven?"

Out in the middle of a snowblasted emptiness. Maria turned to him when he knelt down to her to take off his hat and scarf, pushing it into her arms. "What about you?"

"My physiology is different from yours. I will endure without." His feathers tightened against his ears with a rippled shudder as he wrapped his arms in ropes once more, digging his heels in as he let the wind touch the sails once more. He squished his brow when they continued on through the darkness, and Maria longed for a sight of the Hanekan sun, crawling over the ocean waves to set the foam on fire. "Any who are not Avaerilian often perish in a couple bells out here in the wastes if they are not bundled up and very unlucky. If they are, days, maybe." His breath escaped in a thick mist out of his nose.

"And apparently Yuven, Fenrer, and Adara walked in this?" Maria shuddered and managed a small bundle of flames hidden against her chest, behind her thick coat and armor. It glowed deep oranges, fluttering at the howl around her.

"Foolish..." Neven said with a deep, worried hiss. "They are lucky they are not dead." His fists clenched around the ropes. "Especially with the condition Fenrer was in, from what Yuven was willing to share with me." His hardened expression wavered into weariness. "You can't depend on luck, nor fortitude, nor knowledge out here." He shifted the sails when the compass needle twitched into a full circle before steadying itself again. Maria hooked her arm around the mast and watched the dunes fly them by. Stone outcroppings and ruined pillars unburied themselves. Quite a few times she spotted ruined, ice-caked windmills in the mist, but she blinked out her imagination and huddled closer to her miniscule flames.

"Yuven didn't tell you much else about what happened here?" she found herself asking the question Yuven always hesitated on.

"Nex." Neven wrapped the ropes around the mast and kept the sails in place before settling himself on his knees, bringing the contraption holding the compass with him. "I am sure he has his reasons for not sharing the whole story." His fingers cupped the compass with a heavy frown. "I can tell it is an unpleasant memory for him."

Maria hugged the mast and found her energy and inner inferno draining as they sailed across the icy fields. But, better that he isn't alone, especially after that reaction down in those cultist tunnels... and then after this you're going to go back to Asairai and run in circles again about it. It was her only hope that Kemal could reign in Neven's ferocity on the subject matter for his own wellbeing. "What do you know about this county?"

Neven's lips parted. "I... somewhat remember my father and mother talking about it," he mumbled. "I was too young to remember being there in my childhood. I was raised in Irimount all my life. I am hoping that the blizzard has not buried it and we can get confirmation of Irimount's sphere of control. It used to be one of the Great Cities... but time stands still here." He nestled against the mast himself. "I was raised on stories that you could hear the song of Naveera throughout the lands, echoing across the mountaintops and to the great beyond for the wyverns to hear." He raised a hand to his brow as his feathers rustled against his golden locks. "Now we can hear naught but the blizzard's howling, and I can say this, Maria... most of my people have never seen the sun. Including me, once upon a time. I only knew of it in storybooks, of this melting bright light which crossed the horizons. I barely even knew what a tree was, what a forest was." Neven looped his arm around the mast as it sailed on. "What it meant."

Maria gazed at Yuven's Guardian. "What was the first thing you did— when you saw the sun and trees for the first time?"

"I got sun sick."

Maria snorted. "I suppose that's the expected physical reaction for someone so adapted and used to these temperatures." Her hand blocked her brow when another flurry escaped through Neven's struggling glyph. "Is that all?"

"I hugged a tree. I believe it might've been a goldwood, but it was a long time ago." Wistfulness sparkled his pupils. "I think what startled me the most was... people dismissed these things. Why wouldn't they? They see the sun, the trees, everyday that I'm sure the excitement long wore off, if they ever had any about it." Neven tilted his head back. "People take the sun itself for granted... and I could barely believe my eyes when it rose every single day. If I'm honest, I still struggle to wrap my head around it."

Maria huddled her knees closer to her chest. "Well... that's why we're Storm Wardens, is it not?" she questioned. "To give our lives, for the greatest wyvern, and the smallest flower..."

"I shall give my all," Neven echoed but one part of their precious golden oath. "For the forests, the sun, the sky, and the people I shall never meet."

Maria smiled at Neven's devotion to their cause. I see why Yuven holds you to a certain standard expected of our Order. I think if someone asked me how to define a Warden, I think the first person I'd point at is you. Many Wardens become jilted, as expected. We see too much. Hear the screams as Derelicts maul their victims and drain them of magick while people avoid us for what we represent, what often comes with us. Derelicts. Storm Wardens. One exists because of the other. A harsh reminder. Maria let a plume of smoke leave the bridges of her fingers when she brought it close to her nose to taste the warmth of love.

But to behold the beauty that is the sunrise after a long crimson dusk... nothing can compare, and nothing will sway us from our duty.