My eyes open to darkness. A touch of heat lingers on my skin, as if I once was warm, but the frosty air is embracing me again. Smoke brushes my nostrils, furthering my conclusion.

Where am I? My vision slowly adjusts to the darkness, and I realize that we're no longer by the lake. Instead, the silhouette of a cliff rises to my right. We're at the base of the straight, up and down incline. To my left, the mountain winds downward, overlooking a drop to who knows what. A shiver creeps up my spine. My clothes still cling to my skin, probably because they never dried out fully.

Ixek sleeps soundly beside me. His breath whooshes on the exhales, and I decide I better not disturb him. I have no reason to; I should get all the rest I can.

I wriggle back under the layers of robes on top of me. At least one belongs to Ixek — I don't even need to roll over to check if he's wearing his outermost robe. After all, I only had two outer robes at the start of the trip. Guilt roils in my stomach amidst a vague sense of nausea, but I'm too tired to dwell on it. Drowsiness quickly swarms my limbs, my brain, ready to take me under.

A flash of blue makes me crack an eye open. The darkness stills for a minute. I'm about to close my eyes again when a plume of cobalt bursts from above. I crawl from my bed, clutching the robes tightly around me to keep from shivering. Purple twinkles from the top of the cliff next, then disappears.

Starlight. There's starlight above the cliff. I glance at my bag. There might be enough beams inside it to make an entire cloak, but I don't want to take any chances. Part of me hates to disturb Ixek after everything he's helped with, but he'll wake up if he hears me playing. I shake his shoulder.

"Ixek?" I whisper. His head lolls from side to side before his eyes crack open. "Celisae? Are you alright?"

"There's starlight above the cliff," I say, barely able to contain my excitement.

"Oh." He slumps backward, head resting on his pack. "Should we go now?"

"It might be gone in the morning."

"Alright. Where is it?" He sits up, scanning the darkness below. The light above glints again, and his gaze automatically turns to the scene above. "Oh. It's up there."

I cringe. "Sorry."

"It's fine. We probably need to make our way in that direction anyway if we're going to check on the scout party."

"We're checking on the Anderwres afterall?"

"Yes." An uncomfortable beat of silence pulses through the night. "It's probably important to do. And Nal m'se expects a report."

I nod. "That's alright, so long as I can begin weaving the cloak."

"That should be fine."

I sling my pack over my shoulders, then face the precipice. Boulders mottle the cliff all the way up, much like a mosaic of pebbles in a riverbed, except these are much larger. I place a hand on the nearest rock. Pain pierces my skin, and I pull back.

"Ouch!" Ixek exclaims. "These are sharp."

I try a different rock. The same pain shoots through my palm, but I don't draw back. My foot steps up, landing on another jagged edge.

"We'll just have to grit our teeth and bear it," I say, more to myself than Ixek.

Another spike finds the center of my palm. I bite back a cry of pain, keep my feet light as I ascend. It feels like I'm walking on knives, or at least finally whittled sticks. Thank the skies that I have furry boots on my feet.

Something punctures my hand. I feel the flesh of my hand break. A sticky wetness oozes onto the rocks as I continue to climb. Another burst of pain, and blood spills out of my other hand. My grip slickens, pain mounting. Each grasp sends this stabbing sensation through my hands over and over. A tear leaks from my eye. I glance up, but I can't see the top. It's so dark, I can only see the next rock.

My muscles are on fire. Bulky weight threatens to topple me over, send me to the ground. I'm not sure how far of a drop it is, and I don't want to find out. I rotate where I place my weight, from my hands to my feet, to keep the pressure from staying in one spot for long. Rocks scrape at my sides, sometimes accompanied by a tearing sound in the still night. I'll have to mend my robes when I get home.

Throbbing pain shoots through my wrists. I can't hold on much longer. I feel my bloody grip slipping, the downward pull too strong. My knees wobble; my arms tremble. Just one more step. Just one more.

I stretch upward against an invisible force that punches down on me. My hand finds rock, grips it. My foot flails for a second before planting on the next step. Right hand up, right foot up. Left hand up, left foot up, right hand up...

Right foot searches for a rock. I can't find a single ledge to ground me. It scrapes against the cliffside, but it slides over the steep surface. I dangle in the air, feeling myself dropping toward my right side, two seconds away from dropping into the void.

My foot lands on a ledge. I catch my breath, willing myself to move on. Left, right, left, right, left—

My hand grasps the top of the cliff. I pull myself over the surface, landing on my stomach with an exhale. My heart is a mad drumbeat in my chest. The pounding in my head won't subside. It's beating me down, keeping on the frosted earth.

"Celisae?" a voice calls from over the cliffside. I spare a glance to the ledge. Ixek scrambles over the top, breathing as hard as I am. His hand finds my shoulder. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. You?"

"Alive," Ixek says with a small, dry chuckle. He lays on the snow beside me. "We reached it, though."

I turn to the side, where light dances in a small clearing. It seems so carefree, oblivious to the lengths we just endured to reach it.

"Is this the last batch?" Ixek asks.

"This should be it." I fumble for my instrument. The blood on my hands has started to dry, though my palm is tender when it closes around my bow. My arms feel like congealed broth under the instrument's mass. I move my fingers up and down a few times to stimulate movement. They're stiff from climbing, tired, clunky, and cumbersome.

What if I mess up the song? I take a deep breath, trying not to imagine the worst case scenario — I completely flub the song, the starlight dissolves, and all our efforts will have been for nothing.

My fingers find the opening notes a few times, then I put my bow to the string. A slow ballad moises through the air. It sings of unaccepted loss, numbed heartbreak. It's a sorrow seeping into a person's blood, growing stronger and stronger like wine, yet the person dilutes the pain, swishes the sorrow to the furthest corners of the body to protect the heart. Hints of sadness swirl in the air, but they aren't fully realized. Everytime it strays too far into longing, it straightens itself out, meandering back to the delusion that everything is fine, nothing has changed.

The song builds to a single, wrenching note that pierces the air. It hangs there, echoing off the canyons, fading into the night. Slowly, I make my way to the last chord, taking my time as I drag my bow across all four strings. A coiled ball burns in front of me, and I quickly snatch it from the elements. The simmenberry lid clamps down, plunging the clearing into darkness.

"That... was good. Really good." Ixek's voice comes out tentative, like he isn't sure whether he's interrupting a moment.

"Thank you," I say. A flush blooms on my cheeks, somehow both warm and cool from the air.

Ixek's shadowed figure sits on the ground. "I heard you play often for the tribe."

"Sometimes."

"I'd love to hear you on the laivo some time. If I'm not occupied with other duties." A hint of longing laces his tone. I suddenly realize that he might feel as disconnected from the tribe as I do, since he's always being sent away on patrols or training other warriors. So many expectations are placed on his shoulders, all because he's descended from the Head Matriarch.

"Maybe after all this is over." I plop into the snow after packing up my raeriel. It's all ready for transport, wherever we may be headed next. "So we're checking on the patrols?"

"We aren't far. I managed to get us pretty close earlier." Guilt fills my stomach at the thought that he had to carry me so far. Ixek rifles through his bag, making a faint crackling sound. "Are you hungry? You didn't eat earlier."

My stomach flips. The mere thought of food makes me queasy. "I'm alright for now."

"You sure?" he asks, slightly concerned.

I start to nod, then realize he probably can't see me. "I'm sure. Let's just get some rest."