12:18
Kim watched them move. Slow. Too slow. They weren’t going to be able to keep this up for long.
The first wave of elementals flowed at them. Ben braced and met the swing of one with Dempsey’s shield. The hit was hard enough it swung his arm wide, leaving his side vulnerable. Another elemental snaked an impossibly long arm out, claws furled, swinging for that target.
Ben swung the dagger in his free hand down, blocking the hit. At the point of impact his dagger exploded, pieces flying out and almost nicking Prairie who managed to block the flow with her crossed daggers.
Ben was left holding the grip, the only part still intact. He looked down at it for a mikro then jerked his attention back to the attacking elementals.
When Prairie lunged forward with her daggers crossed to take a swipe of elemental claws Ben cried out, “No!”
Prairie pulled back, shooting him a startled look.
“Metal! No metal weapons!”
Gwen darted across the circle and bumped up next to Ben, plunger out at the elementals. “I’ve got it!”
The next sweep of claws hooked the rubber end of the plunger and ripped it from Gwen’s hands, sending it flying off to the side. She turned wide eyes to Prairie.
They were down to Dempsey’s shield, Patti’s shield, and Patti’s cudgel as viable weapons. Abe threw out a wave of ink, shoving the front line of elementals back. Not far enough. But back.
Abe panted and their shoulders fell.
“Abe?” Kim cried out. Abe turned their head to look at her. “Just tired. Need a mero.”
They needed a lot more than a mero. They all needed a lot more than a mero!
Kirby materialized next to Prairie, the lips of all three of its mouths pulled back as it lunged and snapped. The elementals paused, giving the dog some space which gave Prairie some space.
Kim switched her attention from Ben, sliding to the side to block a swipe of claws aimed at Gwen. Shifted to look as Prairie darted to Patti’s side, Kirby at her heels, and cried, “Give me your cudgel!”
Patti obliged and then shifted forward to punch block a claw swipe. She had to take two steps back to absorb the strike. When Ben blocked the next hit he also had to step back. Slowly the circle began to shrink, closing in on Ivan and Dempsey’s frozen forms.
Kim stepped in front of them, bracing her hands so when Prairie fell back after blocking a hit with Patti’s cudgel she ran into Kim’s hand and not Dempsey. She threw a quick look at Kim then took a step forward. It was all she could as the elementals had taken advantage of her retreat and poured in closer.
A quick look around the circle showed the elementals on all sides doing the same. The circle shrank again. Ben bumped into Kim’s hand. Looked back. Lunged forward, shield out, buying himself one extra step. His shadow loomed large, flowing over Dempsey and Ivan’s still forms, projected by the light of MF at his front. Its touch made the size of the tightening circle all too clear.
It wasn’t going to be enough. Kim watched the slowly contracting circle and the inexorable advance of the elementals. Another wave of images of ice and destruction flooded her mind. It came from the elementals and it spoke of her team’s death.
Panic fluttered in her chest. She started panting and had to force herself to stop when the cold air hit the back of her throat and instantly dried it out so she had to cough against the sensation. What she’d give for a hot drink to soothe her throat but they were plumb out of hot and drinks.
An image formed in her mind of a vial. Why? Why did her mind give her that image when she was thinking about a hot drink? Vials didn’t have hot drinks. They had pot–
Oh, shit.
She spun around and ran to where Siobhan stood huddled with Dan over his book.
“Siobhan!” She had to clear her throat and repeat the name twice before Siobhan looked up. Without waiting for Siobhan to acknowledge her with words, Kim plunged on. “The potion!”
“What potion?”
Kim realized her brain was running slow and she was having a time trying to articulate the thought which was still only half-formed in her mind. “The one you took in the garden.”
“What garden?” It was clear Siobhan was thinking slowly too. And her words were slurred. Made communicating doubly hard when both parties were hampered. Also made it tantamount Kim get this out.
“The one from Grace.”
“Grace?”
“The break glass potion.”
“We’re not at break glass!” Siobhan’s gaze went wide, settling for mikros on each of the members of the group and then on the elementals like she could convince herself she was right. She was not. This was break glass time.
“Ivan is frozen!” Kim pointed at Ivan. “Dempsey is frozen!” Pointed at Dempsey. Her hand shook. “And I’m tapped. I have nothing else!”
“No. That potion is dangerous!”
“And this isn’t?” Kim cast her arm around wildly. “If I had Magick I could do this. I know I could. They are elementals. It’s my thing!”
“No.” Siobhan’s eyes were turbulent. She closed her hand around the strap of her bag and shook her head. “We don‘t need the potion. We can fight!”
“With what? Only wood weapons don’t shatter and you know it’s only a matter of time before they do. Dan is too cold to form words and even if he could he has to solve this thing and get us out of here! Abe is about to fall over!”
As if to prove her point, Abe skidded into the center of the circle and fell over Dempsey’s frozen body. They got themselves back up, but it was not with any of the bounce or grace they usually displayed.
Kim thrust her hand toward the defenders. “We are in a circle of death! And the cold? It’s bad. I respect your ethics about your potion but to quote our mouse pals ‘we’re all gonna die’!”
There was a long silence and then Gwen said in a weary voice, “Give her the potion, Siobhan.”
Siobhan’s features set in a mulish expression, ghoulish in the green light cast by the alchemy light hanging from Dan’s vest. “You don’t understand!”
“Do you have one?” Kim pressed. Suddenly it felt like if it was the very last thing she did she had to convince Siobhan of this course of action.
“I do. I always do. But, it’s dangerous.” Her repeating herself could have been the passion she felt in her statement. It could also have been the cold.
“More dangerous than this?” Ben yelled as he blocked another hit and lost another step, tightening the circle.
Dan’s eyes widened as Abe came flying across the circle again. Instead of hitting Dempsey this time, Abe collided with Dan, sending them both flying backwards to disappear into the mist.
“What?” Dan’s voice drifted up.
“Blocks?” Abe ventured.
“Blocks?”
Dan came back into view, holding a block of ice that was roughly the size of a turkey. Big enough to trip over. Distantly Kim recalled ice behind the column of ice holding Erik earlier. She’d noted it then dismissed it, her attention on freeing Erik. Gah, it felt like a century ago. Likely an effect of the cold and an argument that this had to end and fast.
“There’s a letter on it,” Abe said. Dan turned it to show the surface of the block where a capital E stood out in bas relief. It looked like–
“An alphabet block,” Dan said, like he’d read Kim’s mind. Or maybe she’d asked it out loud. It was getting harder to think between the cold and the constant gnawing hunger fighting to break free.
“That has to be part of the answer.” Kim whispered. Then she turned back to Siobhan with her hand out.
She met Siobhan’s gaze, unblinking. “It’s all of us or one of us. Easy math. Give me the potion. I handle the elementals. You all are freed up to solve this thing.”
She turned to look at Dan. “There are other blocks. I saw them earlier. They probably have letters too. You are looking for a password. Words have letters. I know I’m stupid with the cold but that seems significant.”
His nod came slowly. “It does.”
“Then,” Kim turned back to Siobhan, hand unwavering, “It’s break glass time. Unless you can think of a better option?”
Tears flowed down Siobhan’s face, freezing instantly then breaking free to crack on the snow as she looked down at the strap of her bag. “I can’t. It’s too cold and I can’t!”
Very slowly she reached into her bag and pulled out a potion. She drew a long breath through her nose, wincing as the cold air hit, then held the potion out to Kim.
“It’s going to hit you fast. And when it does you are going to think you can do anything. It’s a lie. Believe it and it will kill you.”
Kim nodded, giving the movement the solemnity Siobhan’s words deserved. She carefully took the potion in hand, uncorked it, then dashed it back before she could entertain any second thoughts.
It hit her stomach like a rock. Like way too fast to actually be her stomach. Maybe it was her well of Magick that took it in, opening like a dry desert to a hard rain. No, that was a bad analogy. Rain pooled off a dry desert. This potion? None of it was wasted. None of it pooled. It poured into the empty places inside of her, filling them up, flooding them.
Holy shit! Holy shit! It was like liquid Magick!
In that moment she knew she could do anything! Everything!
And she was thinking in exclamation points!
Ex-clam-a-tion points!
Distantly she heard Siobhan say, “Be ready when she crashes.” But the words went in and out of her brain, flotsam rolling in the flood of power. They broke on the breakwater of her skull. Splash!
A giggle tore up from inside of her. Joy. Immeasurable joy.
She felt her skin. She felt her soul. She walked on air. Like she had to look down and confirm her feet were on the ground. On the snow. Whatever!
She had never been so confident. In fact, she didn’t think she’d ever been confident. This! This was confident! She. Could. Do. Anything!
An echo of the word ‘anything’ played through her mind. Why was that familiar?
Did it matter? It didn’t matter!
Shit. Shit. Rein it in, Kim. You got a job to do.
She turned her attention to the ice elementals hammering on her friends. Assholes. They were all a bunch of assholes.
Not her friends. They weren’t assholes.
Friends. She had friends! Not just Gwen and Siobhan but a bunch. A bunch of bunch of friends.
Friends!
Whoa, she sounded like Hello. Or maybe Bunny.
Opening her mouth she barked. “Woof!”
Again she was distantly aware of Siobhan giving her a look full of look. Maybe the bark was too much?
Eh! “Woof!” she barked again. Another look.
Yeah, job. Job to do. Job to help her friends. Squash some assholes.
That.
But first, her friends. Dipping into the tiniest amount of the power kicking up waves in her reservoir, she locked down a vision of her friends warm and functional and called out to Fire.
Hey, Fire!
Fire flared in her senses. Popped. Danced. Paused. It felt like it weighed her and wasn’t quite sure what to make of her. She doubled down on the vision of her friends in a good place. Fire, being Fire, moved on. Not much of one for introspection, that Fire.
Sometimes she wondered how it connected with her with her frequent introspection and analysis of every situation as well as her post-analysis of everything she fucked up in every situation. Maybe it was opposites attracting. Maybe she had a job to do here and needed to focus! Focus, damn you, brain!
She looked at the ice elementals. Looked at the snow making up the room. Realized in a split mikro that she could melt it all. All of it. No problem. Big fire make ice and snow go bye.
But big fire would also make her friends go bye. So, that was out.
She had to think smaller. Fire would solve everything, but would it? Would it? No, her friends would solve whatever needed solving. They just needed to be warm so they could think and act and not fall on their faces and potentially, probably, die from the cold.
Considering the options, she edited the image she was projecting to Fire. Warm. Not hot. Not burning. Warm.
From somewhere overhead, Fire manifested in the shape of firebirds. Birds of fire. Not “firebirds”. Whatever. Birds of fire manifested from somewhere overhead, ten of them in total. One came flying to Kim, landing on her back and wrapping its wings around her, so the tips met at the front of her chest while neatly avoiding hampering the movement of her arms.
Instantly warmth suffused her. She closed her eyes and sank into the warmth. She would never take warmth for granted again! Cold sucked! Screw cold! Opening her eyes, she watched as the other nine birds drifted to each of her friends, including Ivan and Dempsey in their statue states.
The birds all settled in similar manner to the one on Kim’s back and Kim could instantly tell when the warmth hit her friends that weren’t statues. Stances that had been stiff loosened. Feet that had tripped over themselves stopped with the tripping. Ben lifted Dempsey’s shield and squared it off, staring down the advancing elementals over the top of it. He yelled something she couldn’t hear over the rushing in her ears and the thrumming of her blood but based on his facial expression it had been something taunting.
Taunt away, my friend Ben! Taunt away.
Not that the ice elementals probably gave a fuck, if elementals gave a fuck and she wasn’t dead sure they did despite her anos and anos of being in communion with them. But it was the spirit of the thing. Ben hollering like that meant a Ben that had energy. And joy. Defiance.
Her lips curved on a smile.
Yeah, scream at them for me, Ben!
Prairie turned at something and looked beyond Kim’s back at Siobhan. Kim turned, watching Siobhan say something although she couldn’t hear her. Again, rushing blood and shit. Prairie ran over, Kirby at her heels. Then she and Siobhan peered at Kim.
Kim gave a big old smile and waved. Hey! Hi! How are ya? Then for good measure she barked. “Woof!”
Kirby sat down hard and cocked two of three heads at her. Seeing this, she woofed again. Bunny gave a tentative woof. At least Kim thought it was a woof, though she couldn’t hear it. Bunny’s mouth parted and Kirby’s chest flexed. She interpreted that as a woof.
Jerking her chin in acknowledgement of the greeting, Kim smiled again before turning to eyeball the ice elementals. Job. Job to do. Elementals. Bad.
So, ice elementals. Not her thing but what was ice except water affected by air? She knew Water. And Air and she were like—they were like—They were! Totally!
Water. Air. Ice. Her brain ticked over calculations so fast she almost got dizzy. Almost. But super-charged with the potion her brain felt capable of connections that might elude her in this less than amazing state of awesomeness.
She totally had this. Totally! Air! Water! Ice!
She dug down into the ocean of Magick in her core and sent out a command. Stop!
A tearing sensation in her forehead and then Magick spurted out of her, pulsing like arterial blood. Time stood still as she watched the Magick fly across the space between her and the elementals. It flew over the heads of her friends holding the line and splashed up against the substance of the elementals. Some of the Magick coursed down their long, pointy faces while most of it soaked right in. The stuff that flowed down their faces didn’t make it far, maybe the equivalent of their shoulders, before soaking in too.
The elementals, as one, froze in place. Froze! Get it? They were ice elementals! They froze!
Kim felt the tug on her brain or maybe her Magick or whatever as she connected with each of the ice elementals through the Magick they’d absorbed.
Stay!
She felt the elementals resisting her. Weird. That wasn’t normal. She poured more Magick from her ocean through the air to the elementals. Willed them to obey.
And instantly felt dirty. It eroded her confidence. Caused her to frown. She didn’t demand things of elementals. They were her friends when she had none. You didn’t demand things of your friends. That was just—ew.
That was some dark shit. Dark. That was asking your friends to abandon you because you weren’t really their friend.
Tears burned in her eyes. She blinked hard and realized sparks were drifting from her lashes. Flashing a hand out she grabbed one, holding it in her palm. Yep, sparks. That probably wasn’t good.
Again from a real big disconnect, she heard Prairie cry out, “Gwen!” Her friend’s voice sounded like it was underwater. Or maybe it was muffled by the blood pounding in her ears.
Job! Do job! Stop thinking! Job!
She blinked a few more sparks then once her gaze was clear she focused on the elementals. They were obviously straining against her control, leaning their upper bodies forward while their feet remained rooted to the snowy floor.
Focusing on that resistance, Kim walked to within an arm’s length of the line of ice elementals. Distantly she was aware of someone calling out in alarm, but it was background noise, buried under the crackle and burn and rush of the Magick coursing through her Magick channels.
Hi? Hello? Would you like to be my friend?
Vast. Cold. Empty.
Taking that as a no? Maybe you don’t know what a friend is?
Vast. Cold. Empty.
Okay. Hmm. Friends. Are like–
Rather than try to put something into words that was beyond it, Kim filled her mind with images. Fire dogs dancing around her, feet almost trotting on air, as they begged to play. Giving in. Running with Fire. No thoughts, just wind and body moving and joy, Joy, JOY.
Moments dancing with Air Ladies, her hair flowing around her. Laughter. Joy.
Floating in the ocean, buffeted by the tide, water elementals weaving around her. Tears at the beauty of it. The flow of it. No thought. Just flow. Joy.
Earth fucking swallowing her, its clasp an embrace that she’d finally understood such a short time ago. The vastness of it. The support. The promise that she didn’t have to always be strong. Earth was there. Always there. Ready to boost her up and hold her when she needed it.
Then she let memories of her human friends flood her.
Abe bouncing like a human spring, face alight with excitement.
Dan, solid and just there, saying “Unknown” a twinkle in dark eyes that might have been missed if you weren’t looking for it.
Gwen and Siobhan. Her first real friends. Tears filled her eyes as she considered the two. She still didn’t know why they befriended her, but damn was their acceptance one of the touchstones of her evolution into a better person.
Ben grinning. Blinking in and out of focus as shadow wreathed him. Lying so still in a bed, making her heart hurt. Ben was never still.
Ivan fixating on a gadget building itself under his hands. Striding through life, apparently unaware of the broken gazes in his wake. Laughing as he said “sploosh” to activate Ben’s bell for the first time, showing a side of him besides the serious public servant.
Patti and Sass singing. Patti throwing herself into danger to protect Sass. To protect them all. Punching out with a shield, swinging a cudgel. Singing. Singing!
Dempsey staring at Gwen with a look of confusion and fascination. Laying out tarot cards. Speaking with authority. About cards. And objects of power. Glowering at Ben while a subtle twinkle of humor lurks in his eyes as Ben repeats “Warden, Warden, Warden” like Dempsey is going to bend and spill all his secrets.
Prairie patting all three of Kirby’s heads. Brandishing daggers. Screaming with arms up as she channeled a murdered spirit. Not flinching in the face of a horrible, blessed, Magick. Standing, awe in her face, as she stared at ARFA for the first time, manifested as a tortured harp.
Quiet. Cold. Then a family of snow foxes formed in her mind. The vision was so clear she could pick out each individual strand of fluffy white fur, the dampness on dark noses, the depth of eyes the color of dark amber.
Not empty? Progress.
We could be friends?
Snow. White. Cold. Snow foxes disappeared in a thick swirl of blown snow.
Okay. She was losing it. Ice. She was losing Ice. She’d had it, darn it! What was she missing?
A thought from before flitted through her conscious. Of how she connected to the elements. To her friends. It felt significant. Necessary. Why? Why!
She was overthinking. She always overthought! Thinking was making her miss the message. She drew a long breath then let her mind drift, trusting her subconscious to drive her to the answer.
Then she pushed her Magick at the ice elementals. At Ice itself. Willed it to understand something that might be beyond its comprehension. She was nothing if she wasn’t stubborn and she would succeed at this. She would!
She projected her thoughts as they formed, refusing to force them to be coherent, just letting them flow from herself to Ice.
Fire was the first friend I made. I think maybe because I was so angry. I was just full of such rage. And I wanted to destroy things. Including me. And I couldn’t seem to control it. I was just so full of it. I think maybe Fire felt that too. I’m not sure. But I do know one dia I was sitting there in my closet – that’s a whole other story and we don’t have time – so angry and so helpless and feeling so much hurt I needed it to get out of me, somehow. And then there was fire in my hand. Fire. It was Fire. And it just burned and all the anger and the helplessness and the hurt just burned. Became ash. Blew away.
That was Air. Came to me at almost the same time. Like I needed it too. Air is so fun!
Snow. White.
Okay, fun. How to explain fun?
Words eluded her. Instead she filled herself with images of Air picking up trash and dancing it for meros, horas, just transfixed by the movement. Of it whipping in and tugging her hair, dragging her out of downward spirals with a laugh and the need to slap her hand down on the hair moving her out of locked state. Then of the Ladies dancing around Ben, so delighted with him. Lifting her so her entire being filled with wonder as she seemed to fly. Laughing. So much laughing.
Understanding shimmered into existence in her mind. Sympathy. That was it. Sympathy. Not just that “feeling sympathy for someone”. More like “sympathetic connection”. What people called “sympatico”.
She had sympatico with Fire because of her anger and her destructive impulses. Air was playful, the childlike wonder she’d so often suppressed. Water was fluid. It adapted. And she’d had to adapt to so much in her life. She’d internalized the idea of “Adapt or Die” pretty early on. Earth was solid, strong, nurturing. Something she hadn’t even realized was inside of her until Gwen then Siobhan then Ivan and Ben and all the rest came along and she had someone she wanted to nurture. Protect. That was what Earth did. It protected.
Well, shit, no wonder it had taken her so long to connect with Earth!
Whoa, not the lesson for the moment. Focus, Kim.
Where had she been? Oh, yeah, connections. Her need for all the elements represented made her connection with those elements. And maybe she had something inside her that gave them an outlet as well. Maybe.
So, what did cold have that she did? Or that she lacked? What could she give cold? How could they be friends?
I guess it starts with connecting? What do we have in common?
White. Snow.
What can I find to like in cold?
An image of a scoop of ice cream formed in her mind. Then another joined it. Vanilla. Chocolate.
A laugh startled from her. Oh, ice cream! I like ice cream
Sun. Blinding sun. Then a breeze.
Yes. Cool when it’s hot is awesome.
Quiet. Snow. A slight breeze picking up a veil of snow to dance across the earth. Silence. Silence.
Kim’s mouth twitched on a soft smile. Images of sitting in her office on the second floor, curtains drawn back, hot tea in a mug warming her hands while the first snow of the ano falls. Safe. Warm. Mind and spirit quiet. And she breathed. Relaxed. No thoughts, just feeling complete and still and calm.
Ice shrouded limbs breaking in a hard wind. Trees falling, taking down other trees. White birch with its interconnected root structure falling, dying. Dying. Dying. A man in ragged clothes, lying in a box under a bridge, features at peace, icicles on his eyelashes. Mice, clustered for warmth, stiff, dead in the hayloft of a rasmshackle barn.
Tears rose to Kim’s eyes. A knot formed in her throat.
Well, that was a challenge to internalize, not like the absolute peace of the first snow. But, trees fell. They had to so more could grow. Just as a forest fire wrought destruction and promise, so did the destruction cold wrought. People died. If they didn’t the world would be overrun. The same with mice. Bunnies. The old. The feeble. The weak.
She blinked, forcing her thoughts away from spiral into despair the images formed. Death. Cold brought death. Look at what was happening to she and her friends before she was able to call Fire to warm them. But, death was necessary. Cold was necessary. Destruction was as relevant as creation, just maybe a bit harder to accept.
There was peace in the stillness. In the suspension of life. The promise of time suspended in the hold of cold. Escape. It was beautiful. The cold, the ice. Beautiful.
She felt the press of something against her hand. She looked down at the fingers clasping hers. Frowned. Followed the fingers up the hand then up the arm, up the shoulder, the neck, until her gaze registered Gwen’s face.
Gwen gave her a watery smile. “Hi.”
Kim looked at her in confusion. Hi. What was Hi? Oh. Hi. Greeting. Hello. Gwen’s grasp grounded her and she understood.
Magick surged in her, demanding her attention. When it threatened to yank her away into her head again, she pushed it down. Clamped her eyes closed hard and took several long breaths then opened them to meet Gwen’s steady stare.
That gaze, as much as the clasp of Gwen’s hand, forced her to exist as something more than thought. Distantly, she became aware of voices.
“Eternity!” That was Dan. Submerged as Kim was she couldn’t connect feelings or whatever, but that was definitely Dan. Solid. An oak. Strong against the wind.
“I found a T!” Abe. Boundless energy. Human Golden Retriever. Abe.
“Y!” Siobhan. Gentle. Strong. Smart.
“What do we do with these?” Patti. Music. Tough but gentle. Sass sings. Patti sings.
“Fill the hole?” Abe again.
“Is there a literal hole?” Patti. Patti. Sass. Patti.
Echo.
“Found it!” Ben. Wicked grin. Risk. Reward. Ben. “Them. There’s eight holes.”
“Eight letters in Eternity.” Dan once more.
Movement to Kim’s other side drew her attention from the warped voices carrying on the mist. Prairie and Kirby stopped beside her, gazes fixed on the ice elementals. Without shifting her focus from the elementals, Prairie lifted her hand and very gently laid it on Kim’s shoulder.
Suddenly Kim felt her body. And realized she hadn’t been feeling it for a while. Dissociation. She hadn’t realized it because she hadn’t employed any of her usual methods of disconnecting from herself. The potion and the Magick and her will, she guessed, had been enough.
In that moment she understood. What she had in common with cold.
Gwen’s hold tightened on Kim’s hand. She turned and hollered into the mist.
“We’re losing her! Hurry!”
Certain now of what she needed to do, Kim turned her attention from her friends and back to the ice elementals.
I used to think I was cold. I dissociated a lot. Defense mechanism, you know?
Big field of snow.
Okay, taking that as a no. Confusion? I lived some stuff that I didn’t like and my brain just noped out.
White. Snow.
Yeah, ‘noped out’ was a bridge too far. She pushed for something concrete, something universal, that Ice might understand.
Sometimes I just disconnect. Dissociate.
White. Snow. More snow, whipped up by a brisk breeze. Obscuring.
Disappear? She forced the image of herself, solid then shimmering out of existence, into her mind and across the tentative connection to Ice.
Sunshine, its light bright reflecting from a field of snow.
Sunshine? Understand?
More sunshine bouncing off snow.
Got it. So, disappear. I used to disappear. Just as my friends can.
Snow blew through her mind. Obscuring.
The corner of Kim’s mouth quirked. Got it. Be more clear.
Not disappear into the air, disappear from my life. Friends disappear. Nothing is forever. Except the elements?
Snow. White. Then sunshine coming down in a diffused sheet through breaking clouds.
Kim didn’t try to order her thoughts, just let them flow, hoping it made sense to Ice and not just her.
The elements can’t disappear. They are the building blocks of our world. They’re infinite. And if I connect with them, I can’t disappear. And I guess maybe I give them a connection to the finite.
I can give you that. If you want.
I could be your friend. And your touchstone.
If you want.
It’s okay if you don’t want. The offer is there if you–
A feeling of an embrace filled her. A darned cold embrace. She braced so she didn’t shudder or in any other way show rejection of the touch.
A warmth bloomed in her chest, then cooled and cold flowed through her Magick channels. Her initial response was to shut it down. Cold was cold. But she grasped onto the positive. Peace of a first snow. A cool breeze on a hot day. Ice cream. And she let the cold flow through her until it found balance.
Then she opened her eyes and smiled at the ice elementals in a tight half-circle in front of her.
Hello
Sunshine bright enough to blind, bouncing off a field of snow.
A series of images flooded her mind. Foremost was her second floor room and a cup of hot tea in a loose clasp while the first snow falls. Peace. Comfort.
She blinked away tears. Realized how dry her eyes were. Realized that Gwen still held her hand. Prairie still touched her shoulder.
Turning her head slowly, she met Gwen’s gaze. “Hey.”
Joy kindled in Gwen’s eyes, driving away a look of worry. She released Kim’s hand and flung herself against Kim’s side, hugging her hard.
Enter The Woods 