“Wake up, sleepyhead.” I softly pressed a kiss to Sigmir’s forehead, causing her to mumble in her sleep. While she was incredibly adorable, I worried that the events of the night before had caused lingering damage, as she was normally not one for staying in bed alone. I added a second kiss to the first, while stretching my magical senses into her body, looking for damages. The only thing I found was that her muscles seemed to be in a state similar to mine, sore and tired, but that was something I didn’t want to cure with magic, for fear of making the problem worse.

My second kiss had done the trick and Sigmir’s eyes fluttered open, a gentle smile appearing on her face the instant she focused on me.

“Breakfast is ready. We’ll talk later.” I whispered into her ear. While I was planning to apologize to her, once again, I wanted, needed, to impress upon her that I valued her well-being higher than my own. I doubted that it would change anything - I had tried before - but that didn’t change my need to try. She nodded, wished me a good morning, and let herself be pulled into a seating position, groaning when her muscles were forced to move.

While I handed out food, I asked her if she was able to handle the day’s travel and, to absolutely nobody’s surprise, she instantly told me that she was able to handle it. I had no doubt that she was planning to force herself, not admitting to such mortal things as ‘weakness’ unless it was a mortal wound and she was in the process of dying, her stubbornness spurring her onwards.

I considered making it a day of walking, but decided against it, simply stating that we would stay in our igloo for the day. My poker-face almost slipped when not only I purposefully missed the expression of relief that flashed over Sigmir’s face, but Adra and Rai did as well. Pride, such an interesting idea. I personally didn’t feel a need to play such games, but it seemed to make Sigmir feel better.

“Rai, why don’t you show Sigmir the second form I taught you. I think it would be good for her to stretch her body after breakfast.” I gently suggested, making plans for the day. Resting would do us all good, even if it prolonged the time we spent on the harsh, windswept plains.

“What are you planning?” Adra asked, curious. Everyone in the group knew that I would normally jump at any chance to spend time with Sigmir but now, I was making my disciple do so.

“I plan to add to our igloo. If we spent the day and a second night, I want more than a single room. Luckily, using Ice-Magic is easy in the cold environment we are in.” I vaguely explained, not certain what I would actually do. The easiest way would be to mirror the igloo, making two round chambers connected together by a small hallway, which would also contain the exit, but that was boring. It would take about half an hour and then I’d be done. I was planning to spent quite some time in the real world, but still, I wanted to craft something more, something grand.

During breakfast, I considered different structures, from raising a tower, possibly the most stereotypical mage-building out there, or maybe creating some sort of rounded, multi-chambered and storied, avant-garde igloo-artwork, marrying ice-sculpting with some bubble-design straight out of science-fiction. While it would be fun and a serious challenge to get stable, it seemed pointless for a time-limited shelter. And more rooms meant more wood to be burned, at least if Rai and Adra wanted to be comfortable. Sigmir and I could simply share warmth, maybe have Ylva join us, she was a great cushion and heat-source.

In the end, when we finished breakfast, I made my decision, heading outside to make it into reality. Sigmir and Rai were hot on my heels, planning to do the forms I had instructed Rai to show her.

“Give me a moment.” I asked the two of them, before starting my magic. Lenore had joined me and was curious whether what I was planning would actually work. It was both easy and difficult. Easy, because it was something I had done before, a few times at that. Difficult because it was on a far larger scale.

Stolen novel; please report.

I walked around the igloo, making an ellipse that would allow me to go with my first idea, mirroring the igloo, but I wanted to do one more thing. As I walked, I created tracks of Ice, making a runic formation, not in a circle, as normal, but in an ellipse. That was the first challenge: would the distorted formation work like a normal one?

Once six runes were placed, I stepped into the center and sat down to regenerate Astral Power, closing my eyes and feeling all six runes around me, imprinting the formation into my mind. It was not yet complete, but it would be, soon.

Letting out a long breath that misted in the cold air, I raised my athame, channelling power through the crystal in the handle and creating another Ice-rune above me, completing the formation with the six others around me. The one in the middle was the center, the control, and the last to be placed.

With the formation complete, I started to slowly channel power into it, becoming little more than a conduit for the Astral River, letting it flow through me and into the formation. As I stood there, seconds felt like minutes, minutes like hours. It was exhausting, both mentally and physically, the wind not helping my endeavour. But soon, the wind was blocked, making me smile.

Finally, after almost an hour of constant channelling, I felt something click in my mind and knew that I had been successful, allowing me to return to the world around me. My plan had worked: around the igloo, a slightly opaque wall stood, two and a half meters in height, blocking the annoying wind from coming inside.

There was more to do, but I wanted to relax first, so I climbed into Sigmir’s lap, cuddling into her. She looked a lot better, now that she had worked the kinks from her body, which was why I had ordered Rai in the first place. He had already gone back in, so it was only the two of us, which was just fine with me.

“I need to apologize.” I started, giving Sigmir another, soft kiss. “I was reckless, once again. And this time, you almost paid the ultimate price.” I felt a tear trickling down my face, just speaking of it made me sad.

“It won’t happen again. Not just because I will do my best to be more careful, but because I ask you to never do something that foolish again. It was a stunt worthy of my own recklessness. You need to remember, I am a traveller, a visitor to this world. Even if this guise is wiped from the mortal coil forever, destroyed by forces beyond our imagination, I, my essence, will return. Maybe I will look different, maybe you won’t recognise me at first, but I will always come back to you.” As I made my speech, my plea, I looked deep into Sigmir’s eyes, hoping to impress upon her my seriousness.

She simply smiled, a smile that seemed to say, ‘let her talk, I will do what I deem best’ but I could only hope that she took my words to heart. I would certainly do and be more careful in the future.

We stayed in our cuddling position for a while, no longer talking about the events of the last night, simply looking out into the world, watching the clouds drift by, sometimes sharing our impressions, or just sharing kisses and few words. From time to time, I moved around a little, creating more parts for the igloo, adding a gate to the wall I had made before, things that took little time and didn’t take me away from Sigmir.

Finally, in the afternoon, I was finished and suggested that we go inside our new igloo for an afternoon-nap. Sigmir happily agreed, still not fully recovered from the excitement during the night.

Once we were settled down, I logged out, letting my avatar sleep comfortably.

Outside, I went through the usual steps, food, potty-break, training and looking into the forums.

My first stop was the thread of the stooges, I had mostly ignored it the last couple of days, but now I was curious. The result was not quite what I had expected, the first couple of comments were just about what I expected, but it seemed that afterwards, the thread had devolved into flaming, name-calling and similarly toxic behaviour, causing the mods to close it down.

What truly surprised me was that Lenore had apparently become an internet-sensation, people had taken the video of her… bombing the stooges and cropped out the stockade-frame in the background, adding it to everything, from Rick Astley, to various politicians, streamers, whatever they could think of. One of the images, I even saved for myself, just because it gave me a chuckle, and that was the image of Lenore, ...bombing Acrasia in a Team Amarantine group-shot.

On the other hand, the advertisement featuring me had launched and the created quite a bit of buzz. The reception was just as mixed as I had hoped, creating discussion and thus, interest. As they said, all publicity is good, unless it’s your own obituary.