Four shrubs. That was the entirety of vegetation that we had seen peeking out from the snow over the course of the last two days of travel. And calling them ‘shrubs’ might be overrating them, they were more like brambles with pretensions of grandeur. At this point, I would have welcomed monster attacks - anything to break the monotony of travelling across a seemingly endless, white expanse, permanently exposed to the harsh winds blowing down from the north. But even the Ankhegs were disappointing me; other than the attack on the first day, we had seen neither eye nor claw from them.

There had been an epic battle, well, a battle of stubbornness, during lunch on the day after we had left the first building I had conjured. After Sigmir had run the first leg of the day, I had insisted that she’d ride, with me running. She had declined, I had insisted, she had protested, I had stated I wouldn’t ride, she had called me stubborn, I had silenced her with a kiss. From then on, it had turned a little more enjoyable, with either of us trying to keep the other from protesting by using ...oral arguments, until Adra had tossed a load of snow on the two of us.

But I had won the argument and started to run, with Lenore back in her Hallow. It meant that I was subjected to the endless wind, but if I could get Sigmir off her feet, that was a price I was willing to pay, she was still not completely healed after the incident the night before.

Running at the speed of our horses meant that I needed to constantly use Blood Runes to strengthen my body, carefully channelling power into them, making sure that I was neither overdoing it - which would exhaust me quickly - nor underpowering them, which would have the same effect, just on a physical level. It was an interesting challenge, at least for the first hour or so, afterwards, I had fixed the level needed in my mind and could simply keep going. During the night, I was a little sore, but nothing I couldn’t deal with.

Now, two days later, all of us were a little irritated and I had made the unilateral decision that I would conjure two igloos for our night’s rest, giving me and Sigmir a separate space to relieve tensions. Just the thought made me smile. Sadly, it wouldn’t help Adra and Rai, unless they tried the method in the privacy of their own igloo. It was the best way to get rid of tensions, and certainly the most pleasurable. In a pinch, a good fight, slaughtering some monster, or anything, really, could do, but even that was impossible, unless we started fighting amongst ourselves.

While we were travelling and it was my turn to ride, I had started my careful experimentation with the idea that stronger ice might be created by saturating it with Astral Power. Sadly, I either was missing something, which I felt was more likely, or the amount of power needed to saturate Hard Ice was seriously insane. I was not sure which, both were distinct possibilities, possibly at the same time.

The experiment I was conducting when I was riding was quite simple, ever since Lenore had started using her magic to keep the wind away from us, I had channelled a Astral Power over to her, in a reversal of the normal state of affairs. Normally, I was getting what Astral Power she would generate normally and thanks to one of our companion abilities it was an automatic process. Now, I had to focus on steadily sending what Astral Power I was regenerating over to her, while filtering out the parts that were Ice Astral Power, which left me with them as left-over, normally discarded back into the environment. Instead, I had created a small ice-shard, something I could comfortably hold, and channelled the pure Ice-type Astral Power into it, curious what would happen.

The result was ‘nothing much’ - after maybe half an hour, the shard had fully transformed into what I would have conjured when using ‘Hard Ice’-Runes. I was curious that the amount of Power needed to transform normal ice into hard ice was far, far larger than what would be needed to conjure up hard ice in the first place, but it was merely a curiosity, not something I could use in my research. Since the shard had changed, I had continued to pour in hours worth of Astral Power-regeneration which the shard had absorbed without changing further. Physically, it felt just as heavy as before and I was unable to perceive any additional cold from it, either of which I’d have expected if it was on the way to transform into Eternal Ice. Magically, I thought it felt a little ‘heavier’, more difficult to move with my Ice Magic but the change was so minute that it might just be my imagination. It was not as if I could use precision-scales to measure the sensation, I had to make do with my senses and those were not perfectly calibrated. So, I continued letting power pour into the shard. If nothing else, it served as an exercise in continued, magical channelling, something that might prove useful in future rituals.

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“We should stop for the night.” Sigmir called, making me stumble to a halt. I had been lost in thought, discussing possible ways to use my Blood Magic with Lenore, and ignored the bleak world around me. Now, looking around, I agreed with Sigmir, the Sun was already mostly behind the horizon, meaning it would be dark in an hour or so. If I wanted to conjure up shelter, I would need at least half an hour - and if I wanted to make two igloos, it would be more.

“Indeed.” I agreed, for a moment watching the others dismount and Adra starting the process of changing her shape. After that moment, I went to work, using the now familiar magic to create shelter. I had kept the basic shape of the igloo I had made on the first day, merely playing with the efficiency and speed of casting. Within half an hour, I had the first igloo ready, which would be the one we used for eating. It would also serve as shelter for Rai and Adra, while Sigmir and I would take a second igloo, not that I had told them that.

“You can go in and start preparing dinner. I want to add a little extra.” I told the others, making Sigmir look at me with a raised eyebrow. The last two days, I had merely conjured up a single igloo, not the fortress-like construction I had created during our rest-day.

I walked over, gently pulling her head down to whisper in her ear. “I will make a second igloo, just for the two of us.” my smile must have told her more about my plans than the words spoken and she blushed a pretty shade of purple, making me smile even wider and kiss her cheek.

During dinner, Sigmir seemed to shift around quite a bit and, judging by the smirk on Adra’s face and the blush visible on Rai’s, the other two had either heard what I had said or simply guessed it from the facts in evidence. I didn’t care that they knew, especially Adra had heard us before, I just refrained from giving a direct floor-show.

Afterwards, I grabbed Sigmir by the hand, dragging her with me to the other igloo, causing Adra to get the giggles. Still, I didn’t care, solely wanting to try to have the wonderful sounds Sigmir made drown out the incessant howling of the wind.

In the igloo, I quickly pulled out our sleeping-blankets and furs, before pushing Sigmir down, starting on the task of unwrapping my present, while trying to drive her insane. I hadn’t managed to get her out of more than her armour and just started to work on the tunic she wore under it when I heard a howl in the distance. Not the howling of the wind, but the howling of a wolf. I considered for a second but decided that unless the wolves were already scrabbling at the igloo, trying to get in, I didn’t care.

Sadly, Ylva didn’t agree with me. I had assumed she did the same as Lenore, essentially putting her non-existent hands over her ears, closing her eyes and loudly cawing to make sure she didn’t catch any of the action, maybe peeking on the emotions I was experiencing but apparently, she stayed aware enough to hear the howling. So, when she suddenly appeared from Sigmir’s hand, I was rather surprised and couldn’t quite continue with the task at hand, due to the pony-sized canine in the igloo. It was easier to ignore an elephant in the room, compared to Ylva.

“The wolves, they are calling for help.” Ylva told us, her voice pleading to check what was going on.