Still in a bit of a funk, but enthused to learn more about Ice-Magic, I gave Sigmir a soft kiss and told Fresh Snow to lead on, wishing the others a nice day. Their options for entertainment were rather lacking, but I was quite sure they would be able to spend the time in some way.
Trying to make small-talk as we walked, I asked Fresh Snow what had her so happy this morning. Her tail gave away her glee on being asked, making me grin when I realised that with the wolves, the face wasn’t the thing to read, it was the butt and they all had a terrible pokerbutt.
“Swiftstride came to me for help.” she said, without further comment, making me wonder why that made her that happy. She had been standoffish with him, as if nothing would make her more happy than to have him disappear.
“And…?” I asked, slightly unsure if she was just gloating that he had needed to ask her for help, as it might demonstrate his inability to perform a task was making him lesser or something like that. But, no, I was rather surprised when she started to almost swoon over him and that he had needed her, making me decide that there were things between heaven and earth that I just couldn’t understand. But I was regaled with a tale of his positive aspects, a lot of them just didn’t compute for me, due to the difference in our thought-structure. Even Lenore had trouble understanding what she described when she talked about his smell, it was simply outside of either our experience, making it impossible to relate, but hearing about her trying to sniff his behind just made me chuckle.
Finally, I was saved by the bell - or rather, our arrival at the chamber of Fresh Snow’s master, an obviously old wolf, his pelt almost glowingly silver, compared to the more grey pelts of the rest. Just like some of the other wolves who had crossed the first divide, there was an aura of power around him, but in his case, the power felt slightly different, almost pleasantly cool instead of sharp and penetrating.
“Greetings, Master. I was asked to introduce this Honoured Friend of the Den, the Traveller Morgana, to you.” Fresh Snow said, her voice humble and submissive. I thought she was about to lay down and show her belly, just from the way she was acting. The wolf’s eyes fixated on me, almost as silver as his pelt, compared to the gold or amber eyes the rest of them had. The stare reminded me of the Grandmother, only far weaker in intensity. With her, I had the feeling that she was able to see into me, down into my soul, knowing every thought, desire and feeling I had ever had. With him, I felt weighted and measured but just superficially.
Not wanting to back down, just as I had with Sirius, I waited, trying to get his measure, even looking at him through Lenore’s sight. The aura of Power around him felt, for lack of better words, charged, as if some of his power was constantly leaking out,
“Greetings, Elder.” I took the initiative after a few moments of silent measuring between us. “Is there a simple word or name I can use to address you? While I understand the language of wolves, my brain is not used to thinking in it, it would be a kindness to allow me such a convenience.” I continued, politely.
“Greetings, Traveller.” he answered, his voice sounding stronger in my head than expected, and slightly rough.
“And yes, you can call me Old Ice, that fits quite well, don’t you think?” he asked, surprisingly friendly. I had expected a grumpy old wolf, from Swiftstride’s reluctance and the submission Fresh Snow had just shown.
“Then, greetings, Old Ice. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” I repeated my greetings, this time using his name.
“Now, why did you want to meet me? I can guess some of it, but I’m curious what you think.” he asked, a light challenge in his voice.
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“As you undoubtedly felt, I’m walking on the path of Ice and Snow myself, trying to understand the mysteries it hides. So, when I noticed the curious substance used to line your den, I wanted to learn more about it and the person behind it. Still introduced me to Fresh Snow, who, now, introduced me to you. To make it simple, I’m interested in your knowledge but also in your wisdom.” I explained, keeping my voice strong and confident.
“Ah, so that is what you are after. Yes, I can feel your powers, I can even feel the touch of Death on you and the Raven in her Hallow. She’s one of Hugin’s brood, isn’t she?” his voice got a little cold when he spoke Hugin’s name, maybe more of the feud between Odin and Loki, I wasn’t quite sure.
“She is, my dear friend Lenore.” I replied, wanting to provoke him, but I wanted to stand up for my friend. To that effect, I asked Lenore to leave her Hallow, taking my whacking stick from my magic bag, letting her hop over to it.
“She gave her freedom, offering to serve me for a year, in a bid to save her friend, Ylva of the Frostwolves from the line of Fenris. She never hesitated, and I would thank you if you don’t disrespect that friendship.” I explained, just daring him to reject it. Yesterday, I had learned that they honoured life-debts and were proud of their lineage, so it should get Lenore some respect.
I just got a chuffed laugh from him, “Good, standing up for your friends, that is a good quality. I will try to ignore the old feuds, but it is hard. The black wolves of Odin have been trying to press us for all my life.” he explained, sounding a little tired.
“Now, you wanted to talk with me about magic? What do you know about Ice and Snow? What do you know about the wind that drives the Blizzard, what do you know about the glaciers that break mountains?” he asked and I conjured up a chair for me, settling in for a long discussion.
----
Suddenly, a loud growl jolted me from the deep discussion Lenore, Old Ice and I were having. For a second, all three of us scanned the room, looking for the attacker, when a second growl showed just who was growling at us. It was my stomach, telling me that I had neglected to feed it most of the day, just a few bites of breakfast and nothing since. When I checked the time, I realised that we had talked for almost ten hours, non-stop. Now that I was thinking about it, my mouth was rather dry and I felt a little hoarse.
Looking around, I noticed Fresh Snow lying nearby, intently looking at us, her eyes sparkling a little.
“I think we should take a break for some food, do you agree?” I asked Old Ice, who readily agreed. I simply took out some of the food I carried around with me, sharing it between the four of us.
As we ate, we mainly kept the topics to small talk, our minds filled with new ideas regarding magic. It was interesting, I had a lot more understanding regarding the hardness of ice, how to form and use it, even slight understanding towards Eternal Ice, whereas Old Ice, despite his name, was far more knowledgeable about snow, how to form snow into a complex crystal structure that had interesting properties not found in normal ice and how to preserve them.
It had been an enlightening discussion and I think Old Ice had profited quite a bit himself, making me feel better about it.
“Morgana, might I ask who taught you? Rumor has it that you, the Travellers, are not from this world and only arrived recently, were you taught in your world? What is it like there?” Fresh Snow finally asked, her voice almost as respectful towards me as it was towards her master.
“What is it like? That’s a question I can’t answer, we would be here forever. Different, that, I can tell you. But no, I only learned magic after coming here. We” I gestured to Lenore, “we met a kindly old lady who, after sending Sigmir and me around on some errands, taught me quite a bit, not direct knowledge but methods and understanding how to acquire knowledge on my own. Ever since then, I’ve experimented and learned from it, even if it almost killed me a few times.” I continued, smiling at the memories of the Grandmother.
“A kindly old lady who gives out errands?” Fresh Snow asked, sounding a little choked.
“Yes, here, she gave me this.” I grinned, realising that, once again, my teacher’s fame was known here. When I pulled out the Grimoire she had given me, both wolves looked at it almost reverently and made puppy-dog eyes for me to tell them the story.
It was late in the night when I managed to get back to Sigmir and crawl into our sleeping furs with her. But it had been a good day.