Their path ended in a box canyon with a massive frozen waterfall at the north end. Smaller falls blanketed the walls, anywhere from ten feet in height to over two hundred at the very end. The walls themselves were thick ice instead of stone, and they walked on a frozen lake where the wind had blown the snow up against the canyon walls.

Professor Lakton set her students loose to explore, to “make memories forever associated with the brisk coldness of the environment,” in her words. Nym could admire the natural beauty, but he had more than enough memories of being cold to draw on already. He spent his time comfortably sheltered inside his thermal barrier while the students walked around, looking at the waterfalls and shivering.

“I am freezing,” came a familiar voice behind him. “Maybe a hug would warm me up.”

A pair of arms latched onto Nym before he could react, only to pull back in confusion. “What the…? You’re just as cold as I am,” Risa pouted. “How are you not affected by it?”

“Different spell,” Nym said, making a point to step back from her. “I’m blocking all heat transfer both ways instead of warming myself up against the cold.”

She sighed and hugged her arms close to her chest. Nym tried not to notice what that did to said chest, even through her coat. “Look, I’m just going to give it to you straight here. I know that you’re way out of my league and it’ll be a brief thing before you get back to your life of magical glory and money. I’m not trying to get anything out of it other than some company. I’m honestly not sure if you’re interested or not though. If you’re not, just tell me, okay?”

“Magical glory and money?” Nym echoed. “What are you talking about?”

“I don’t know. You just… you know, you’re a master mage at sixteen? I figure your family’s got to be loaded, and you know… just. Never mind. I don’t know what I’m trying to say. Hey, don’t laugh at me!”

Nym started chuckling about halfway through. “My family’s got to be loaded,” he repeated. “God. I don’t even have a family. I have an adoptive sister who rescued me and lives in a two-room shack on the coast. I didn’t go to the Academy because I was way too poor. I think you have the wrong idea about me.”

“Well sorry! You don’t need to make fun of me though.”

“No, I’m not trying to make fun of you. It’s just, you don’t know me at all. And I don’t know you. How about instead of… whatever this is… we have an actual conversation?”

“Yeah. Huh. That’s not usually how this goes for me,” Risa said. “I don’t really know what to say?”

“How about something about yourself? How long have you been a student?”

“I’m in my third year,” she said. “Were you serious when you said you didn’t go to the Academy at all? I mean, you must be, because I think otherwise people would be talking about you still, even if you graduated before I started.”

Nym wanted to give his full attention to the conversation, but he was distracted by all the sensory information coming in from two air golems and his own scrying spell. Specifically, he was distracted by a movement in the snow, but it was just some sort of animal. Risa must have noticed his hesitation, but before she could say anything, he told her, “Sorry. I thought I saw something out there with a scrying spell. No, I never went to the Academy. I came to Abilanth to join, but the price was too steep.

“I made it to the third layer through a lot of self-study and a bit of advice from some other mages. I never took any classes and only recently got access to a full library for an extended length of time. That’s actually why I’m out here now, doing the headmaster a favor so I can keep poking through his books.”

There was that movement again. The snow was obscuring whatever it was. Something was burrowing, but it was far too small to be a yeti. Just because it wasn’t eight feet tall didn’t mean it couldn’t be a threat though, so he ordered one of the golems to divert over to give him a better view. While he was piloting it to the spot, he realized he’d missed what Risa had just said.

“Could you repeat that?” Nym asked. “I’m sorry again. It’s probably nothing dangerous, but something is moving around there and I’m having a hard time keeping it in sight.”

“It’s fine. I said it’s pretty amazing that you got this far on your own. But you’ve got some work to do and I should probably get back to my assignment. Lakton’s been just glaring at me for the last few minutes anyway.”

“Yeah…”

Risa stood up to walk away, but before she took a step, Nym grabbed her hand. “Maybe we could talk some more later, after we get back?”

“I’d like that,” she said. Then she winked and added, “Maybe in your room though.”

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

“One step at a time,” he told her. He really hadn’t worked out how he felt about all of that. The whole idea of being intimate was kind of scary in a couple different ways. Even if he ignored the actual age difference between them, he wasn’t sure if it was something he was interested in, especially since he doubted he’d ever see Risa again after tomorrow.

Nym shook his head and went back to scrying for danger. It was easier than trying to decide what to do about his personal life.

* * *

Decisions couldn’t be put off forever. Even avoiding Risa was a decision in and of itself, considering how little time there was left on the job. He found her and Phan in the dining hall, sitting with another two of their classmates. After getting himself a meal, he sat down across from them.

“How’s it going?” he asked.

“Oh, you know, enjoying the high quality frozen food up here,” Phan said. “Nym, these are my friends Trebon and Narshim. And I believe you are… already acquainted with my sister.”

“Not as acquainted as I’d like him to be,” she muttered, purposely pitching her voice so that everyone at the table heard her.

Phan rolled his eyes and Trebon laughed, but Narshim looked distinctly annoyed. Nym did not miss the dirty look he got from the boy. It didn’t take much to connect the dots on that one. That kind of drama wasn’t something he was interested in, but he reminded himself again that they had one place left to visit tomorrow and then he was leaving anyway.

“Hello, Trebon and Narshim,” he said. “How are you guys liking the field trip?”

“Colder than my old man’s heart,” Trebon said. “And he’s a ruthless bastard through and through.”

“Not like you’d know,” Narshim added. “With all the fancy magic.”

Nym turned in his seat to face the student mage fully. “Is there a problem here?” he asked softly.

Narshim didn’t answer. His eyes flicked around the table, looking for support. Trebon made a show out of scooting his chair a few inches away, Phan just shook his head slightly, and Risa gave him an exasperated look. Seeing no one willing to side with him, Narshim hunched his shoulders and stared down at his plate. “No problem,” he mumbled.

“Perhaps I should find somewhere else to sit,” Nym said. “I really shouldn’t be spending my time socializing anyway. I still have a lot of work to do tonight.”

“Again?” Risa asked, a sigh in her voice.

“I’ll just be checking the path to tomorrow’s destination for dangers, things like that snow yeti that was lurking near today’s route.”

“You can scry all that from your room?” Phan asked, surprised.

“Oh, no. God no. I’ll be out flying it, then teleporting back if it’s too late to make the return trip.”

“That’s… that’s a three hour long trip,” Trebon said.

“Probably a bit more if I’m taking my time to check everything over,” Nym agreed.

“Well, I think you’re crazy, but I do appreciate your dedication to our safety.”

“That’s what they pay me for.”

“How much does this job pay?” Phan asked curiously.

“No idea! Archmage Veran just asked me to do it, and I said yes. I’ll probably still owe him money considering how much of his food I’ve eaten.” Nym leaned forward, a glint in his eyes. “Just between you and me though, I’m not planning on paying him back.”

The table dissolved into laughter, even Narshim. “That’s ballsy,” he said. “Stealing from the headmaster like that.”

“Well it’s not like he can expel me.”

“No, just melt you into a little puddle of goo.”

“Probably,” Nym agreed. “But I like to think he’s fond of me.”

“I can see why,” Risa said, batting her eyelashes.

Next to her, Phan groaned. “You’re coming on a bit strong, don’t you think?”

“Please. Boys are dumb. None of you would recognize anything subtle.”

“Your interest is officially recognized,” Nym said. “Would you like to go for a moonlit flight with me?”

“Are you asking me on a date?” she practically purred.

“I suppose I am, but if you’re not interested…”

“Oh no. I am! But… um, I’m not very good at flying. Fire is actually more my thing.”

“I think I can handle the flying for both of us,” he said.

“Well then I suppose I’ll bring the heat, if you take my mean-eeep!”

Phan shoved her out of her chair mid-flirt, causing her to flop onto the floor, or rather onto a thin air cushion Nym tossed out to break her fall. “Jerk!” she said, kicking the leg of his chair and toppling it over. Nym caught him too.

The rest of the meal was filled with pleasant conversation, though Nym ended up setting up a scrying anchor to watch around him, specifically to keep an eye on Narshim. The boy was obviously not happy about recent developments and became sullen and withdrawn. He sat there, picking at his food and shooting Nym dirty looks when he thought no one was watching.

A few other students came over and introduced themselves. Some just wanted to say hi, others asked for tips on spells, and a few wanted to thank him for the avalanche rescue. Nym made polite chat with them, though by the end he was starting to get annoyed. The frequency of visitors was making it difficult to finish his meal before it got cold. Well, colder.

The dining hall emptied slowly, and eventually his table excused themselves. “I have a bit of work to do,” Risa said, “Come find me in an hour or so?”

“Of course,” Nym replied.

He went back to his own suite and cleaned himself up while scrying outside the Academy facility. There wasn’t enough time to start any new projects, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t sweep the area again. As expected, he found nothing, but he left a golem on sentry duty right outside the door.

A second golem hovered in the hall outside the dorms, stationed there specifically to let him know when Risa was ready. Nym kept himself distracted with work, if only to keep his nerves under control. It was just astounding to him that he couldn’t keep himself calm now, but had no problem flying into life-or-death combat with a legion of undead.

Eventually, it was time.

Nym traveled the facility halls quickly and found Risa a few minutes after she’d left the dorms with a coat thrown over one arm. “Ready to go?” he asked.

“Very much so.” She sounded a lot less confident herself.

“A bit nervous?” he asked. At her nod, he said, “Me too.”

“I don’t go on many dates,” she admitted.

That was surprising to hear. She was very pretty, very outgoing, and just judging by the way she interacted with her classmates over dinner, she was well-liked. He wasn’t sure how good she was at magic, but he was looking forward to finding out.

“Shall we?”

“Let’s.”