“I'd like to ask that the next place we go we avoid climbs,” Chien said as we neared the top of the cliff.

“I agree,” Isha added.

“Yes, yes, nobody likes trying to make it up a mountain, or a giant tree, or whatever, and we all agree it sucks.” I really didn't want to have massive climbs, but it seemed as if that was just the way my life was going right now.

Our ascent had been, slow, mind-numbingly slow. That wasn't to say that we weren't making progress, we were, but with this particular climb we were just taking much longer, steepness and all. It was also getting cooler as we rose, away from the warmth that we were used to and into something quite different. By evening all of us had pulled out the extra clothing Rolan had left us, trying to get just a little warmer.

The next day we made it to where the ice began and I could see that mixed we'd be upon a deep sheet of ice. Perhaps there were parts that wouldn't be covered by the deep blue material, but some decidedly would be. We also met one of our worst problems, the ice moved, not quickly, not much, but it moved, enough that there were no stairs in it. It looked like parts broke off, falling to the ground far below, and carrying with them bits of the glacier.

“How are we supposed to get up? Melt new steps?” Chien asked.

“That would take days. You two have been practicing your ability to move things right?” When they both nodded I continued. “I'll do the bulk of it, but help me push us upwards, it looks to only be a couple hundred feet.”

“Flight is supposed to be really hard boss,” Chien pointed out.

“If it were more than this I wouldn't try, but we can do it.”

They got close, joining me in a big hug and I began to wrap us in a shell of my magic. It had been a time since I'd used so much of my power, but it still came to my bidding without delay, forming and molding around just as I imagined. It was like taking a burden upon my back, work, but not too difficult.

As I began to lift us I understood Chien's statements. Picking yourself up like this was a lot of magic, quite a lot indeed and if I hadn't been practicing controlling kinetic force in such large quantities in the city I doubted I'd be able to pull us all up. It was also disorienting, the sensation was odd, making it hard to stabilize. I suspected it had something to do with the fact that I was moving as I tried to move myself, making the whole thing shift perspective around me quite a bit.

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Added to those complications was the fact that this wasn't a brute force type of spell. No, I needed to lift without crushing, and paying attention to orientation. Small movements due to wind had to be compensated for too, and without a stable base that got more and more awkward.

Isha didn't seem too bothered, but Chien looked positively green by the time we reached the lip of the glacier, a small push depositing us a few feet from the edge.

“There's got to be a better way to do that,” I declared, sinking down to take a break.

“I feel like someone's picked me up and spun me around their head,” my assistant agreed.

“Babies, it wasn't that bad.” Both of us glared at Isha, who just smiled at her teasing.

We stood up, brushing off her comments and looked about. Behind us the green carpet of the forest stretched out into the distance, the foliage seeming small from where we stood. Before us brilliant white, swept clean in a few places to reveal the deep azure ice beneath. A few places also had spits of black rock sticking out of them, places where there'd been peaks or rises that for whatever reason resisted the encroaching ice.

“You're sure people live up here?” Isha asked.

“Supposedly.”

“How?”

“No idea, but we need to see about finding them.”

All of us were cold, but after some brief discussion about techniques we wrapped ourselves in warm air, cushions to block the chill wind and protect our own heat as we moved about. To my surprise we soon found that the landscape wasn't quite as empty as it looked. As we approached one of the rocks I could make out small plants, darker than I was used to, but present, nestled around the base and in the crevices, looking for any form of nutrient. There were also a few places in the snowy areas that looked like they had some tracks, though it was impossible for me to tell how old they were.

Before it got too late we began searching for a place to rest. In the forests we could whip something up in a hurry, but here? I was unsure, but perhaps something built from ice or snow would be best if we couldn't find a cave. We'd also have to prepare it right, or we'd be miserably cold, and in potential danger.

Luck wasn't on our side on the cave front, but ice was everywhere and between Chien and I we could carve blocks of it with relative ease. Large square chunks of the glacial material were easy to come by and move into place, and with a bit of effort we got a little hut that looked like a mix between an igloo and something one would find in a block based video game.

“Sleeping on ice is insane,” Isha grumbled.

“Who's being a baby now?” I asked, shifting the bits that would be the roof into place.

“Ice is cold Elian,” she said, reverting to my old name again. She was about the only one who switched between them these days, and only when she was truly frustrated.

“We'll sleep on the furs, it will be fine. Haven't you learned to trust me by now?” I asked.

She just pouted, but when it was all done joined me in what was going to be my bed. Bed might have been a very generous term, but at least it was a divot where I could pile up any covering we had to try and keep warm.

“I'm not going to be cold tonight,” she declared, ignoring the spot I'd made for her. She buried herself in my spot, looking at me expectantly.

“You said keeping the air close was a good idea right? Maybe we should build little chambers around our beds too.” Chien properly read the room and brought us in some ice for just that, and it was a good thing he did.

I was glad for my assistant, for privacy had been hard to come by, and Isha's actions weren't entirely for the 'warmth' of either of us. Over the past few weeks we'd spent almost all of our time together, and in earshot, but with so much building material around more individualized rooms were now quite possible.