“I still can't believe that's how they're doing it,” I complained, not for the first time.

“Is he still going on?” Chien asked as he joined us in the little common room between our sleeping arrangements.

“Yes, and refuses to hear otherwise,” Isha giggled.

“I refuse to hear otherwise because this is the most asinine, most senseless, most... inefficient way to heat something I may have ever seen.” They both just sighed and began to tune me out again.

Icehome was a lovely structure, and extended deep into the underlying stone. That was important, as it meant that there was always going to be some residual warmth, once you got underground the temperature just didn't change that much. While they all lived down below the offices and official areas were above inside the glacier.

My issue was that while they knew they needed to keep it warm, and were even devoting time to such an operation, they were doing it so poorly. Fires underground like this wouldn't have been practical, but boilers, or some kind of local heaters would have worked. Of course that wasn't what they'd gone with at all.

“Well, you're up anyway, feel free to complain to our hosts,” Chien said.

“I may,” I retorted.

With a sigh I turned and left our quarters, passing by several lamps in the hall. These were fashioned from the antlers of the deer we'd seen before, shaped and used to keep this place bright even if there was no sun down here. Luckily the 'heating room' wasn't far from where we stayed, something granted to us by our 'hosts' after they discovered we all had proper magic.

After going down several sets of stairs I found the temperature ticking up perceptibly until I finally found my way into the central area of the whole city-like hive of the northern elves. The room itself was swelteringly hot, and I had to stop at one of the little alcoves to remove most of my clothing. This wasn't odd, as almost all of the elves in here were either in very little, or, in a few cases, nothing at all.

The room itself was the size of a small stadium and divided into tiers, each moving downwards until they got to the very center, where stood a large crimson crystal. Each successive tier was nicer and nicer, with water features and baths for cooling, or even food and drinks brought to those resting on the tier if you were low enough.

It was a hive of activity, particularly the upper levels. People were coming in, focusing for a few moments, and then leaving, all of this enforced by a handful of guards who were watching what everyone was doing. The elves up here had developed a few unique techniques for just this place, ones they were more than happy to teach us.

“Welcome back Justin, heading down to the fourth?” asked one of the guards as I left the alcove.

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“Yes,” I said as I spun up the first of the tricks they'd taught us, a sort of rope to feed mana into the central crystal at a distance. I knew the expectations for each tier, and set it appropriately.

“Goodness friend, you know you could get to the third with ease right? I can see your aura, maybe if you really tried you could be on the second, though not for long.” The guard did as all the others did and pushed for more effort, more mana.

“No thank you, I really am just here for a time until I can meet with the leadership.” I always gave the same response.

The guard didn't continue to argue, only smiled as I picked my way down the tiers. Some of those on the top frowned at me, but they weren't here for more than a few moments, just enough time to dump their mana into the stone and leave. They were the workers, the lowest class of this place, with each successive step closer getting more wealthy, more important.

Heating in Icehome was done through a form of passive ventilation. Cold air was brought in through a series of tunnels, pumped into this room through grates beneath the crystal and as hot air did, rose through holes in the ceiling to heat the rooms above. There was no insulation, no closing off of unused parts, no shutoffs or the like, just a rising of air to circulate through the whole hive, for Icehome could hardly be described as anything else.

I passed hundreds of elves as I descended, for Icehome contained thousands and thousands, even if relatively few were currently here. Soon enough I found a spot that I favored for these required jaunts, a little area on the fourth tier where there was a small pool to cool off and a few pleasant benches. Cooling off was a requirement as you got closer to the crystal, as even at this distance it felt like I was standing near my forge.

Each tier down changed the people too. I'd thought that the hunters we met were pale, but they were nothing compared to those here. Spellcasters were treasured and in this society they spent all of their time warming the compound or relaxing away from the cold. By the fifth tier people looked like paper, and when the closest in passed by you could practically see their veins through their skin.

“Ah welcome back Justin,” one of the local women purred as I entered the water, she got close, but not too much, knowing I wasn't interested.

“Hello again Imra,” I replied cordially.

“I thought you might come back when Chien left, he is a cutie isn't he?” Chien was fawned over, mostly because he had power and was clearly single.

“He's a good kid.”

Soon I laid back, feeding magic into the crystal wasn't particularly arduous, but it was boring, so I began to play with a small bit of water, snapping it into rings and various shapes as a sort of fidgeting.

“Hey, you're pretty good at that,” observed one of the others here, coming to see what I was doing. I saw him look on in interest as I ran the little trickle of fluid through geometric shapes and symbols.

As the other elf tried to repeat my actions I watched, frowning. This was the thing I hated most, they were all bad at magic. He frowned, eyes furrowing in concentration as he tried to get the spell to form properly, and if I was a judge, using far too much mana to do it. All of the casters here spent so much time pushing their mana into this damn crystal to improve their social standing that almost none of them actually practiced with their magic.

“It should be effortless, control, shape, and continue,” I instructed, getting Imra and a few others to come a bit closer.

“Effortless? For someone in the second tier maybe,” he complained, unable to even get a handful of water to shape into a proper clean ring.

“No, you do not need more mana, you need control of the mana,” I said, using my term for the magical energy even if they called it something else.

“Where did you learn?” one of the nearby girls asked with a smile.

I sighed. “Where I'm from when a child is found to have magic they are pulled away from the others and instructed by an elder until they can safely control it. You can spend days or weeks alone doing little more than practicing until you get at least the basics. Do they not do something similar here?”

“No,” Imra answered. “When you're found to have power you're brought here and taught to donate it until you're tired, then you know what tier you're in and get better rooms, better food, and all that. Because you're happy and tired you never cause problems.”

There was a deep desire to punch whoever came up with that burning in my heart. Sure, it meant that the kids were safe to be around, but it also hamstrung them from ever getting stronger. The whole thing was bread and circuses as far as I was concerned. Well, since the esteemed Matriarch Neera didn't seem bothered to see me I'd see what I could do about getting her attention.

“Well, if anyone wants I could run through a few basic exercises to improve your magic. I'm pretty sure they even improve your overall amount of mana over time, so...” Several jumped at the opportunity, and I smiled, the simple things I could teach them would make them all the more able to oppose those in power should they ever decide to be a thorn in someone's side.