Over the next few days Chien and I worked. Nobody bothered us about heating the hive as a whole, mostly because of the massive quantities of heat being blasted out of the small room we'd taken, and partially because Isha decided to keep up appearances by upping her level of 'donation' to their crystal. She was like that, and I loved her for it, always doing things we never asked for and often didn't realize we sorely needed, never complaining about it, just there, the perfect support for my antics.

For antics was what we were certainly up to in that time. One by one I began to form crystals for fire magic, encasing each in a tiny gem, just large enough to keep track of the potent magical artifacts. We even ran a few trails, making sure they worked just as well as we thought they would while hidden away in our chambers.

When it finished we had a total of sixteen, five for each of the members of our group, and one additional to kickstart the plan. It had been exhausting, the amount of mana spent had been at the upper limit of what I was capable of. Even with my kinship with fire the cost was still staggering, much like how it had been when I'd first begun making my hammer.

Chien and I rested with our backs to the outer wall, both covered in sweat until dripping and smelling absolutely rancid.

“Just holding that was... too much boss. How did you even come up with this?” He'd certainly had his work cut out for him, holding all the heat in he could while I worked.

“Honestly? I just saw one and had a theory, first time I managed it I passed out.”

“I believe that, I can sense the amount of power you're putting forth you maniac.”

We decided to make our break extended, stretching and enjoying a meal. This did not go unnoticed as soon enough there came a knock at the doorway to our little workroom. Normally there was a small privacy barrier there, but we'd dropped it since we weren't talking about anything notable and the work was done.

“My my you two not working? What a change...” Elder Oma said, voice drifting off as her eyes landed on the back of the room, where a still glowing section of half-melted rock dug into the wall. “What in the world have you been doing!?”

Elder Oma was the small woman who was in charge of this section of Icehome, and the one who'd assigned us this room in the first place. She wasn't as old as my former teacher Jina, but because of her position was one of the more respected people residing here. Over our working time she'd come by a couple of times to investigate, though we'd always cleaned up before, now there was really no need, we were done.

“Making trade goods, what did you think we were doing elder?” I asked, managing to keep the smile out of my voice.

“Practicing magic, since you seem to enjoy doing so. Wait, what were you making?”

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I gave a nod to my apprentice, since the plan was to start a craze anyway now was a perfect time, he smiled and nodded acceptance and I produced the latest of our creations, held tight in a thumb-sized diamond. I always liked diamonds, they were easy, great conductors, and pretty.

She caught the thrown gem with effortless ease, looking deep into it as her eyebrows began to rise.

“Go ahead and put some of your energy into it, give it a try.” Her eyes flicked towards me as I spoke and I almost felt the tendril of mana go into the gem before a strong radiating heat filled the area, like we were near a campfire.

“You two look like you have a lot to discuss, why don't I go see how Isha's doing?” Chien said, quickly excusing himself and slipping away before things got out of hand.

After he'd left I waited, eyes locked on the older elf as she stood stunned. If she'd been a computer I would have heard fans spinning at maximum right about now as she tried to process it. She didn't even move, eyes just twitching slightly as she kept on testing my work.

“You can make a heating crystal?” she almost whispered when she finally managed to speak again. “In just a few days?”

“One? Oh no I made quite a few. In fact, as my thanks for loaning us this room why don't you keep that one Oma; it's the least I can do.”

Perhaps I wasn't the nicest person in the world, enjoying the scene as the older elf began to almost hyperventilate, rubbing one hand along her temple as she tried to work out all the implications of what she'd just been told. I knew these were valuable, treasured items only gotten by those who really, really tried, but perhaps I'd underestimated just how valuable, or how much chaos they might cause through release. After all, heat was life here in the northern lands of snow and ice, and something as small as this would be a game-changer.

“Ha ha ha.” Breathless hysterical laughing was probably not a great sign, or maybe it was an excellent one.

“Why don't you sit down? I was taking a break anyway,” I offered, extending my hand to a now open section of the floor.

“Tell me Justin, what is it you want exactly? What are your goals with these?” she asked after she'd calmed down a bit.

“My goal? Oh it's very simple, I'm here to deliver a message to the Matriarch, nothing more. I was told that the acquisition of one of these had gotten a man a meeting with her before, so I decided to make a few. Chien will likely go and try to get one, or several, of the more attractive girls around here to give him... attentions, for the duration of our stay if I know him. Isha will trade for goods, and anything she finds interesting.” I knew my companions, and a guess told me that was exactly what they would do, Isha loved her trading wherever we went and Chien was definitely a bit of a womanizer.

“Haha, so you tired of her games I see. Though nobody's done something so extreme as this before.”

“Quite, why delay us anyway?”

“Our numbers are small in comparison to other groups,” she admitted.

“There are a good few here,” I disagreed.

“Not in comparison there aren't.” Adding into account all of the villages and the larger cities she wasn't entirely incorrect. “And we get few visitors, if we can convince even one to stay every few hundred years it's quite a boon.”

“Irritating people isn't a good way to get them to stay,” I pointed out.

“It wasn't meant to irritate, rather to give time, time to form relationships, friendships, connections, time for you to like it here, and hopefully decide not to leave. For example, with his power your apprentice could likely find a mate, and if he did, certainly she wouldn't want him to leave.”

“Doubtful from what I know of him, but why?”

“Too much of the same blood is bad, we all know that.”

I sighed, she wasn't totally wrong. Their population was smaller than the other communities, and because of their habits also weaker, so pushing out and taking a different territory would be rather fraught with danger to the people as a whole. No, trying to keep people around wasn't the worst idea to combat inbreeding, it was just a pain in the neck for me.

“Well, with Chien's proclivities you may well end up with a child or two of different parentage.”

That got me another laugh, then she looked on a bit more seriously.

“Spreading these around too much will be disruptive though. Sure, the strong will love them, but those without any power will suffer, they depend on the warmth we generate for their safety and comfort. So I will ask you not to make any more than you already have.”

“Get me a meeting with your Matriarch and I'll be happy to agree.”

“Believe me, she will want to speak to you now.” I wasn't sure if that was good or bad, but it was my goal after all.