Oma led me upwards, higher and higher into Icehome. Most of the important people lived low, below the rock line, where it was warmer, where the stones insulated better, but not the leader, no, she lived above. I was surprised when we got to a rap that led us upwards, somewhere I'd not yet been, a ramp that corkscrewed through the glacier.

I knew we came to the place when a pair of thick blue-white doors opened up. It was odd that they had those, as they seemed significantly more smoothly made than was normal, but this was an Ancient after all. They stood out, pale against the surrounding deeper blues of the glacial ice, it seemed intentional.

As the twin doors swung open, seemingly on their own but decidedly through someone pushing them with magic, I saw her Matriarch Neera sat, regal on a throne of ice. She'd covered her seat at least with furs, more on the floor before her, but here and there the frozen water peeked out.

The room wasn't cold, as one might have expected for being inside a glacier. As a point of fact it was warm, pleasant heat radiating from several of the people here, the advisors and direct subordinates of the oldest elf present.

Matriarch Neera herself looked, almost cute, smaller than most adult elves and with her hair done up in complex braids, with crystals of blue and white entwined within. Her dress was flowy, made of several layers, almost like some kind of fabric, but from here I could tell that it wasn't something so plain as that, rather it looked to be some form of fur, only so fine and so thin that it moved like nothing I'd ever seen. It gave her the look of one of the magical girls from Earth, I briefly wondered if she was cold, since it was quite a bit shorter than what one would normally wear in this environment.

“So you are the young man causing such a ruckus in my home,” she said lightly as I approached.

“Ah, forgive me Matriarch, I have been told that I lack subtlety.” The millennia old girl giggled at that, a high, tinkling thing that didn't match the destruction any of our kind that had gotten to her age could sow.

“I believe I requested certain goods from you as well?” she said, holding out a hand.

I took out the three stones she'd ordered be brought to her. Sure, she could take them and give me nothing, but I wouldn't really be out much, after all, if I really wanted more, I would just make them. Rather than have me approach her throne the crystals, suspended in their diamond cases floated forwards, circling around playfully before her. I could feel the mana wafting off of her as she cast, blue eyes locked on her new toys.

“This is interesting work,” she commented after a few moments.

“Thank you, your subjects seemed quite keen to have their own heat sources,” I agreed.

“No, not that, the little stones you've suspended them in. We could easily have more heating stones if I wanted, but these little clear gems, I've never seen their like before.”

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“If you could get them then why don't you?” I asked, confused. I knew it was a great thing for her people to do, a huge achievement.

“You don't know about us child, that much is clear. Very well, I'll take some time to teach you. Well before my time we lived in the mountains all over this continent, but in doing so we were divided, separated, weak. By the time my predecessor took over our tribe there were almost none of us left, but he gathered what he could and tried to take territory, good land that would support us.”

“And he brought you here?”

“No, he lost almost every one of his warriors, almost everything, the remnants settled here, chased to the ends of the world by our enemies. At that time I was the only Elder, the last, and if I'm being honest, I was also the weakest of those we'd had. Still, I managed to build this place, to expand it, and once I'd gotten strong I got the heating stone you saw down below.”

“You never tried to leave?”

“We're too weak, we have too few strong fighters to take the territory of any of the other Ancients, and while some of my people might be able to leave, they would be highly intolerant of another of our age about. Perhaps if we'd be allies of lovers before attaining our age, but not now.”

“If you want more strong fighters then you can stop with the heating room, it's keeping them pathetically weak.” That was one of the things that bothered me most, it was almost criminal in my eyes.

She sighed, almost tired. “Teaching them and sending them out would make them stronger, but I have so few, I need numbers before anything can happen, numbers I simply don't have. Perhaps you hate it, think me cruel for not encouraging their growth, but that growth is dangerous, surely you know this? I want my people to thrive, and for that, we'll need more than we have now. It's why I meet with every one who goes to get a heating stone, to tell them not to get more, and the consequences if they do. Most of them understand in the end, but I doubt you care.”

I backed down, after all it wasn't really my business was it? And she did seem to have her people's best interest in mind, rather than some evil plot.

“I suppose, I am just here to give you a message.”

“Very well, what is it?”

“Atal and Cino are dead.”

For the first time since I got here she actually seemed bothered. “Both of them!? How?”

“Cino killed Atal, then died himself.” I didn't feel like elaborating, after all I didn't want her to feel threatened.

“I... see, and their lands?” A valid question if she'd been stuck up here with her people.

“No Ancient has claimed them. I know that in Atal's city there is much stress about that.”

“Yes, I would assume so... I really shouldn't have delayed you.”

“Are you going to try and take them?”

“Perhaps I'll take Cino's lands, protected as they are it would be good, and surrounded by mountains, but there will be much to do first, so much.”

“Very well, that was all I needed to say, so if there's nothing else...”

“There is, did you not hear me ask about this stone? Where did it come from? How did you make it?”

“The heating stone?”

“No child, the clear one, I want to know about it.”

“That is a very private matter, one I would rather not share.”

She frowned, almost a pout. “I would give you much for it, very much.”

“That secret is not for sale I'm afraid.”

“I could force you you know?”

“You could, I know you could, and you'd probably succeed, but I would be your enemy afterwards.” As I spoke I prepared to act, the trick I'd readied for this very situation, one she'd fallen into.

“Should I fear you?”

“You never asked who killed Cino.”

She froze at my words, froze and sat back, looking at me intently. I knew that Ancients didn't get to their age through foolish actions, and while she might be able to smite me where I stood, she might not. After a second of thinking she breathed out.

“Perhaps you did, perhaps you could again, perhaps not, but you might be a useful ally to no? You could stay, if your words are true, and with your abilities I would treat you well.”

“And if I say no?”

“Then you may leave in peace as you came in peace.”

“I would like to leave in peace.”

“Very well.” She snapped her fingers and one of her aides approached. “See to it our guest is paid for his goods, and allowed to leave when he is ready.”

I didn't relax until I was several floors down, well away from the Matriarch. It was a relief I'd not had to fight her, because while she'd taken those crystals from me, and I was sure I could have detonated them from where I stood nearby I wasn't sure it would have beaten her. A trick pulled successfully once was one thing, but that was still the only way I had to reliably beat someone so much stronger than me, and I didn't want to use it too many times.