The sun was rising over the horizon when D’Argen finally stopped talking. His throat was sore and his voice was hoarse and he had barely even gotten through their first century apart. Vah’mor had stopped consuming from him not long after he started and though they weaved the scents into a spell that would keep D’Argen’s body from tiring, he was mentally exhausted.
A call from Vah’mor’s balcony made them both stand up and look toward it. It was one of the mortal workers, waving at them and motioning inside. Vah’mor nodded and waved and the mortal disappeared back inside.
“Will you join me for breakfast?” Vah’mor asked.
“You know I don’t eat.”
“I also have something I want to talk to you about.”
“Well then, why didn’t you say so earlier? And here I was, talking all night when we could have shared the burden.”
Vah’mor smiled and stood up. Instead of vaulting over the bridge, as they had done in the past and almost made D’Argen’s heart explode in fear, Vah’mor led him down the bridge and to the tower. The descent down the stairs was quiet with Vah’mor a step ahead of him. The mortal worker was standing at Vah’mor’s open doors when they approached. He raised his chin high. Vah’mor reached out and brushed their fingers against his neck in passing. D’Argen only nodded as he passed and then the mortal closed the door behind them and his footsteps sounded down the hall.
Vah’mor immediately moved to the low table in their receiving chambers, stacked with plates and bowls filled with fruits and breads and cheeses. They sat on a small chaise and immediately started picking through the spread.
D’Argen took the time to look around the room this time as he had not when he passed it earlier. Nothing had changed since the last time D’Argen was here. The walls were a dark red with a lighter red pattern on them, the paintings were framed in polished gold, the gold embroidery on the sofa and chairs were delicate weaves and patterns that looked like they took ages to complete, and the carpet looked as soft as D’Argen knew it was.
Vah’mor was one of the few that knew D’Argen no longer saw colours and D’Argen knew that the other had not changed anything in their chambers even if red and gold were completely out of style.
“Sit,” Vah’mor motioned with a hand to the sofa.
D’Argen glanced at the doors to Vah’mor’s sleeping chambers, which were firmly closed, when he felt a chill coming from them. The mortal must have left the windows open. D’Argen wondered if the red and gold theme still continued there or if that had been replaced by something more subtle and pleasant to the general.
He did not bother to think about it too much.
Instead of sitting as directed, D’Argen flopped onto the sofa on his stomach. He heard Vah’mor chuckle and turned over to be on his back and stare up at the ceiling. There was a faint relief in the same swirling patterns that were on the walls but it was white on white, harder to pick out without a harsher light and darker shadows.
“Haur and Nocipel had an interesting presentation at the conference,” Vah’mor started speaking.
D’Argen hummed to acknowledge that he was listening but he let his eyes run along with swirling patterns above him.
Vah’mor chewed on something crunchy before speaking again, “They went to explore the White Pass. Said that it was easily traversable in the summer on their way north, but they found a new pass to the White Cliffs and spent a few winters there.”
D’Argen scoffed. “I’ve had enough of snow and winter, thank you very much.”
“Yes, I know. You avoid Elese lands like they were filled with demons,” Vah’mor replied and bit into something fleshy sounding. D’Argen ignored the scents in the air and tried to ignore the sounds. “Anyway. I know you have presented about the pass yourself, and the cliffs, in great detail before, but they discovered something new.”
“I’m listening.”
“Nocipel did some research and realized that there was the possibility of there being more lands further north.” D’Argen opened his eyes at that news. He had been to the White Cliffs and had seen the ice floating down the waters from the north, but he thought it came from the Elese peninsula. “In fact. They brought back samples.”
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“Samples?” D’Argen twisted on the sofa to look at the other. Vah’mor was cutting a peach in half with a small dagger. They motioned it to D’Argen as an offer but the runner shook his head before he asked, “What samples?” Prompting Vah’mor to speak again.
“Snow. And ice.”
“And??”
Vah’mor bit into the flesh of the peach, tearing it apart. D’Argen felt something right under his ribs clench.
“You know that Nocipel’s mahee allows him—
“Her,” D’Argen interrupted.
Vah’mor only hummed and this time they cut a small piece of peach and popped it in their mouth to chew on. They looked contemplative for barely a moment before shrugging and continuing, as if they were not interrupted. “Nocipel’s mahee allows her to tell the difference between a drop from the ocean to the north to one from the south, to a drop from each of the rivers she has encountered.”
“Everybody knows that.”
“Yes, well. They brought back three blocks of ice. Preserved with ice magic.” D’Argen noted that Vah’mor did not call it Thar’s magic even though all spells of the cold and ice and snow originated from the man. “One was the waters at the White Cliffs, another was collected and marked as the same ice that came from the northern waters of Elese, and the third was what they suspected came from a different stream of water.”
D’Argen felt his fist tighten on the sofa covering. It was the possibility of something new.
“What made it even more unique is that it looked like it was bleeding. There was a red streak inside the ice. However, it was not blood. You know I would have known that.”
“What was it?!” D’Argen was sitting up, staring at Vah’mor.
“I did not understand the details, you know how Haur gets when he tries to explain things, but something about living things too small for the eye to see unless there were thousands, if not millions, of them together.”
“Small… red bugs?” D’Argen questioned, confused.
“Not bugs. As I said, it was the first I have heard of something of the sort and though I am a kinesiologist like you, I did not feel any body inside the ice, so I do not know what it was.”
“And?”
“Haur requested Halen, our builder, to gather his best workers to come up with a new water transport vehicle. Not a pavilion boat or a canoe but something big enough to carry at least fifty and heavy enough to break through the ice.”
“They’re sending an exploratory party up north!” D’Argen jumped to his feet.
“Yes. Acela agreed. Construction should be done in the next few months, and they will be leaving in the summer.”
“I want to go!”
“Of course you do. Thar was also invited, due to his mahee’s affinity with the cold.” Vah’mor gave him a pointed looked. “That is why I asked if he asked you. I would have expected it.”
“He mentioned it only in passing,” D’Argen replied. “He’s still not sure if he’s going to go himself.”
“He will,” Vah’mor said as if it was already discussed and signed. “We have never gone further north than Elese and if it gets even colder, I am not sure who, other than him, could survive it enough to return to us.”
“So Thar is… what? The backup plan? The ‘take home the bodies so we can heal them’ guy?”
Vah’mor squinted at him just as they bit into a green fruit. D’Argen wished for a moment the squint was because the fruit was sour but he knew better. He snapped his mouth shut and mimed locking it with a key. Vah’mor rolled their eyes. They both knew D’Argen could not keep his mouth shut for long.
“So, you return just in time to be asked to join this venture. Do you—”
“Yes!” D’Argen interrupted loudly. Instead of feeling reprimanded at the look Vah’mor sent him, he opened his mouth again to ask, “Have they decided who else is going with them? Do you think I should go ahead of them to see if there really is a land beyond the ocean? Does anyone know how long this is going to take? Why wait until the summer? Can’t we go now?”
“Relax, relax.” Vah’mor motioned down with both hands. They picked another peach off the table and cut it in half again. As before, they motioned one half to D’Argen.
The runner waved it away with a twitch of his wrist and sat back down on the edge of the sofa, trying to be patient until Vah’mor was ready to speak. It took them eating the entire half of the peach before they said something again.
“They have to get a boat first, something bigger and stronger than anything we have built so far. However, even if that were to be completed soon, which, as far as I am aware, is not happening yet, winter is not a good time to travel. Nocipel said it would be better to have a path to follow, so they want the pass to start melting first. With how cold it is up north, that could take until mid-summer.”
“Path to follow?”
“This will be the ship’s maiden voyage. From the White Cliffs to Elese first, to make sure the ship can handle it, before going further north.”
“And they don’t want me to scout ahead?”
“No, I do not want you going ahead. The water may be colder and harder, but even you cannot run atop it that far and when you fall, who knows what the ocean will return to us! Imagine it,” Vah’mor looked up at the ceiling with a small smile teasing the corner of their lips, “our runner returned frozen in ice. If you were to perish like that, it would be embarrassing.”
D’Argen scoffed, unable to stop himself from smiling. “I doubt something like that can kill me.”
Vah’mor suddenly stopped smiling and the scent in the room changed to a different one. Then another. And another. They all mixed into so many different scents that it was overwhelming and D’Argen felt the pressure under his ribs increase, turning into an uncomfortable pinch. After a moment, the scents finally settled back on the lavender that the God of Indulgence always exuded. Vah’mor bit into the rest of their peach, eyes closing in bliss as they indulged in the fruit. Only once the fruit was completely consumed did D’Argen realize his mistake.
Tassikar was the first of them to die. But not the only one.
The pressure under D’Argen’s ribs increased to an alarming one, something almost painful.