A few days later, a snow-white fox came up to the group as they walked, unaware of the danger they posed. It sniffed, circled, and jumped around as if it was playing a game. Haur ordered for nobody to kill it, not wanting to scare the rest of the animals away with the scent of its blood. On their final night before reaching the forest, more of the foxes arrived and huge rabbits hid in their tents.
The following morning, D’Argen marched right up to Haur. “I’d like to run the coast today,” he said. He then turned to face Nocipel, the other still half-asleep in the tent the two shared. Nocipel, however, was more likely to agree with his suggestion than Haur and he had an influence on their party leader. “Just to get an idea of the land and where the oceans are.”
“How will you tell if it is land or ice?” Haur questioned immediately. He was finally reverting back to how he was before, taking charge and looking at Thar less and less for direction and confirmation. He had also decided that D’Argen could not, apparently, run on his own without getting swept away or killed by the cold. It was overprotective and annoying.
“I don’t think it’ll matter if the coast is land or ice,” D’Argen quickly. “The purpose would be for ships. It won’t break if I don’t stop my run and we can do a more detailed outline once we have a larger party here. I mean, we’ll have to map out the anyway, may as well do it now to avoid future walks on the ice.”
“What about taking Thar with you? He can help you with splitting land from ice,” Nocipel offered, untying the single braid by his ear and then pulling it back with the rest of his hair into a low ponytail at the back of his neck.
“We need him here, with us,” Haur rejected before D’Argen could say anything.
“For the cold or for his advice?” Nocipel sneered out.
D’Argen felt his feet itching. Something about Nocipel’s tone and the way Haur glared at him revealed that this was not an old argument. And it was probably a nasty one. He wanted to leave the tent before it got worse and he got dragged into it.
“I don’t need him this time. We don’t know how far the land and ice spread, let me reach water first.”
“You have not done that yet,” Haur pointed out, though he kept glaring at his companion.
“I’ve always returned for the night camp. This may take longer.”
“How long?”
“A few days, most likely. You can probably reach the ice sheet with the new animals by then or if you go longer toward the mountain, I can—”
“No. We will stay here for a few days,” Haur interrupted. “Do you need Abbot and Yaling to map it out?”
D’Argen hesitated. “Abbot on my return, both on my second run,” he confirmed after a moment of thought.
“Do just the one run. Take them with you.”
“It will take longer.”
“Not as long as doing your run twice.”
D’Argen tried not to let his irritation show on his face.
“You do not want to take Lilian with you as well?” Nociepl asked and it sounded innocent enough, even if the man’s face was still contorted in that annoyed expression from earlier.
“Not this time,” D’Argen answered.
“Why? Lilian can take over Abbot’s spells if he needs to sketch out something specific.”
“I want Lilian here. With you.”
“Is this about the pillar? Or how they have been acting strange in general recently?”
D’Argen did not want to answer because he did not know the truth for himself. Nocipel shook his head and dropped the subject.
Haur was glaring down at his lap. After a moment, he said, “Five days. No longer. I want you back as soon as possible.” Haur was being extremely over-protective and he was obviously annoyed at Nocipel. Why he decided to take it out on D’Argen was a mystery. Instead of arguing for more freedom though, D’Argen bared his neck in compliance. Haur responded in kind. Nocipel waved him off with a flick of the wrist.
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The moment D’Argen stepped out of the tent, he heard Nocipel’s voice lower in anger. He walked away before he could hear the words. When he came to the tent he slept in with his companions, he shared the news.
“Not me?” Lilian asked.
“Not this time,” D’Argen shook his head. “I want you here with Haur and Nocipel,” he explained quickly. “In case we are late, you can calm them down.”
Yaling’s snort of disbelief was loud enough to have all three of the others look at her. “What?” she asked. “You are all thinking it. Haur may have been trying to court Lilian for decades, but he has not so much as looked at them since we got on the ship.”
“What?!” Lilian practically screeched the word out.
“I know, I know. Just… I want to go a little further and Haur doesn’t need to know about it,” D’Argen tried to get back on topic.
“How much further?” Yaling asked.
“I want to get to the mountains.”
“That is too far.” She shook her head to try and discourage him but had no words for it. She knew him too well.
“Maybe, maybe not. I want to try. I need someone here to cover for us if we’re late.”
“Whether Haur has been taking his job too seriously or another reason, he will still listen to you,” Abbot decided to throw in his opinion. “You can convince him that nothing is happening.”
“What? Are you planning on using me?” Lilian shouted defensively.
“Lilian,” D’Argen said their name and tried to add some gravitas to his voice. This was important. “Can you do it?” he asked.
Lilian froze for a moment. Their face changed to an expression D’Argen had not seen since they left the pillar. “Are you doubting me?” they sneered out.
“I am asking,” D’Argen answered.
“Is this about—”
“If your mahee is acting strange, would you tell us?”
Lilian snapped their mouth closed so fast that their teeth clicked. It was loud in the silence of their tent.
Whether they had a response or not, the delay was answer enough for D’Argen. “That is why I want you to stay behind. Just this time.”
Lilian had no response and they were visibly unhappy. And hurt. D’Argen hated seeing that dampening in their eyes but he could not risk it. Not on new lands with unknown dangers. Without waiting for further discussion, D’Argen left the tent.
A few minutes later, Yaling and Abbot came to his side. He heard the tent flap open once more but he did not look back. Instead, he looked out from the edge of their camp and into the white all around. He opened his mahee, surrounded both Yaling and Abbot in it, and then ran.
The spell Yaling weaved into D’Argen’s feet made his steps heavier though did not slow him at all. The spell she weaved into her eyes made her see the same terrain D’Argen saw. The one for her lungs let her speak and give directions without running out of air. She did her best to surround Abbot with those spells as well, but it was hard. Still, it worked.
Abbot, on the other hand, had used his mahee to give them all fresh air and to have a slow light fall behind them, one that connected to the spelled quill one of the artificers had made for him centuries ago. It had no ink or any other substance to make a mark. Only light. And that light was strong enough and hot enough to burn the almost transparent parchment he held in a tight grip on his wooden tablet.
The three could run together like that for only so long. Abbot, barely looking up from his sketch while Yaling tried to support the other two as D’Argen moved them through the unknown land and toward water. They reached an icy coast before they had to take a break and camp. The following four days, they ran along the coast before Yaling reminded them it was time to return. D’Argen stretched it to another two days until they had a more detailed map of the coast from the ice sheet with the strange creatures to the frozen beaches that were directly south of the forest.
When they finally returned to the rest of the party, Haur was not happy with their delay but quickly forgot it in lew of the coastal map and distances that Abbot had drawn and recorded. He dragged them all into the largest tent where Thar, Nocipel, and two mortals were already waiting.
“The ice is softer,” D’Argen said while Haur compared Abbot’s notes to his own since they left the ship. Haur was nodding along but saying nothing. He used a finger to scan some numbers he wrote, compared them to Abbot’s delicate script, then noted down a few calculations.
“We do not have to approach from Elese,” Haur finally confirmed what they had all been thinking since their paths took them further east rather than their original northern goals.
“This does not change what we discussed earlier,” Haur tacked on once everybody had looked over the writings and calculations. “In fact, it makes it easier. We send a party back to the ship, send the ship to Elese to resupplying, and then get them to captain it toward us directly from the south and the softer ice D’Argen found.”
“We should move our plans of a more permanent camp closer to the coast itself. But I still want to stay within reach of the forest, or at least the stream.” Nocipel took the quill from Haur and quickly sketched out a wavy line on the very rough map in front of him. While D’Argen and his companions were away, Nocipel had found a stream of fresh water.
“I am thinking a party of twenty,” Haur spoke up in agreement.
“I was thinking the same,” Nocipel nodded. “In all, I was thinking we may stay until winter.”
“Do you think that would be enough to explore further north?” the mortal woman asked.
“Exploring further north is not our highest priority right now. Settlement, safety, resources. We can continue to explore after we have found a good spot for those.”
“And the mountains?” D’Argen piped up before he could stop himself.
“We will discuss that later,” Haur dismissed him with a wave of his hand.
Thar hummed something quiet from the corner of the tent. Haur flinched but said nothing more on the subject, instead, he said, “With the prospect of shelter, we can stay longer. I do feel that the winters here would be much harsher if this is spring, so my priority right now is to find out if it would be worth it to build something more permanent.”
Nobody said anything to contradict him. Haur nodded and smiled. “Now, we ask for volunteers. Some to return to the ship, the rest to stay here until replacements arrive.” D’Argen knew that not one of the Never Born would volunteer to leave.