Arctina bashes her skull into the grumpig until he stops twitching. Without even making sure he has truly passed, she opens her maw and mercilessly chomps down on his fat head, cutting clean even the sinew and nerves. Blood spurts from what remains of the pokémon and inside her mouth as she chews, bones and all. The crushed skull and black pearls rattle in her cheeks as the blood and mashed brain pool below and on her tongue until she finally gulps everything down.
He was no match for her. It was his own fault, anyway. Anyone who encroaches on their territory is to be exterminated. Becoming her snack is just a bonus. That she is not provided food by the elders most certainly does not affect her savagery. Arctina overhears morning rehearsal restart the chorus and gobbles down the rest of the fallen pokémon.
She spits out the rubbery tail and turns her attention to where the corpse once lay. Body now gone, all that remains is the soul. It is concentrated in a small, glowing orb that Arctina instantaneously freezes and delicately nestles in one of the divots in her body's ice armor before she returns to the practice site.
Elder Glaciari gives a slow nod, and the other elders signal for the children to take a break. The snorunt relax from their strict postures and crowd around a single snorunt. She assumes the role of prima donna during rehearsal. She will assume it during the Frozen Opera as well.
"Shivian's the best!"
"The Frozen Gigant has to be moved by her!"
"We're gonna save everyone!"
Half of the children rejoice with Shivian at the center. She closes her eyes and hums to herself, taking subtle breaths as the others sing praise between deep pants. The other half of the snorunt rub against each other, then cannot help dragging in another when the touch evolves into playful tackles. Next thing they know, the six snorunt roll on the ground, laughing among themselves.
Shivian gives the roughhousing children a single glance before taking several steps away, still humming.
Arctina enters the fray and gently nudges them apart. "Come, now, that's enough."
Arctina only stares as the cheeky children run off to the other side of the small clearing and play tag in the cool shade without so much as acknowledging her. Ever since she evolved, the others seemed to treat her as if she were air. Only the elders and one of the snorunt bother to talk to her. She spends her days watching them from afar and on solitary patrols, so she supposes it is okay. The wondrous sounds of opera rehearsal oft fill her ears, so she cannot complain.
She wonders when it was that she played alongside the children like that. It was not too many moons ago. It resurfaces in her mind, just for a moment, that she is actually the third-youngest of them.
She leaves it be and turns to Shivian. Ever diligent, if Shivian is not eating or sleeping or being lectured by an elder, she is singing.
"You grow ever brilliant." Arctina dislodges the soul from the crater of her body and lets it drop to the ground.
"Must you speak like the elders?" Shivian swiftly spits. "You sound a fool."
Arctina gives a weak chuckle. Shivian is the only peer who speaks to her. But only if Arctina herself prompts it. "I guess not. But a guardian protects everything of a frost maiden, including their egos!"
Shivian gawks at the strangely proud smile marking the glalie's face. "You always squawk such nonsensical tenets."
"But Elder Glaciari told me that!"
"Mother most cert–" Shivian bites her tongue. She clears her throat and, with a more level tone, says, "Elder Glaciari would never say something so inane."
"Well… She said the first half."
"Ah. Of course" Shivian nods and bathes Arctina with a disgusted look beyond words. Arctina was not aware an expression could be an inherited trait, but mother and daughter never cease to amaze her. Not even the size difference between glalie and snorunt weakens the intensity. "Deviant."
Arctina bows over and finally breaks eye contact. "My apologies." She rolls the grumpig soul across the dirt to Shivian's feet in hopes of changing the subject. "Then please have this and take a break."
Souls are a delicacy even without the food shortage they currently withstand. The pure essence of someone long gone remains eternal. That is, until it is consumed. The experiences of one's lifetime, as well as their potential rendered eternally null season every lick. It, in turn, deepens the flavor of the soul that assimilates it.
Arctina was given express instruction from Elder Glaciari: souls are reserved exclusively for the prima donna.
Despite this, Shivian swallows the soul whole. Arctina follows the lump down the snorunt's throat until it disappears in the stomach. Not missing a beat, Shivian clears her throat and begins singing the first verse of the opera.
Arctina has always wondered what a soul tastes like. It must taste beyond words. Perhaps something akin to a rainbow, the same hue they glow. She shakes the thought out of her head. Guardians are not allowed the luxury of a soul. They likely did not taste exceptional either. At least to Shivian, souls are solely sustenance.
She shakes the worthless thoughts out of her head and looks up, only to find Shivian wrinkling her nose. The sun beats down on the snorunt, so Arctina floats above her and shades Shivian with her shadow while exuding a chilling air. That remedies nothing.
Shivian huffs and starts back up from the refrain. "Shall we bask in a blanched paradise as one?"
She pauses thoughtfully. Her voice catches in her throat as nothing but subdued stutters squeak out.
"Behold our folly, decked in rime-" Arctina stops feeding Shivian the next verse in monotone when the snorunt shoots an ice shard in her mouth.
As Arctina chokes, Shivian clears her throat for an oddly long time, then sings again, starting from the line Arctina began. Arctina forces a laugh and listens to the future prima donna's pure alto tones. This is what the prima donna ought to be. Everyone is right: Shivian's aria will no doubt satisfy the Frozen Gigant.
Peaceful smile gracing her face, Arctina follows the lyrics in her head. Having bore witness to most rehearsals, she knows the words quite well. Glaciari approaches Shivian and hosts a private mentoring session. They are but two angels descended upon their humble clan.
Arctina has no doubt: Shivian will be the perfect prima donna, carved in the image of her mother.
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"We shall reconvene." Elder Glaciari claps twice to summon the children to her. Shivian is the first to come back from the break. All but three of the other children stop their playing to finish practice.
The trio that continues to play frolic without a care in the world. Glaciari gives a long, tired sigh as she glares at the troublemakers. "I believe I spoke just now."
They completely ignore her, even as her silken voice reverberates perfectly through the clearing. Glaciari sighs again. Arctina picks up on the unspoken cue and approaches the trio.
"Let's get back to rehearsal," she says. "Your duty comes first."
The three scamper away from Arctina, ignoring her in a way so familiar to her. Arctina starts after them, but halts to gasp when Elder Glaciari acts herself.
The froslass looms over the three, who engage in a spinning competition. "I do believe you heard me."
One snorunt stops to blow her tongue out. She is Fridgette, typically the leader of the trio of especially-close children. Everyone knows why they are so tight-knit: they are the ones who were stolen away the night the traitors abandoned their mountain.
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Arctina remembers what happened that night following the last Frozen Opera clearly. She was in the midst of it, after all. She often dreams of it whenever she finds openings to nap throughout the day, officially forbidden from neglecting her guardian duties to rest for any amount of time. If there were another glalie, they could take turns keeping watch on the clan, but alas, she is the sole guardian.
That night solidified her allegiance to their clan.
She awoke to her mother carrying her in her arms, moving at a dizzying pace. Arctina peered over the froslass's shoulder to see the sleeping area within the cave shrinking.
"Mommy, where are we going?" she asked before yawning.
"To a new home, love," her mother gently said. "To somewhere we can truly live."
"But this is our home." Arctina shuffled in the firm hold. "What about the next Frozen Opera?"
Her mother shook her head, never slowing down. Other froslass, glalie, and snorunt ran around them like a hushed stampede under the moon.
"We can't leave!" Arctina wriggled. "We have to save everyone! And I'm gonna be the next prima donna!"
"Arctina, no-"
"Elder Glaciari!" Arctina cheered as she almost jumped out of her mother's arms upon seeing the froslass chasing after them.
Her mother gulped, pupils dilated. A strange red juice spilled from the bottom of her body and left a trail behind them, her sash surprisingly not ruffling in the breeze. The other frost maidens had the same odd problem. "Love, settle down."
"Lemme go! I don't wanna leave!" Arctina finally popped out of her mother's death grip and jumped to the ground. "I'm gonna be a frost maiden!"
"Arctina!" her mother screeched, but did not slow down her pace. One glance at Elder Glaciari sent her bolting off even faster.
"We cannot go back for her," her father called from ahead with a breaking voice, not turning back. A trail of water droplets followed him.
"Don't worry, I'm fine!" Arctina jumped and giggled. "It's okay! Promise you'll come back soon! I'll become an even better frost maiden than you, Mommy! I'm gonna be like Elder Glaciari!"
Her parents were too far away to be able to hear any response from them. Arctina knew she was going to be okay, though. As long as the clan had Elder Glaciari's guidance, and as long as she became the prima donna, they would be saved.
A wild blizzard blew nearby. Arctina followed the source and caught Glaciari bowling past her, stirring a plume of pure white in her wake.
"Please, don't," someone begged under a child's wails. Arctina turned to see two froslass tugging on a crying snorunt. "I beg of you, let us go."
The other froslass, Glaciari, hand wrapped around the snorunt's tiny foot, simply poised an ice shard to pierce the crying child's heart. The mother despairingly slackened her grip, but never let go. With a simple, unnecessarily harsh jerk, Glaciari yanked the snorunt into her hands.
"Momma!" the snorunt screeched, desperately throwing herself away from Glaciari. Arctina knew her name: Fridgette. She was always laughing and running around. "No!"
The froslass lowered her head into her hands. She then forced herself to look at Glaciari, still smoldering as the blizzard emanating from her raged on. Glaciari violently shook Fridgette until she stopped generating noise. With a crooked smile, the elder changed her sights to the mother.
Before anything else could happen, a glalie shot by and hurtled straight into Fridgette's mother. He took her with him as they jet far away from Glaciari. The elder glared after them as she carelessly threw Fridgette into the hands of a fellow, loyal elder.
More crying snorunt rang out from nearby. Arctina spun around to see a snorunt splayed on the ground, eating dirt. A decent-sized rock and a drag in the ground said she tripped and fell.
"Sister!" A smaller snorunt clumsily dashed back from ahead to the fallen snorunt. She helped her sister to stand. Arctina recognized them as the youngest sisters in the clan. She was relatively quite young herself, but the gap between her and the two was decent. The sisters enjoyed playing follow the leader with the others.
Elder Chillena leered at the two not unlike Glaciari, dropping them to their knees. They trembled as she reached down and picked them both up with one hand each. The froslass stared off at the distance and sighed before approaching Glaciari. "It seems these are all we have to work with."
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Glaciari growled and stuck her nose in the air. "Disgraceful traitors. The underworld waits for them."
They watched as the shadows of the runaways shrunk until they disappeared past the horizon. They ought not have wasted breath chasing after them. Divine retribution awaited those cowards.
With one final huff, Glaciari turned around and started floating back to the cave. Chillena trailed her with the two sisters in hand. Arctina skipped after them, humming a tune she recalled from the opera.
Arctina did not understand why so much of their clan so desperately fled into the night. They just needed to wait for the next Frozen Opera, which she would lead. Her parents were being stupid, too!
Arctina was but a fool who did not yet understand how grave an error her parents, alongside the others, made. They would not be coming back home, ever. Because they were heretics who rejected the very meaning of life: to perform the Frozen Opera. They left the safety of their home for what? A quicker death.
None of the fugitives went back for the four children, whether they wanted to or not. The true wrath of a prima donna, or perhaps that of just Glaciari, utterly eclipsed that of any guardian.
Arctina would learn all this in time. And her silly daydream from once upon a time would later bring her to find the true purpose and way of her life: to be the clan's sole guardian.
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Fridgette and the sisters bonded quickly when they were taken back home. The four other snorunt are all daughters of the elders, so there is a palpable distance between them. The children are close after all this time together, but those three are especially close.
Arctina is similar to them. She was a leftover from that night too. Though no one ever likes to include her.
Fridgette spins to shake her behind at Glaciari, whose eye twitches at the sight. Elder Glaciari slowly says, "Rehearsal shall resume."
"Don't wanna!" Frigette sardonically says without hesitation. The two sisters echo her. They giggle all the while.
"I don't believe I heard you." Glaciari reaches out to grab the snorunt, but Fridgette jumps away.
"I don't wanna rehearse! I don't wanna be a frost maiden!" Fridgette explodes. "I wanna keep playing!"
"And this is why you are the weakest performer. You have no discipline."
"Who cares!" Fridgette snaps. Her voice does leave something to be desired. "The stupid opera won't even save us! The Frozen Gigant doesn't even exist! Why should we have to practice all the time? It's useless!"
Blasphemy. She is a true fool.
Elder Glaciari closes the gap between them and slaps Fridgette across the face. "Your breathing is still incorrect."
"I hate you! I hate the Frozen Opera!" Fridgette thrashes in place. "I wanna leave! I wanna see Momma again!"
With that, Fridgette turns and runs. The two sisters follow her. Arctina gives chase as well.
"Come back!" Arctina cannot comprehend their immaturity and ignorance. "I'm sure Elder Glaciari will forgive you if you just apologize and return to rehearsal!"
She closes the gap from the trio's head start quickly. But before she reaches them, the backs of the three are obscured by black fur. Arctina pushes herself to her limit and bursts onto the scene.
Arctina comes to a screeching halt when she collides with someone. They are sent flying, and she can finally see the yellow backs of the trio again. They huddle together and shrink to the ground.
Finally looking around, Arctina finds nine snarling mightyena closing in on them. Another lies tangled in a tree. That must have been what she knocked into.
Without warning, they all pounce. Arctina shoots ahead to hover above the children and take the hit for them. Fridgette and the sisters skitter to a nearby bush as the mighyena and Arctina tumble to the ground in a tangled mess.
All Arctina can see is black fur and white fangs. "Get off!"
"This is our territory," one of them growls.
Well, this is their mountain. Arctina holds her tongue as she whips around to fling the pokémon off of her. One latches on her by biting the one whole horn she has while another digs their claws into her, boring holes, and the others jump off.
Arctina throws herself into a nearby tree and flattens the parasite hooked onto her body. The mightyena hanging off her horn releases his hold on her. She uses the time it takes him to adjust his landing to smash her body against him and drive him into the ground. She shifts gears to face the regrouped pack and shoots a barrage of ice shards. Two clean headshots land and the enemy adjusts their formation of only five.
"Not bad," the smallest mightyena says. The largest charges forth with reckless abandon and leaps with his fangs primed for a crunch.
Arctina simply unhinges her jaw and waits. He shoots straight for her and does not even realize he has lost when his head enters her gaping maw. She chomps down without hesitation, severing his head with an explosion of blood and devouring it before his remaining pack.
"Seems like they failed." The smallest mightyena who spoke before laughs like mad at his fallen comrades. Scars coat his coat. Perhaps he is their leader, not the big one she so effortlessly took down just now. "Four is a good number after all. Shall we, boys?"
Two other mightyena jump away while the leader and another charge straight for her. She coughs a blizzard out that settles in the warm night quickly. The running duo disappears just as fast with it.
Knocking the confusion out of her is shooting pain on either side of her. The two mightyena who jumped away earlier dig their claws into her, piercing her thick ice coating. She yelps, but is silenced when the other two burrow out from the earth to lunge at her face.
She falls down as the four trample on her. They carve out pieces of her ice armor and claw at her relentlessly. Her body chips and dents down to her rock core, even the silly, large red stain on her under-half that froze over and never went away from that one night.
Arctina, through ragged breaths, darts her eyes around for any opening. And she sees it in the form of a fluffy black tail dangling before her very mouth.
In one swift move, she chomps down on the tail and refuses to let go. The mightyena howls in pain and slashes at her eyes, but she ignores everything to swing the pokémon around like a weapon. His body drives into his comrades' and swipes them away. Still latched on, Arctina swings the panicking scarred mightyena at the downed others again and again until her bite proves too strong and lops off the appendage.
Too much fur. She spits it out at the mightyena flattened to the ground, growling despite the fountain of blood gushing out of the end of his body. "You little…"
"Shut-"
Shrill cries ring out and break Arctina's focus. Three snorunt tumble out of the nearby brush and cower before the menacing mightyena. Saliva and blood spatter on their faces. He switches targets from Arctina to the children as he smirks at her.
"Don't you dare!" Arctina charges for him.
"Arctina." The voice, ever sonorous, stops Arctina in her tracks. Elder Glaciari dusts her hands together. "Come back here."
Froslass and snorunt emerge from nowhere. Everyone is present. It cannot be safe for the children to be out here, even with her and the elders around. Surely it would have been safer for them all to stay at the cave. Yet Elder Glaciari has led them all here.
"But-" Arctina manages to choke out.
"We, the clan, are over here." Glaciari, already turned to leave, throws a nasty glare over her shoulder. "Over there, I only see three outsiders in the peril they brought upon themselves."
Arctina gawks, but hearing it that way, is Elder Glaciari correct? Yes, she is. Fridgette and the two sisters forsook everything their clan stands for. They denounced the Frozen Opera and selfishly chose to play instead of devoting themselves to their duties as frost maidens, and then ran. Their allegiance lies somewhere nonsensical. They are not part of the clan. Just like their parents.
Arctina backs away and joins the others. Fridgette desperately cries, "Please save us!"
Glaciari turns to the mightyena with scorn. "Surely you understand where you win and lose."
He scoffs, but acts as if the others are not there and circles the children. The three scream and sob before managing to trip over themselves to get to Glaciari. They clamor over her.
"I'm sorry! I'll rehearse! I'll practice so hard!" the younger sister pleads.
"Me too! I'm so sorry! I'll make sure the Frozen Opera succeeds! I promise!" the older sister implores.
"Please save me!" Fridgette cries.
"Very well." Glaciari embraces the sisters with one arm. With the other, she tosses Fridgette back in front of the mightyena. "Let us go home, children. Rehearsal will resume where we left off."
"No! Please, Elder Glaciari!" Fridgette screams before the mightyena pounces on her.
"This way." Glaciari pushes everyone gently ahead, blocking the view of Fridgette. Her blood-curdling screams resound despite this. The children march with their heads down.
It takes mere seconds for silence to overtake the air. Glaciari stops and turns back. "He reeked of bloodlust, not hunger. Let us see the result."
Arctina dares not question how Glaciari knows something like that, nor why she intends to return. She simply follows her elder back to the scene.
The scarred alpha is gone. A few of the other mightyena are missing as well. Arctina still has room to grow stronger. Only four bodies litter the clearing. Four mightyena bodies. Plus one snorunt.
Fridgette splays on the ground, blood pooling around her. Countless gashes mar her body and leave her unrecognizable. Her coat is torn to shreds. One eyeball has been plucked from her skull, a long, nasty, flowing nerve string blowing in the wind where it once was. Her guts spill out from a large slash across her stomach. A chunk has been carved out of her side. A foot lies detached by her head. The other children stay quiet with their heads still bowed.
Glaciari approaches Fridgette and chuckles. "Foolish child."
"Save me…" It is not even a whisper. Everyone stiffens as Fridgette's lips part ever so slightly.
"Oh?" Glaciari lowers her head to the snorunt's mouth, eyes glistening with intrigue. "You still draw breath?"
"This wouldn't have happened if we left this mountain."
"Heathen." Elder Glaciari's face drops. She pulls away from the child and motions for Arctina. "Come."
Arctina obeys. She stares at the wilting traitor.
"Freeze her through and bring her back with us."
Arctina immediately complies. She takes a solemn breath before immersing Fridgette in frost breath. Ice creeps along her body, blood, tears, skin, and all until her heart freezes over. The snorunt does not resist.
"Excellent." Elder Glaciari caresses the chunk of ice.
As Glaciari is distracted, Arctina swiftly bashes the heads of the mightyena bodies in and wolfs them all down. She bathes in the puddles of blood they leave behind and freezes it to form a new layer of ice armor around her body. She then gathers their souls before returning to Elder Glaciari.
The froslass motions with her hand. Arctina grabs what was once Fridgette between her teeth and follows after Elder Glaciari. The clan returns to their clearing and readies themselves for rehearsal. As the snorunt obediently line up in formation, the two sisters the most eager, Glaciari beckons Arctina into the cave.
They venture to the sleeping area. Arctina cannot remember the last time she was allowed in this space. Glaciari points to the center of the chamber with a low chuckle. "Here. Display her here."
Several glalie and froslass encased just like Fridgette are arranged in a ring. They sit under a large frozen garland suspended at the stalactites. Strung along the fine ice cord are brilliant red sashes encased in crystal-clear ice.
Arctina quietly sets the frozen snorunt down where Glaciari indicates: between two froslass. One stands with a feisty glare marking her face, her arms raised with a shadow ball charged that is perfectly preserved in the chunk of ice. The other has her hands clasped above her bowed head, ice around her freezing imperfectly with two long icicles hanging from her permanently shut eyes. The bloody pulp of a feature that is Fridgette does not quite fit in.
A glalie screaming an eternal battle cry in the middle of a takedown. A froslass with eyes widened like mad, back arched and arms swung out as if frozen mid-run. A glalie with his horns and teeth nothing but shattered stumps. A froslass pathetically draped across the floor. A glalie literally cleaved in twain. Fridgette would look better placed beside them.
The frozen pokémon are ever so vaguely familiar to Arctina. The froslass must be frost maidens from the previous generation. If so, then the glalie are old guardians. She notes how all the froslass share the same injury marked by blood spurting from their bare waists.
Elder Glaciari continues to laugh to herself. Wordlessly, Arctina withdraws from the scene. Marveling at the new addition to their centerpiece, Glaciari gushes, "How beautiful."
Soon, Glaciari joins rehearsal. She steps up to announce, "It seems we now have only six frost maidens. We will make due with what we have. We are rid of our weakest link now, after all."
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"You killed her."
Dirt crunching and a smooth voice make Arctina spin around from her spot at the mouth of the cave for night watch. She relaxes at the sight of Shivian approaching. She tries not to make a show of it, but she internally celebrates this as the first time Shivian instigated a conversation with her.
"I know." Arctina simply says. "Because I'm the guardian. She was dangerous. She could lure us all to our doom."
"Good." Shivian nods her head approvingly. "At least you know your place."
"Shouldn't you be resting?" Arctina gives a dry chuckle. She knows how useless the inquiry is. Most nights, Shivian sneaks out here for solo practice.
Ever willful, the snorunt ignores her and clears her throat. In an instant, a lovely sound fills the air as she sings a scale as a warmup.
"You're gonna attract danger." Arctina has little force in her words as the melody draws her in.
"And you're supposed to ward it off." Shivian returns to vocalizing, this time a portion of the opera.
Arctina allows Shivian's voice to lull her to ease as she turns back to her night watch. As the otherwise quiet night drags on, Arctina feels her eyelids drooping. Her body throbs, a searing sensation overtaking her. The spots where those mightyena dug into her set ablaze against her will. She would still be bleeding had she not frozen herself over.
She could have died in that faceoff. The elders could have helped her, but they only watched. She ended one of their own. No one asked if she was okay. She shrugs it off. Arctina is the guardian. Protecting the clan is all that matters. It is her duty.
The night is long and peaceful for now. Shivian reaches the aria. She remembers the lyrics perfectly now. Arctina closes her eyes just for a short while. Just to hear the solo that will save them all.
Shivian's voice commands Arctina's heartbeat. So powerful, yet just as elegant. She hits every note flawlessly in perfect time with her commanding alto voice.
She reaches the climax: an impossibly high note that can reach the heavens.
It brings a tear to Arctina's eye. She sniffs as Shivian stops singing and nods to herself. An earned prideful smile marks the snorunt's face. Arctina whoops and cheers.
"You really are the best, Shivian!"
"Is there any other result?"
"You're beyond perfection! Even if you're…" Arctina catches herself before she says something stupid. It is only an observation she has, nothing more. It does nothing to smear the snorunt's pure talent.
"Speak. If you cannot bother finishing your thought, why bother starting?" Shivian smacks the glalie in the side, aggravating a wound sustained from the mightyena.
"Oh, it's just…" Arctina shrinks under the sharp gaze. With a gulp, she says, "You're voice isn't like Elder Glaciari's."
"What?" Shivian immediately says. She scoffs before saying, "I dare you to say something besides nonsense."
Arctina hems and haws before ultimately blurting, "You can't go as high as she can!"
Shivian strikes Arctina like Glaciari. She goes red in the face sputtering and growling. "You take that back." Such nonsense. Shivian sneers and stifles a growl. "Just shut up!"
"Yes!" Arctina genuinely regrets saying anything. "But you're so amazing! It doesn't even-"
"Enough!" Shivian takes several heaving breaths. She purses her lips and nods strangely to herself.
"Shivian?"
The snorunt spins away from Arctina. She slowly sings a rising scale. The pitch rises higher and higher until she hits the note she typically uses for the aria's climax. The simple sound overfills Arctina's ears and heart with bliss.
Shivian repeats her top tone several times. Her eyes scrunch shut and her mouth twists in a way completely foreign to Shivian's smug face. With a final deep breath, she rings out a different sound with a shaking jaw. It shatters the limit of her highest note and makes Arctina sigh longingly. A crisp and angelic tone that brings to mind the ever-brilliant Elder Glaciari.
"You hit it!"
"Obviously," Shivian breathlessly says, face still twisted.
"But doesn't it…" Arctina starts without thinking.
"What did I just say about finishing your thoughts?"
"I mean, does it hurt to hit that note?"
Surely Shivian has never made this heavenly sound until now for a reason. It must not be natural for her. Her default is a lower, exquisite alto. Glaciari is an enchanting soprano who can easily hit the ethereal whistle register.
Shivian punches Arctina hard enough to bounce her off a nearby tree. With her typical sharpness, tinged with a vague hoarseness, she hisses, "If mother can do it, then so can I." She clears her throat harshly. "I am the prima donna. Of course I can perform the aria to perfection."