[Day 43]

Stormy’s sudden, loud "Mraurwww!" from the windowsill interrupted my scribbling. I set down my Witchcraft Codex and walked up to the window.

Stormy’s superior feline senses were right on target.

In a few minutes a massive, carriage-style, covered wooden sleigh rolled into Svalbard pulled by four horses, moving over the frozen river. I rushed to pull my crystal-reinforced armor and face-covering helmet on, making sure that the arbalests were armed and ready.

The sleigh slid about ten meters into town and stopped facing my tree-fortification.

As I pulled the window open, aiming the arbalest I saw that a girl in a lush, furry white coat and fluffy hat was holding the reins of the horses.

“Lo, Nordstaii ungmenni!” She called out with a slight accent as she noticed me in the window.

After a second of delay my brain interpreted her words as an overly-formal greeting addressing a young man of the Nordstaii tribes.

“Please lower your weapon,” she yelled. “I am a merchant! My name is Callista Liesl and I come to your village because of a request made by Ioan. His message reached me through Cecil of Bernt. Are you Ioan?”

"Greetings, Callista," I replied as I lowered my arbalest. Cecil had done his job. “I am Ioan Starfall of Svalbard!”

"Ahh," the girl quickly disembarked from the sleigh, raising her empty hands in the air to indicate she was unarmed. I secured the arbalest to my side, and she approached the pub. I couldn’t help but notice her somewhat feline features and brilliant snow-white hair.

“Could I stay in town for the night?” she inquired with a friendly smile. “My Stormseer tells me that a snowstorm is brewing.”

"Do you need a room?" I asked. "Unfortunately, a dragon demolished our inn."

"That's alright," she reassured me. "I can sleep in my sleigh. Are the stables beside the pub still intact?"

"They are," I confirmed with a nod.

"Wonderful," she beamed. “Might I come into your pub for a drink? We can talk business–I have chicken eggs as you requested and many other supplies from the south which might aid in your… situation.”

“You alone in that sleigh?” I asked.

“Sure am,” she nodded, walking closer to my tree fortification. “So can you lead this weary merchant inside to warm up?”

I eyed the merchant girl evaluating her. She looked around nineteen at most and appeared harmless. There were no weapons on her as far as I could see.

“Fine,” I said. “Put your horses into the stables and then we can talk business inside. Give me a bit of time to get the pub ready for you, it’s a bit of a mess.”

I retreated from the window and quickly concealed the greenery that was blooming within the chests, by pulling old, grimy cloths or Band banners over the far too obvious green plants or by simply shutting the chests closed.

When the pub became presentable-ish, leaving only randomly strewn earth piles, I came out of the side door and showed Callista the safe passage through the narrow path in my tree barricade.

“That’s quite a fiendish, albeit simple tree-fence you’ve got there,” she commented, avoiding the jagged branches as she followed me, leaning down low. “Cecil told me that you’re alone in Svalbard, Ioan?”

“Yeah,” I replied, feeling no need to lie to the merchant. “Just me and my cat survived the dragon.”

“I'm sorry to hear that,” she said.

“So what brings you to Svalbard, Callista?” I asked conversationally as we emerged from the tight tree-tunnel and stepped inside the warm pub.

“Trade of course,” she said with another soft, friendly smile that put me entirely at ease.

Callista was the first person that wasn’t trying to kill me and her soft, feminine soprano chatter was a nice change of pace from listening to my own voice.

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Stormy hissed at the girl as she removed her thick, white fur coat, revealing a simple yet elegant white leather dress. I noticed a fanciful, white gold and blue gemstone lavaliere-style necklace was decorating the merchant's pale, slender neck. Glancing at her curves made my heartbeat accelerate for a moment.

When she pulled off her white furry hat, it revealed a pair of white, exceptionally fluffy cat ears and curvy, white, sparkling hair. I stared at her cat-like ears, not believing my own eyes.

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/alexiussssss/romac/main/CALI.jpg [https://raw.githubusercontent.com/alexiussssss/romac/main/CALI.jpg]

She looked just like the illustration from the book of monsters!

The girl wiggled her ears in my direction with a sly grin, swaying her white tail slightly.

Stormy let out a small growl. She was probably just feeling bothered that another cat… person invaded her feline domain. Indoor cats didn't get along well with other cats from the outside, so this was probably normal.

“Haven’t seen a Felix Arcanicx before, have you?” Callista asked me, winking at Stormy.

“Nope,” I shook my head, blushing ever so slightly as Callista pulled off her white gloves. She unbuttoned her blouse further, basking in the heat of the fireplace.

“Are there… other people like you in the South?” I asked the merchant, ignoring Stormy’s ‘what is this questionable big cat doing in my house?!’ glare.

“Oh there are all kinds of arcanicx,” the merchant nodded with a smile. “The gals living close to cometfall tend to end up with all sorts of quirky features.”

“Cometfall?” I asked.

“I hail from Iridium, the city of mercantile trade,” Callista said. “It stands at the edge of the Fern Archipelago which is itself on the edge of the Castian Sea. The Castian Sea, which connects to the wider Azure Ocean isn’t natural–it’s the result of Cometfall or Starfall as the Nordstaii tribes call it.”

“Starfall,” I thought, considering the sudden relevance of my last name.

“It wasn’t that long ago that a shard of the Wormwood Star sheared our world and brought about the age of winter to Thornwild,” Callista said with a bit of a sad look in her deep, blue eyes. “The great, slowly moving glaciers advancing from the North have upheaved many, making them forsake their homes. The Nordstaii tribes of your people arose from a fusion of a multitude of distinctive cultures that had to retreat from the North, West and East. The lives of many were filled with a great deal of strife because of Starfall day.”

I simply stared at her. Callista seemed to wield a great deal of history, spoke with crystalline clarity and seemed a lot more educated and classy compared to the ancient, domain-bound Yaga Grandhilda.

“It is actually the end of summer now here in Ninitza peninsula,” the merchant revealed. “Autumn is yet to arrive and winter will be harsher yet.”

I gulped as Stormy’s claws dug into my shoulder. This was the end of summer?! Thornwild was experiencing an Ice Age because a comet crashed into the planet?!

I shuddered momentarily and then remembered that I was a witch. No matter how cold it would get, I would be immune to it. Still, it was a bit of foreboding news.

I shook my head, driving dark thoughts away and gestured towards a pair of simple chairs and table near the fireplace that I had left in the pub for myself and stormy to eat on. "Have a seat. Can I offer you an elk steak and some wine?"

Callista gracefully lowered herself onto the bench. “Elk steak and wine? I wouldn’t mind that at all, Ioan!”

I went to fetch the food and drinks. Stormy remained perched on my shoulder, keeping a wary eye on our guest. I quickly fried the meat for all three of us and then brought it to the table with some cheese, and a bottle of wine.

“Quite a festive place you’ve got here,” the arcanicx girl commented, leaning forward and eyeing the piles of earth and Zemy’s banners hanging from the ceiling and walls all around us. “It must be lonely here for you, no?”

“Yeah,” I confessed, staring at the opulent, blue, glittering jewels on her chest. “It does get a bit lonely here.”

“Mrrrrr?” Stormy commented, pawing at my face as if saying, ‘What about me? I'm good company, no?’

I scratched her behind the ear.

"So, tell me, Ioan, what sort of supplies are you most in need of other than the eggs?" The merchant smiled.

"Well, I could use some proper tools," I admitted. "The smithy here is decent, but finer instruments would be nice… if you have such."

Callista's eyes lit up. "Oh, I have just the thing! I've got a set of Castian magisteel tools that would make any Nordstaii craftsman weep with joy. They're a bit pricey, but..." She winked conspiratorially. "For you, I might be willing to cut a deal."

I went to the pile of earth and grabbed a bunch of gold chains that had remained after my jewellery dismantling. During the past weeks I had also excavated about 75 gold, 122 silver and 522 copper coins from the ruins of Svalbard. I placed about twenty gold coins onto the table in front of the merchant.

“Will gold work?” I asked.

“Yep,” She nodded. “I definitely accept gold. Also, feel free to call me Cali!"

“Sounds good, what else have you got?" I asked.

The Felix Arcanicx began listing her wares, from medicine, to exotic spices, to finely woven fabrics, listing the prices. The amount of gold I had was more than enough to purchase what I wanted and Cali seemed genuinely interested in helping a poor orphaned boy out.

I found myself relaxing further and further as we chatted, Callista's easygoing, relaxed manner making me feel somehow more at ease than I had in weeks.

“That’s quite a big assortment you’ve got,” I commented as she listed out a multitude of handy supplies that a teenage boy might need to survive the incredibly long and brutal winter of Svalbard. “How does all this stuff even fit into your enclosed sleigh?”

“Ah that,” Cali smiled. “Magic’s easier to weave closer to cometfall, you see. The Sleigh of Ancorra is a tad bigger on the inside.”

“Bigger on the inside?” I blinked. “How is that even possible?”