I hate the cold. I absolutely despise it. Whether it is because I am no longer a man or that elves are this easily susceptible or because this body of mine is simply feeble, the slightest chill in the air is intolerable to me. Once again, winter has come to the world. To Enora, and most importantly, the Heinmarr Republic. Why is this important? Well, in my time learning maps with Soza, I learned that Heinmarr is quite far to the northwest on this gargantuan planet, and it gets frigid.
This is my seventh winter in this world. In all my prior years, it was never an issue. As a baby, I was kept indoors suckling on the bosom of my mother, where it was nice and warm. As a toddler, I was playing. Now, as a six-year-old (soon to be seven years old), I am forced to do child labor. Like shoveling the snow, taking snow off the roof with my father, or sweeping the chimney.
Wretched, foul, horrible. I hate it.
How dare mother and father slave away their intelligent daughter to do menial labor! Woe is me!
I've seen the magic scrolls that mother and father possess in this house, at least the ones in the healer's kit. Why don't we have something like, "Snow be gone!" Or the like? All in all, I make a big fuss, but it isn't too bad; it is just tiring, cold, and, admittedly, backbreaking. The snow has fallen heavily this year as the month of Riviera bled into Ather. It was like the gods of this world flipped a switch, and a massive, frosted blanket just flopped onto our town.
It was beautiful, admittedly, and still is. To wake up and gaze out over the stunning scene of rolling, icy hills with mountains on the horizon. It reminded me of those old Bob Ross painting videos I used to watch in my old life on the internet. It was truly breathtaking.
"Something on your mind?" Soza asked as she snapped me out of my stupor and back into reality. It was morning, and I was sitting in the kitchen, bundled in blankets, and leaning over my breakfast, which was a bowl of oatmeal. It wasn’t your typical boring oatmeal either. It had some sorta cinnamon-like spice sprinkled into it, I couldn’t recall the name, as well as these purple pear adjacent fruits my mother diced up and tossed into it. It was sweet and delicious, and I haven’t touched it since sitting down.
"You look lost in thought, Luna." The Serelli woman spoke softly as she pulled out the chair beside me and sat down. She was wearing nothing but a loose-fitting nightgown, a bit too loose in some areas, admittedly, though I tried not to linger my eyes.
"I'm just grumpy." I huffed.
The feline woman's ears twitched and her head cocked to one side. "What has you down? Did you not sleep well?" I slept wonderfully, I thought. Though I did not say anything, I simply nodded. Soza pursed her lips and, with a clawed finger, gently began to run it through my long, dark hair.
She repeated this for a few moments, and I couldn't help but squirm and smirk as it felt a bit ticklish before finally, I sighed and said, "It's winter. I hate the cold." I huffed.
My teacher’s eyes twinkled at my response. "You too?" Soza said with a small smile. "Winter is beautiful yet bitter. It brings harshness and many other forms of danger, yet I feel it is a necessity." She hummed as she continued to toy with my hair.
I let off another huff and leaned forward, the hunger in my gut rearing its head again as my stomach growled. With my spoon in hand, I finally began to dig away at my oatmeal as I side-eyed Soza and said, "How so?"
The feline woman removed her hand from my hair and rested back in her chair, her loose robes sliding down her shoulders as she scratched at her tanned and toned neck. "There are most likely a myriad of logical reasonings as to why winter is important. I don't wish to bore you with what I know." She giggled. "But what I personally believe is that winter is important because, without it, we would not appreciate the times it isn't here. Just like every day life, Luna, there are dark and light times. Yet such times do not last forever, and when they do fade, spring comes. You'll come to appreciate the warmth and life the rainy season brings even more."
I glanced at Soza and plopped a wet glob of warm oatmeal in my mouth, chewing slowly before swallowing. "That's a pretty way to look at it," I said slowly. "Did you come up with that yourself?"
Soza smirked and fixed her gown just as I heard Mother coming in from the back door. "No, I learned it from my mother back in the first winter I can remember experiencing in my homeland of Kazora." Soza sighed softly and looked towards the far wall, her expression taking on a dreamy look as if she were reliving those memories.
Suddenly, I was startled by my mother ruffling my hair as she walked by, wishing me a good morning as she sauntered over to the range. She was bundled heavily in her winter clothes and looked exhausted. Did she even go to sleep last night? I wondered briefly before looking back at Soza and asking, "Kazora. Where's that at?"
Soza turned her attention back to me, the dreamy look still on her face as she held up her index fingers that were far apart and said, "Faaar away." In a slightly exaggerated tone. "So far that the maps your mother and father own don't even show it, as it is far west." Pots and pans clanged, and the two of us looked over to see Mother clumsily moving items around as she prepped a tea kettle. Soza glanced at me and nodded to my breakfast. "Finish your meal. Once your brother is awake, we'll start today's lesson."
I pouted. "Aw, I was just about to ask for stories."
"Stories can come after school." The feline said this as she stood up and brushed her fuzzy tail against me playfully. God, it's so soft, I thought as I looked up at Soza as she wiggled her ears at me. This she told Varis and me was a sign of affection, to which I returned by flexing my ears in return as she went over to assist Mother.
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"So why did they build like a giant wall around the southern continent?" Varis asked with a huff as we sat at the dinner table, hunched over our textbooks and papers. Mother placed cups of tea beside each of us as Soza explained.
"To keep the Taken, or Oni, as the southerners called them, inside." She gestured to the large southern continent on the map, a massive bean-shaped landmass surrounded by a dotted line representing the sea wall. "The Taken are afflicted with the Dark Lord's curse, known as the Necrophage. People who were once like you or I were driven mad by it. If the Taken were to somehow escape, then darkness they carry would spread like wildfire."
Great, I thought, so the possibilities of a zombie apocalypse in this world aren't zero percent.
"So why don't we just destroy the continent then?" I asked before sipping my tea nervously.
Soza smiled and said, "Trust me. There are those out there who believe we should. Though the Global Allied Nations forbids it, as we discussed last week, the G.A.N. has ruled that the destruction of the land is not only immoral, but impractical, as doing so would risk freeing the Dark Lord from their eternal imprisonment."
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"Well, doesn't eternal mean forever?" Varis asked, the poor boy looked incredibly confused.
Soza sighed and said, "Yes. But more like, eternal if never provoked."
"What does provoke mean again?" Varis bit his lower lip.
I poked his side, and he yelped with surprise. "Like that. We don't want to poke a big, bad guy. If we poke him enough, he'll get mad and wake up." I smiled, and Soza looked at me with relief as she didn’t need to re-explain a definition.
"Exactly like that, Luna, yes. It is always best to let the gorgi sleep and not poke it." A gorgi, from what I learned, is something similar to that of a bear. "But alas, there are nations in this world that do not abide by such rules. For instance, the Warriors of Light."
Warriors of Light? It sounds like something out of Final Fantasy, I thought. I vaguely recall seeing some of my dad's books that referenced something like that.
Soza continued, "The Warriors of Light, like the Global Allied Nations, are a group of nations who believe in the Divine—" The door to our house opened abruptly with a bang, startling all of us. Looking into our living room from the kitchen table, Mother stepped out of the kitchen quickly to see Father stumbling in, the wind outside blowing cool air inside.
"Slyran, is everything alright?" I heard Mother call out to my father, who straightened up quickly and held a hand up to her to silence her before turning and motioning for something, or someone, outside to come in.
"Children," Soza said. I turned to look at her and saw that her ears were perked up straight and her tail was wagging aggressively back and forth in a sign of agitation. "It is best we call class closed for now. Your homework is to just read over Chapter 4 of the Twilight War, Luna, do your best to help your brother if he needs it."
"I don't need help!" Varis said in protest, though he immediately stopped when he saw the look on Soza's face. She was very serious, and I did not like what was going on.
Back at the entrance, I saw that Father was motioning for someone to step into the house, and I gasped. A tall, dark-scaled lizard man came into view. His scales were shiny and black, yet his lower neck and presumably the front of his torso were a dark gray. His head sported a crown of pointy spines, and his eyes were a menacing swirl of purple and black with threatening slits for pupils. He was wearing a heavy trench coat and dress pants, along with a bowler hat which he took off upon entering.
When he spoke, his voice was deep and guttural and sounded like a predator teasing its prey. "Apologies if I'm interrupting your teachings this fine afternoon."
"Father, who is he?" Varis spoke up, and both he and Soza hissed at him to be quiet.
Father, who was still in his constabulary uniform, removed his officer cap and said, "Cailynn, do you remember Mr. Blaxen?"
To which Mother bluntly replied, "Unfortunately."
The lizard man bowed heavily and said, "Pleasure to see you again, Lady Moon Weaver." Lady what? I blinked as Mr. Blaxen straightened up and looked at us in the kitchen. "Once again, I apologize for intruding on you all during teaching hours. I can assure you that I will make this quick, as my employer would be upset to hear that I am intruding on his people's time of learning." Once again, he bowed to us. "I am Lorzio Blaxen, servant of the Sovereign Right. Please return to your studies. I only wish to speak to the man and woman of this house."
"I think instead," Soza said while not breaking eye contact or blinking. "Kids, I change my mind; it'll be best if we have an early recess and lunch. Children, let us go outside; dress warmly."
"But it's freezing outside!" Varis whined, and Soza lightly bopped him on the head.
"No whining, now go dress." She pointed towards the stairs in the living room.
I gulped, knowing that I'd need to walk past this massive, dragonborn-looking guy. His swirling eyes locked on the three of us, unblinking. Soza motioned for us to stand up before pushing us lightly forward, and the two of us quickly scurried past the adults, yet just as I passed beneath the large lizard man, I could see his rows of razor-sharp teeth as he smiled at me, and I gasped and ran faster.
"Children." I could hear him as I ran up the stairs. "My mother used to say that a baby's smile made the angels sing." He hummed, and at that point, I stopped listening and bolted faster.
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"Who the heck is that guy?!" I hissed to Varis as I entered the room after him and turned to shut the door behind us. Turning back to face him, I yelled when I saw my brother already in nothing but his underwear and shielded my eyes. "Whoa, whoa!"
"What?" Varis looked at me confused before glancing down at himself and shrugging as he began to change into his casual clothes and winter garments. "I don't know who that dragon man is... I think Dad told me long ago that they're called... Valenni? I think. I never saw one before till now, but Dad seems to know him."
Keeping my eyes covered as Varis changed, I sidestepped carefully toward my dresser. "Mom and Soza didn't look happy to see him," I said, making sure to not ram into my bed.
"Maybe he's like an old friend? Or maybe it's like what Herbert said a few weeks ago? He said, Mom and Dad were adventurers!" Varis said excitedly as he finally slipped into some winter overalls and grabbed his coat.
"He said they were adventurous." I corrected him, and now, feeling comfortable with my hands no longer over my eyes, I finally reached my dresser. "But maybe..." I bit my lower lip as I started to wonder what sort of family I got reborn into.
"I'll wait for you outside the room," Varis said to me while I stewed with my thoughts.
Though I can dwell on that later, right now I need to get dressed. Opening my dresser drawers, I began to dig around for my cotton stockings. When I first came to this world, I was originally against the idea of wearing such clothes for girls, yet as the years went on, I've grown accustomed to the garments. Mostly, some dresses make me shudder, such as winter clothing. The numerous layers of stockings, pantalettes, and chemises were constricting, particularly when I had to put on a tight vest. So many layers upon layers, I felt like that kid from The Christmas Story, it made playing in the snow almost impossible.
Though Mother has given me some overalls, those have gotten dirty, and I don't see them here, which means they haven't been cleaned. Maybe if I just stick around Soza outside, I'll be fine during our lunch. Though I glanced back at the door to our room where Varis waited, he may try and wrestle me again. Maybe Soza can beat his ass if he does.
Once I finished getting dressed, I glanced at myself in the mirror and blushed faintly. In my past life, I would've scoffed at the idea of wearing something like this. Yet now I couldn't help but think it was pretty cute. I wore a black dress with white trimming and embroidery along the tummy of my dress, which covered my vest, two layers of white cotton stockings, and calf-high, fur-lined boots. Over my dress, I wore a matching hooded cloak along with these bright, white fuzzy muffs, and to top it off, I practiced what Mother had shown me multiple times, which was tying my hair back before putting on a simple white headband to keep it in place. Although this is quite adorable, I wouldn't mind experimenting with other casual outfits in the future.
Oh god, am I enjoying dressing up?
In the end, I kind of get the stereotype as to why girls take so long to get dressed. There was just so much! And yet, I think I came out looking pretty cute. Probably all that was lacking was makeup, but I haven't even taken the steps to learn how to apply it… Maybe Mother can show me?
"Luna, c'mon!" I heard Varis complain from outside the door. "We can't keep Soza waiting! We'll miss recess!"
I think recess is going to be a little longer than usual, buddy. This is what I wanted to say, but I bit my tongue. "Hold on, I'm almost finished!" I said to him as I spent some time finishing up my hair before stopping to do a small twirl in front of the mirror. I couldn't help but smirk a little as I admired my little dress, yet a small part of me couldn't help but wonder how I'd look in the coming years. Judging by my new parents, especially my mother, who was beautifully shaped, I wondered if I would be like a high school queen or maybe I could try on Varis's clothes and look like a hot tom--
A loud clap, followed by sharp pain, burned across my cheek as I recoiled to the side, all thoughts leaving my mind. Quickly, I straightened up and looked at myself in the mirror with shock and horror, and then I glanced down at my red, quivering hand. Back at the mirror, I noticed a matching red print on my cheek.
"I knew I could count on you, little guy." I whispered to my hand as I shook the tingling pain from it. With a deep breath, I turned to the door and stepped outside. "Okay, I'm ready," I said, looking at Varis.
"What was that slap I heard?" He asked, pushing himself off the wall. "Why is your cheek red?"
"It's nothing; I just purged my mind of impurities."
"Imperiods?"
"Something like that."