WSP 036

Under Cover of Snow

In Kroan, most places effectively shut down during the deep snows of winter. It was simply not worth it to try and do anything major with a thick covering of snow that wouldn’t even last that long, relatively speaking. Most winters the heavy snow didn’t even last a full month, though last year had been an exception since it arrived early and stayed for much longer.

Regardless, the snow was here, and places like Willow Hollow were in “winter mode.” Most Shimmers would laugh at a Kroanite settlement’s shutting down over just some snow, considering how much of it they tended to live in. But why bother clearing something away when it’ll be gone soon, anyway? Most Kroanite settlements also tended to enjoy the forced break from labor and expectations, considering the winter lull as just a part of life, though this appreciation for the snow was not true across the board, especially in settlements that hadn’t stored up food properly.

The city of Axiom was one of the few exceptions to this pattern. Axiom’s overall activity may have gone down during the winter since few people wanted to actually go out in the biting, frigid cold; but the Crown made sure that the streets were plowed and services maintained. Axiom continued onward in spite of the restrictive blanket of snow draped over them.

However, there was a time before the streets were plowed. When the snow came down in the night and covered the entire city. When the workers had not yet begun the difficult task of clearing it all away. At this moment, just before dawn, the city of Axiom was as it never was—silent. No sound of bustle, no commotion. It almost looked abandoned, the lines of white-bleached cityscape.

Hyrii stood on one of the Palace balconies, wrapped up in a fuzzy blanket and earmuffs. In her hand, she held a steaming cup of tea. She gingerly sipped it, watching as the sun slowly peeked above the horizon, casting many long shadows over the frosted land. It was one of the best views she had ever seen, and she was enjoying it greatly from her new vantage point.

Wyett came out onto the balcony as well, though he was clearly not enjoying the scenery. He quickly started pacing, muttering to himself. This muttering slowly turned into humming and—

“Wyett,” Hyrii said, pressing her hands over her ears. “You’re humming it.”

“I’m n—” Wyett froze, a haunted look crossing his face. “I… I am…” He used his hand on the outer wall to steady himself. “I… this… I can’t live like this, Hyrii, I…”

“Yes you can,” Hyrri said, standing up to embrace him, wrapping her blanket around the both of them. “I can help you through this.”

“I’m a threat to the kingdom… and… and nobody’s doing anything about it.”

Hyrii could feel him trembling. “Wyett, that’s not true, we’re investigating, gathering information, and have taken great measures to keep the song from spreading through our ranks. I’m still not infected, Kayz won’t be allowed anywhere near you, and…”

“I’m still a liability,” Wyett said. “A liability… that… that knows something needs to be done, but can’t convince anyone to do anything.”

“Wyett…”

“The rigids are moving, Hyrii. You heard the reports. Ever since winter started in earnest, we’ve heard of rigids walking strangely and screaming that nobody approach them, for they are dangerous… they’re going to take advantage of us while we’re down. Who knows how many forces they’re moving into Kroan? Who knows what their plan is?”

“None of us, that’s true,” Hyrii said. “And it’s… got me nervous as well, but we’re not sitting down and taking it. We have our own networks Wyett…”

“That are suddenly going to be a lot less effective because of the snow.” Wyett clenched his fists. “We’re weak and vulnerable. They can move and we can’t track them. If they find a way to attack in the winter, our armies won’t get here in time.”

“Wyett, we would notice an army-sized force moving in, even with all this snow. We have defenses, and look out there.” She gestured at the first signs of the large snow plow arcane devices being activated, heating up their plows with Red so as to easier cut through the snow. “Axiom itself isn’t going to be disabled, and neither are any of the large cities.”

Wyett looked out at the cityscape with stressed eyes.

Hyrii kissed him on the cheek. “We’ll live through this, Wyett. Your dad knows what he’s doing.”

“…I don’t believe he does. He’s… too soft. We’re… we’re going to lose something important because of this strategy.”

“He’s been at this longer than you. Trust him, Wyett.”

“…How can I?”

“How can you trust yourself?”

“…I cannot.” Wyett crossed his arms. “Yes… yes…”

“We’ll make it through whatever’s coming.” Hyrii patted him on the back. “We have before and we will again.”

“Of… course. Thank you.” He kissed her back and, with that, went back inside.

Hyrii stood there. A light wind blew past her, making her blanket ruffle in the breeze.

She started wringing her wrists. She was getting really worried about him. He had gotten better during and after the wedding, but ever since winter had started setting in, he had started getting anxious again. Very anxious. To be fair, Hyrii was too, the kingdom that was supposedly at peace now felt like it was surrounded on all sides by enemies, and clever enemies at that. Kaykayzee was clearly up to something based on the information their spies sent from Shimvale, the rigid plague was sneaking in under cover of snow, and they had no new information on C-R’s people.

I really do need to be here for him, who knows what sorts of things he’d do that he’d regret without me here… For a moment, she allowed herself to wonder if maybe he was right. If maybe decisive and somewhat brutal action did need to be taken. He did have some points… but Redmind did as well, and Tenrayce agreed with the King. Hyrii herself…

She decided that she still didn’t fully agree with her husband. The measured approach was best, especially considering how little they knew. If anything, she would have called a fair chunk of the army back from the Western Ch’eni’tho to play more defensively, but Redmind understandably didn’t want to give the impression of abandoning allies. Plus, it could be said that risking themselves for their allies was just the right thing to do.

Hyrii patted herself on the face, trying to calm down. She needed to remain calm. She’d kept her head the entire time in Shimvale, she just needed to keep it here. For how long, she did not know, but she knew she needed to.

For Wyett’s sake.

~~~

The snow wasn’t impressive enough this year for Jeh to make extensive tunnels like she had last time. However, this year she also wasn’t left alone to do whatever she wanted and actually did a lot with Blue and Vaughan. Currently, the three of them were sitting in front of the arcane heater playing cards.

Blue was winning.

“The game’s simple, really,” Blue was saying. “Once you realize that it’s just a series of nested cycles, once you predict the cycles you can make optimal choices based on what cards have been shown and what are yet to be revealed. For instance, every card in the deck that can beat ten of pentagons…” She threw down the card she just mentioned. “…has already been played.”

“Agh!” Jeh pointed a shaky finger at Blue. “How… how dare you ruin my plan!? I had a chain! A chain, Blue, a chain! And now it’s ruiiiiiined…” She flopped backward, letting her cards fly.

Vaughan adjusted his hat. “Well done, Blue.”

“Thank you.” Blue took all the played cards into her stack.

“Unfortunately, you are about to be completely demolished by a lucky hand I happen to have. I’ve been trying to lure out the ten of pentagons for a while.” He laid down the pentagons nine through one, plus the wildcard. “As all the Color cards have already been played, there is no chance for shenanigans and I have complete dominion over the rest of both of your cards.”

Blue blinked. “The chances of you getting all those cards in sequence…”

“How many games have we played?”

“Mmmf…” Blue let out a huff, and then a laugh. “Oh well, Vaughan, looks like you win.”

“You two have too big of brains,” Jeh muttered. She still hadn’t gotten back up from her position on the floor.

Blue took the various cards spread around and started shuffling them in her telekinesis. She wanted to be extra thorough this time, so she took extra care in making sure it was shuffled. She could have dealt that sequence to Vaughan by failing in her job last time.

Jeh eventually sat up and rubbed her eye. “Hey, Blue, science question.”

“Give it to me. “

“Why can we see stars in space during the day, but not down here?”

“The atmosphere is in the way.”

“Then why can we see stars at night?”

Blue opened her mouth and closed it again. “Huh… you know that is odd…”

“Clearly it has something to do with the sun,” Vaughan said. “Prior to us going up into space it was said that the sun outshone the stars by simply being so bright, but clearly the air has something to do with it.”

“Well, you see color by reflecting light off of things,” Blue said. “The sky is blue so naturally what little light the atmosphere does reflect would be blue… except… let’s ignore whatever’s going on in sunsets for now.” Blue absent-mindedly continued her shuffle as she thought. “Since the sky appears blue from every angle until you get above it, it must be reflecting light in every direction. Thus any light traveling through the atmosphere is likely to be spread out.”

Vaughan scratched his beard. “There have been experiments on this, light does eventually dissipate after it’s run through enough air. Though a lot of it just makes it warmer.”

“Some of it has to be making the sky blue, Vaughan.”

“How does this make us stop seeing stars?” Jeh asked.

“I’m forming a theory. In space, the sun’s light is localized to the sun’s location. The air, however, reflects a lot of that light around. The brightness of the reflected light in the air itself is greater than the light of the stars, so you can’t see them.” Blue smirked. “That’s what I think it probably is.”

Vaughan nodded slowly, pondering this. “It makes sense. Stars are not bright at all, yet even before the sun rises you can see very well, presumably from the sun’s light reflecting off the atmosphere. Also, something we didn’t consider, you can’t see as many stars in big cities because they produce a lot of light.”

Blue blinked. “Oh, yeah. That kind of makes it obvious, huh?”

“It’s so cool watching you two just figure something out like that!” Jeh said, beaming.

“Aww, thanks!” Blue said, realizing that she was still shuffling the cards. Somewhat embarrassed, she started dealing them out.

“New question. Why is the sky blue at some times and orange at others?”

“Uh…” Blue scrunched her muzzle. “That… um… let me get back to you on that one.”

“Very interesting question, though,” Vaughan said, scratching his beard. “It…”

Without warning, there was a loud thump that came from somewhere outside. The three of them suddenly heard an angry shout. A sharp, quick booming noise rang through the air, and then there was silence.

“That sounded like a firearm,” Jeh said.

“How do you know what that sounds like!?” Blue stammered.

Jeh stood up and put on her bear mitts, pulling out the claws. “You two stay in here.”

“Jeh…”

“Whatever’s out there can’t hurt me.” Jeh pulled her hood over her head and moved in the direction of the sound. She carefully approached a window and pressed her face to it. The snow was about halfway up the window, but she could still see through the upper portion.

Agent Keller was kneeling down, looking in the window. He waved.

Jeh unlatched the window and pulled it open, thankful that the Snow was packed well enough that it didn’t just fall in. “What’s going on out here?” Jeh asked in a hushed tone.

“Saboteur,” Keller said. “Caught him tryin’ t’ set fire t’ the cabin.”

“Oh. Taken care of?”

“Yep. He had a lot o’ strange weapons on him, didn’t want t’ chance it.”

“Well, thank you!” Jeh turned around. “It’s Agent Keller, guys, he just stopped an arsonist!”

“A what!?” Blue shouted, running up to Jeh and glaring at Agent Keller.

“He tried t’ set fire t’ the cabin. I shot him.” Agent Keller shrugged. “Haven’t searched the body yet, I’ll let ya know what I find.”

“B-body…” Blue shivered. “You… Keller?”

“Yes?”

“What are we going to do if one shows up and you’re not here?”

“Rest easy, I’m doin’ my job, you’re not gonna bite it.”

“You can’t be everywhere at once.”

“Don’t need t’ be.” He tipped his hat.

Vaughan finally arrived. “I’d like to see this… arsonist.”

“Be my guest, but ya might want t’ come out the window above this one, getting snow in the house has t’ be quite the problem.”

Vaughan nodded, immediately setting out to climb the stairs. Jeh closed the window and would have followed him, but she noticed a haunted look on Blue’s face.

“Blue? You… you okay?”

“We’re not safe here,” Blue said, staring blankly at a wall. “They’re… they’re coming after us…”

“That’s why Keller’s here, Blue. Caught a spy and took out an arsonist already!”

“But… but what if he doesn’t!? What if… what if he fails and the cabin burns to the ground while we sleep!?”

“Vaughan can take just about anything, and I’m awesome as well, we’ll protect you.” Jeh put an arm around Blue’s neck. “And there’s plenty of other people here, too. You’re not alone!”

“But… but…”

“Blue, come on. It’s okay.”

Blue shook her head. “It… it doesn’t feel okay, Jeh… it feels… like there’s a shadow behind me, chasing me…”

“Well, if there is, the sooner we get to the Moon the sooner you can leave it behind! Nothing can chase us up there!”

Blue snorted. “Jeh, we can’t live on the Moon.”

“How do we know that? Maybe the rocks are edible.”

Blue blinked. “Jeh, we…”

“Have no idea what’s up there.”

“Jeh, even if we could stay up there, we shouldn’t, there’s stuff to do down here.”

Jeh nodded. “And…?”

“And there’s not much I can do about anyone coming after us anyway…” Blue let out a sigh.

“You just let us worry about that, use your brain on the math.”

“I… I’ll try.” Blue looked up the stairs and shook her head. “I’m not going to look, it’ll just get embedded in my mind. But I can tell you want to, go, run along.” Blue snorted. “Giving a child permission to see a dead body, what’s my life coming to…?”

Jeh gave Blue a quick hug and ran up the stairs, quickly running to Vaughan’s side. Both of them looked out the window at the scene below. There was a small section of the cabin that had been charred by an attempt at lighting it on fire. Lying dead in the snow near this charring was a rigid corpse. A rare sight to be sure out this far from the Shinelands, and it wasn’t a race Jeh could identify—it was not sleek and smooth, but made out of what appeared to be cast iron. It had three limbs coming out of a central body that looked somewhat like a human skull, though highly stylized. Sparks and black liquid oozed out of a wound in the rigid’s glassy eye. Various weapons, mostly bladed, were littered around on the ground. Not one of them used Red crystals, but one in particular was nonetheless creating a flame.

Keller had this weapon in his hands. “Curious, this appears t’ make use of a flammable gas…” He pulled a lever and a plume of fire burst into the air.

“The rigids in the plague can’t use Crystal magic,” Jeh said. “Maybe that’s why it’s not an arcane device?”

“My thoughts exactly,” Keller said, setting the weapon down. “Though I have never before seen such a weapon, and it concerns me…” He kneeled down, frowning. “Also, the rigid wasn’t sayin’ anything. Wasn’t cryin’ out, wasn’t screamin’, he was stealthy.”

“You talk like you can identify the gender,” Vaughan said. “You’ve seen this kind before?”

Keller nodded. “These ones tend t’ roam the southern deserts, not the Shinelands. They’re Skullcrabs. This one’s missin’ several limbs. The women have larger eyes.” He started rummaging around the body, opening up the mouth and looking inside. “This has been mangled. That explains why he couldn’t talk.”

“So, the rigid plague is after us…” Vaughan shook his head. “Why us?”

“I’ve been gettin’ reports that they’ve been movin’ throughout Kroan under cover of snow,” Keller said, taking out and lighting one of his signature smokes. “Ya might not be the primary target, just an opportunity.” He looked up at the two of them. “Imma need ya t’ be on guard, let me know if ya see anythin’ out o’ the ordinary. I think we can stop any brazen attacks like this, but if they decide t’ go for observation instead… just keep an eye out.”

“Will do,” Jeh said, giving Keller a salute. “Let us know what you find out, too!”

“If I think it’ll help, ya’ll be the first t’ know after the Mayor.”

“Thanks!” Jeh quickly turned to Vaughan. “We should go back to Blue, I think she might need some people right about now.”

Vaughan nodded. “Yes, of course…” He gave the skull-shaped rigid an unusual look. Then he shook his head and closed the window, returning down the stairs with Jeh.

~~~

Cats had an easier time getting around through snow than most races due to their smaller size, naturally warm coat, and coordinated instincts. As such, they were usually the ones sent to make the journey through the snow when something needed to be done or checked on in the midst of winter.

Today, that was Suro’s responsibility. One of his daughters, Eifa, the schoolteacher, had elected to accompany him this time.

Both of them were bundled up in fur coats overtop of their natural ones, had goggles over their faces, and small snowshoes on their paws. Unlike humanoid races, which required large, wide, and awkward snowshoes that were generally considered not worth it, cats only needed a small surface area to remain above the snow, given how light they were comparatively.

Still, it was awkward to walk in them, though it wasn’t a big stumbling mess. The shoes themselves had roughly circular pads and were fastened tightly to all four paws.

Currently, the wind was blowing something fierce, but it wasn’t actively snowing—all the snow that was hitting them in the face was being picked up off the ground and thrown at them.

“Regretting coming along?” Suro asked.

“Dad, there’s nobody to teach in the winter, I was bored. This is not boring. It’s an improvement.”

Suro shook his head. “Doesn’t feel that way to me…”

“You have your arcane devices you tinker with.”

“I do have to conserve crystals…”

Eifa chuckled. “How many rings did you make yesterday?”

“Er…”

“Oh, look, we’re coming up on our destination.”

Their destination was the Laboratory. They were there to check up on everything and make sure it wasn’t falling apart. The building in question was about half-buried in snow, but it was still standing, and there was no evidence of fire, so the preliminary checks passed. The pair of cats first investigated the shed in the center that surrounded the Moonshot, checking to make sure it was still sealed. The shed itself had been constructed rapidly out of a bunch of wooden planks, but it had been sealed with a special adhesive to make it airtight so no water was going to get in from the snowmelt. Opening it would destroy the seal, naturally, but the point was not to let the Moonshot be used at all during this time.

“Seems fine,” Eifa said, sniffing the shed a few times. “Though we can’t exactly see ground level.”

“The Moonshot is slightly elevated on its knobs,” Suro said. “So even if some water did get down there at the bottom, it won’t damage it too much.”

“True…” Eifa stepped back. “So, should we check on everyone inside?”

“Well, there’s no shouting right now, so… they’re probably calm…”

This was when the shouting started.

“Never mind…” With a sigh, he moved to the Laboratory. All the doors had snow in front of them, but there was a hatch in the roof designed explicitly for this purpose. Suro popped it open, revealing a narrow staircase that descended into the Laboratory proper. The two cats entered and appeared in the back of one of the storage rooms. There was a Minor Wizard down here, a human woman, drinking some kind of strong-smelling alcohol.

“Ah, the inspection has arrived,” she said, raising the bottle to them. “Hope you like what you see.”

“Any idea why the shouting?” Eifa asked.

She shook her head. “I haven’t moved from this spot for hours, last person I saw was that fairy doing his laps and that was… uh… a bit ago…” She let out a huge yawn and a burp. “I’m sure it’s fine.”

“We should probably take a look…” Eifa said.

Suro nodded in agreement. The two of them set out through the Laboratory until they came into the lounge area, and it was immediately obvious what the problem was.

A few of the people who lived in the Laboratory had set up a small little shrine to Dia since they couldn’t get to the Sanctuary easily. It wasn’t anything fancy, just a small table with a triangular stone on it painted blue with colored candles around it.

The stone had been painted with haphazard red lines, the candles were knocked over, and rude words had been scratched into the table.

“Oh dear…” Suro said.

“You little vandalizing creep!” a gari was shouting at Arno.

Arno crossed his arms. “You can’t prove I did it!”

“You’re the only one who would!”

“Psh, Bakitran’s a Gonal, maybe you should ask her. She thinks your shape is inferior.”

“Um, I actually kind of like triangles…” a slime said.

“Gonal also don’t use red,” the gari continued shouting at Arno.

“I’m being framed, obviously.”

“I… How in... you know literally no one believes you, right?”

“Obviously, you’re all dumb stupid Aware, can’t see the truth when it’s right in front of you.”

This got one of the human men angry enough to throw a punch, but the gari caught it. “Let’s not punch the child.”

“Coward!” Arno shouted. “Cowards, all of you! I can’t believe I used to be scared of you idiots!” He put his hands on his hips and huffed. “When a shrine is defiled you should seek revenge! Come on, that’s… that’s basic!”

“Your people have defaced the Sanctuary many times,” Suro said, coming into the conversation. “Have we ever retaliated against you?”

Arno looked at him with narrowed eyes. “That’s…” he tilted his head to the side. “I can’t figure out what’s wrong with what you’re saying.”

“Maybe it isn’t wrong then.”

“Ridiculous.”

Suro sighed. “Arno, we can’t be wrong all the time…”

“Nuh-uh, every word out of an Aware’s mouth is horribly mistaken, Minnie said so.”

“That’s literally impossible. There’s snow outside. I’m not mistaken to say that, am I?”

“Um…” Arno stomped his foot. “Stop playing mind games!”

“Arno…”

Eifa stepped forward, speaking in a calm, soothing voice. “Arno, what is it you want?”

Arno blinked. “What?”

“What do you want us to do, right now?”

Arno stared at her dumbly.

“You don’t have any idea, do you?”

“N-no, I… I want… uh…” He crossed his arms. “I’m not gonna tell you!”

“Really? We might be able to give you what you want if you told us.”

“Er…”

Eifa sat down, continuing to speak in her calm voice. “Let’s think about this. When you called everyone ‘cowards,’ what did you want them to do?”

Arno was silent.

“Did you want them to fight you?”

“No…”

“Did you want them to be angry?”

Arno frowned. “Yes…?”

“Why would you want that?”

“They were doing it all wrong.”

“By not taking revenge on you?”

“Yes!” Arno threw his arms wide. “They… they’re supposed to fight back! It’s what Minnie always says! It’s…”

“We aren’t fighting back. You’ve lived with us for… weeks now. How much of what Minnie said has been what you’ve seen?”

Arno started crying. “It’s all wrong…”

Eifa would have put her paw on his shoulder, but she was too short for that, so she only got to his chest. “Not wrong, just different. We aren’t what you were told.”

“But Minnie… Minnie’s so amazing and cool and awesome and… how could she be wrong?”

“People who are cool, amazing, and awesome are wrong a lot of the time. You know Jeh, right? She’s cool, amazing, and awesome. She can also be quite… dumb.”

“Are you calling Minnie dumb!?”

Eifa shook her head. “I don’t even know who Minnie is. But if she’s cool, amazing, and awesome, that doesn’t mean she’s right.”

Arno sat down, pulling his legs to his chest, staring at the ground.

“…Do you want to go home, Arno?”

Arno nodded slowly.

“I’m sorry we can’t take you, the snow’s too deep. But when it does clear, you can go home, and then you can ask Minnie all sorts of questions. Maybe even teach her a few things.”

“Teach Minnie…” This idea seemed to awaken something in Arno. “I need to write this down!” With that, he ran off, deeper into the laboratory with a dumb grin on his face.

Suro looked at his daughter and smiled. “You handled that well.”

“Dad, I have to deal with brats for a living, that was only slightly worse than usual.”

“You’re just letting him run off?” the gari shouted. “I’m not sure he even thinks he did anything wrong!”

Eifa glared at the gari. “Look, the most effective strategy would be to punish him, and he definitely needs it, what I just did isn’t going to stop him from being a self-absorbed brat, that will require consequences and life experiences. That just defused him for now. However, we have to stick with words rather than force since he is not one of ours. Do you think Joira would be pleased if we spanked him? Hmm?”

“I… well…” the gari frowned. “What are we supposed to do then!? None of us here know how to handle him! Krays and Jeh kept him in check before the snow came down, but they’re not here anymore!”

“I… hmm, yes…” Eifa looked at the ruined shrine. “He really is a little blasphemer, isn’t he?” She clicked her tongue. “I think I can handle him.”

“You’re not always here…”

“There’s no reason I can’t,” Eifa said, turning to Suro. “It’s not like I have anything else to do.”

Suro nodded with a smile. “Your mom will miss you at the dinner table.”

“She has enough other kids,” Eifa said with a chuckle.

“In that case, I wish you luck, and give you the official title of ‘Wizard Space Program child wrangler.’ “

“Oooh, an official title!” Eifa beamed. “I’m so honored!”

Suro gave an exaggerated bow.

“Anyway, since I'm going to stick here until the snow goes… perhaps someone should write up a list of grievances against Arno that I can work to address.”

The fairy walked up to her and gave her a tiny list that he had made.

“Wow. If there’s already a list this is clearly going to take a while and…” she narrowed her eyes at the scroll. “Too many angry noises?”

“He likes to shout angrily at the mirror in his room,” the fairy clarified. “…Early in the morning.”

“…That’s going to take a while to unpack…”

~~~

It was feeding time at Pepper’s lab, which was one of the most chaotic and expensive times the place experienced. Simply gathering enough food to maintain the monstrous beings held within in the middle of winter was a minor logistical challenge for the Academy, but Pepper was well-respected and kept getting results from her work, so she never had to worry unless the stores ran out completely or a ration was declared. Axiom basically never had to do such a thing, so Pepper had no worries.

She was, however, completely unable to do the feeding by herself, it took a team of a dozen or so to do it in a suitable amount of time. As such, there was a crew of Minor Wizards set to the task. Since there were a fair amount of classified things in the lab, all of the Minor Wizards needed clearance first, so Pepper generally got the same people every day coming in with a house-sized crate filled to the brim with meat, plants, and some plast-derived nutrient bars.

Pepper was a little surprised to see a new face in the group today, a Minor Magenta Wizard, a human man with mid-tone skin and sharp features. “Oh look at that! We have a new meat delivery device!”

The other Minor Wizards chuckled while the new one looked around awkwardly. “Um… you do mean the food for the monsters, right?”

“Well, yes, but if I say it that way it makes people wonder if they are the meat.” Pepper laughed. “Anyway, as long as you’re careful, you won’t be eaten. May Dia bless your efforts, and try not to get too scared, there are a lot of freaky ones in here. The others can help you around.”

Pepper considered hanging around and messing with the new kid a little longer, but she was a little busy so she decided to just leave them to it—the others would keep him from being eaten or crushed, she trusted them. She did, however, make sure to work on her newest arcane device out in the open so she could keep an eye on them and watch for any amusing reactions from the new kid.

The device she was currently working on was a temperature-maintaining container, very simple, really—just a metal box inside another metal box, with nothing, not even air, between the two of them. There had been many containers designed like this in the past with insulating materials between the two containers, but the lack of air was by far the best. The trick was how to connect the two containers to each other without allowing for a large transfer of heat, and making the containers strong enough to resist the extreme temperatures the wizards wanted to put inside of it. It wasn’t well suited to be a cooling device since it wasn’t clear, but it could store cold things. This would also be a lot more practical than the cooling device, which was rather expensive and will-intensive, this container required no arcane crystals at all, and simply using crystals as insulation was the current way to get this effect.

Currently, Pepper was trying to figure out how to connect the two containers with only insulating strings, but that made it so the opening to put things in and out wasn’t airtight… quite annoying. Making it out of plast would solve the problem if she didn’t want to hold really hot things in there, but she did, so melting-resistant metals were the order of the day, but metal was highly conductive. Ceramic and stone might have been better, if they weren’t so hard to make airtight…

We need more wizards who work on material properties…

With a shrug, she looked up, finding that the group was feeding her seven-headed snake monster. It was always a huge chore that involved everyone to get all the heads fed since a particularly annoying facet of that monster was that if one head didn’t eat the nutrients wouldn’t go to that head and it would wither away. The snake used to have nine heads. The snake was being particularly ornery today, and one head was clearly trying to starve out all the others, making the chore even worse than usual and…

…the new kid wasn’t with them.

Pepper immediately scanned the warehouse, fear placed with relief when she found him. He was staring at the Magenta Cage that held the demon. Kid was just scared of one of the monsters, frozen in place. Fortunately, the demon was kept almost entirely delirious inside that cage, there wasn’t any danger there—it might actually be more dangerous for him to try and help feed the seven-headed snake.

Then he pulled out a Magenta crystal.

Pepper’s eyes widened. “Don’t!” She shouted, holding out her hands and tapping into her magic. She was a Red Wizard through and through, and was not very skilled at using the other colors despite always keeping a small quantity on her at all times. She tried to use Orange to push him aside and knock the Magenta crystal out of his hand, but she wasn’t able to do it at this range. She decided that she was going to have to burn him, giving up on the Orange and heating up his hands directly, hoping to interrupt his spell.

He let out a scream of pain but held fast to the crystal.

Pepper decided to turn up the heat, but at this point, it was too late. He had already cast his spell. His magic went into the cage, prompting its functionality to scramble. Many of the active loops ceased functioning, and the magic jamming was interrupted. The cage was well-designed, several parts of it kept operating, but the parts that stopped were more than enough.

The demon’s hand thrust through the broken part of the cage, shattering the crystal and its internal metal reinforcements. “It is time for you to learn your hubris, Kroanite…” The black, sickening claw of the creature emerged from the cage and clawed into the ground, pulling the rest of its form out bit by bi—

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Pepper didn’t waste a moment. She turned her Red magic on to full blast and incinerated the cage and everything inside of it in a brilliant ball of raging blue plasma. She didn’t even lift her hands, she was a Master Wizard, she had no need for body language to assist her in the act of casting; the Red crystals were in contact with her body already, she just had to think. What she actually used her hands for was pulling out her weapon. She had many things stored on her just in case a monster broke out, but the one she chose right now was her favorite, a custom-made chain scythe, composed entirely of a long metal chain that could hold a lot of heat and a scythe-blade at the edge sharpened to perfection by Colored crystal dust. Red and Orange crystals dominated the connection between the chain and the blade, an arcane device designed to increase the weapon’s maneuverability.

Pepper’s halo flickered and then suddenly increased in intensity.

The dark form pulled itself out of Pepper’s raging inferno, blue flames licking it. It was still suffering from having been inside a magical jamming cage for so long, with bits of its body sparking and shifting form randomly, unable to decide if it wanted to be a claw or a tentacle or a mouth. The overall form, however, was stable—four arms, two legs, and six piercing yellow slits on the head. It pointed an ever-shifting limb at Pepper’s halo, speaking with a deep, reverberating voice. “Do you think yourself a holy angel given divine light to strike me down? Amusing.”

“I am no angel, I just think it looks cool.” Pepper focused her magic on the creature’s head, making it explode. The sticky tar-black mess reformed almost immediately, but the creature kept speaking even before the head returned.

“Your confidence will be your downfall.”

“I got you in there, didn’t I?”

The demon snarled, a deeply unsettling rumble of a sound that was accompanied by the sound of distant, echoing screaming from all directions and glass breaking. The air around him started to ripple as though he were using complicated Blue magic, but Pepper knew that wasn’t what was going on. “I know your tactics, they will not work again.”

“Who said I was going to use the same strategy again? That would be stupid.” She flicked her hand out, producing a tiny Magenta device that shot a dart at the demon. The dart exploded, sending Magenta sparks everywhere that coated one of the demon’s arms, making his form lose cohesion once again.

“What is this!?”

“Technology has advanced, you were so scary they put a lot of effort into figuring out how to neutralize you. This device creates hundreds of tiny Magenta cyclers that continually scramble magic directly adjacent to them.” She kept firing while she was talking, coating the demon in more and more sparkles. “Not very effective against physical entities, but for things that are magic, like you, well… having a problem?”

The demon fell to a knee. He screeched with an undulating wail, spreading darkness into the ground in a pattern that looked vaguely like cracks in the earth. However, while Pepper might not have been able to release a ton more Magenta darts, she did have fire, and despite previous appearances, the demon was not immune to it, focused blasts of superheated plasma kept the demon from spreading his influence further.

“You… no, you do not understand what I am!” The demon, despite being half-disabled and with the parts of it that weren’t disabled slowly burning away, stood up. “I am but a servant! I call… for a miracle!”

Pepper scowled. “Your kind are the ‘miracles’ your goddess sends to her servants, what will she do for you?” She did not stop pelting the demon with everything she had despite this.

“Our Mother has no limits. You shall discover that She can be subtle, should She wish.” The demon held out a limb.

The Magenta Minor Wizard hit Pepper on the back of the head with a large rock. Her entire world started spinning.

“Our relationship with our servants is a symbiosis, fool! You call yourself Aware, but your so-called goddess never does anything! She is nothing! She bestows no power, grants no miracles!”

The Magenta Wizard hit Pepper in the head again with the rock, keeping her from responding, much less trying to put up a resistance.

“And now you die!”

“That’s what you think!” one of the other Minor Wizards said, undoing the final chain that was holding the seven-headed snake back. “Get her, Snakey!”

The six heads of the seven-headed snake that has been fighting the other head for food currently appreciated the Minor Wizards for all the trouble they went through to keep them fed, so they listened. The seventh head had no say in the matter as it was dragged along. Three heads made it to the demon and bit him into three pieces, swallowing each piece whole.

An Orange Minor Wizard threw the Magenta Wizard back before he could smack Pepper’s head again, and another one applied Green to her. “Are you all right, Pepper?”

“Head… hurts…” Pepper grumbled as she stood back up. “Didn’t lose consciousness though, so the Green should have been able to handle that…” She readied her weapon. “I’m sorry, snake…”

“Huh?” The Minor Wizard looked confused. “Why are you sorry? Snakey saved us all!”

“Yes, but…” One of the heads exploded in a shower of darkness, prompting the other heads of the snake to scream. “It’s not that simple…”

The demon emerged from the dark explosion, one section of his body hanging limp, the rest having shifted into a bunch of wings to keep his form awkwardly aloft. “Why do you always get lucky!?”

“Dia can be subtle too,” Pepper said, drowning the demon in fire once amore. “In fact, She usually is.”

The demon let out a horrendous screech and, just like that, decided to flee. He blasted into the air, punched a hole in the roof, and flew away.

“No, you don’t!” Pepper shouted. She accessed the device in her weapon, launching the blade into the air and embedding it in the roof. The force was enough to yank her along with it so long as she held tight to the chain, which she did. As she flew out the hole, she heated up the chain until it started to burn her hands, but she needed every edge she could get. Standing on top of her laboratory, she spied the fleeing form of darkness and activated the device again.

The bladed end flew directly at the demon at high speed. With a slight application of Orange, Pepper was able to twist the chain to the side just enough—the bladed weapon struck the demon, slicing through him, and then wrapped him up in a red-hot chain that Pepper was still increasing the temperature of.

The demon let out a roar of agony as Pepper started pulling it back. He clawed at the chain, severing it in half, but this did not stop Pepper from reattaching the chain together—only a small amount of Orange was required to re-link the chain to the part wrapped around the demon, which was now white-hot.

The demon screamed in rage. One of the fluid xylems* in Pepper’s face burst, prompting a spray of water to come out of her nose. She did her best to ignore this and continue dragging the demon down, but the demon had become desperate.

*Dryads do not have blood, they instead have mostly water in their systems with dissolved nutrients inside, like real plants. Unlike plants, these contents have to move quickly and are under pressure, so they tend to burst out in sprays.

The demon cut himself in half, using the chain as a burning knife. The lower half disintegrated into nothing, but the upper half flew away, out of Pepper’s reach.

Pepper stared after the demon with a grimace.

Dia, I pray that monster does not wreak the havoc I fear it will…

~~~

“The sun is out, and soon, we shall witness the agonizing defeat of the snow!” Arno declared from his position on top of the Laboratory’s roof, hands on his hips. “The bitter enemy of the cold shall waste away, sizzling like meat on a grill until nothing remains, and the land is wiped clean of its sinful influence!” The kid held his hands up to the sun. “If only the sun were a better color for the heat it provided, it would be the strongest being to ever grace the world!”

“I was unaware the Red Seekers were star worshippers,” Eifa said. She was out with Arno, bundled up in far more coats than he was, taking in the beautiful (and somewhat blinding) scenery of a winter wonderland under a cloudless sky.

“People worship the stars…?”

“There are some. It’s not a religion on its own, usually it’s tacked onto others. Krays comes from a background with that, and several of the Minor Wizards here do as well.” Eifa sniffed, trying to ignore the cold. “When you worship the stars, the project to go to the stars is quite alluring.”

Arno huffed. “Ridiculous.”

“You just said the sun would be amazing if it were a better color. Red, I take it?”

“Yes! Then it would have more power!”

“And possibly burn all of Ikyu to a crisp so that no one could live on it.”

“I… er…” Arno frowned. “But burning things is the whole point…”

“Really? I understand Red Seeker sects all have different views, but what I know of Joira tells me that your sect seeks passion more than destruction. If it was destruction, you wouldn’t build houses, would you?”

“Destruction can be used for creation! Watch!” Arno pulled out his Red crystal and started heating up the snow near them, drawing a smiley face in the process. “See? From the annihilation of the desolate cold, smiles!”

“So destruction is only worth something if something can be created from it?”

“Haha, yes, you’re learning!”

“Then why would we want the sun to be red and burn everything away?”

Arno’s face fell. “Never mind, you don’t understand anything…” He sat down and crossed his arms, beginning to pout.

Eifa frowned. This was proving to be a difficult case. The kid seemed entirely fine with believing one thing, acting another way, and simply not acknowledging that the two were in conflict. He just got angry when anyone pointed anything out and seemed absolutely convinced that if he was angry it had to be someone else’s fault. Sure, she had gotten him to improve his behavior simply by interacting with him over time, but he wasn’t even aware he was adjusting his behavior, it was basically all instinctual. Sure, he was being less of an outright brat, but what she really wanted was for him to become a better person, but that wasn’t really happening.

He was as dense as a brick and couldn’t be convinced he was anything other than the best person around. He even thought lowly of people from his sect with the sole exception of the mysterious Minnie. He was afraid of Joira, to be sure, but he thought she was getting too “soft.” He did not seem to understand what exactly that meant, though, no doubt parroting whatever Minnie told him…

Eifa would very much like to have a word with this Minnie when winter ended…

There was a soft rumble from somewhere below them.

“Aha!” Arno shouted, jumping up and pointing at the ground. “The snow trembles in fear at the coming power of the sun!”

Eifa frowned, feeling the rumbling through the ground. Was it an earthquake? It was a minor one, if so, and… wait, the rumbling was coming from a specific direction, that didn’t match with what she would expect from an earthquake. She looked to the left and saw a rush of snow being kicked up from below. Something large was burrowing through the snow and heading right for the Laboratory.

“Something’s coming!” Eifa shouted down the hatch to the Laboratory. “Help!”

Arno stood up and held out his Red. “Foul beast of the snow, tremble before me!” He was not a very strong Red mage, but he definitely could melt snow very quickly. The snow surrounding the incoming creature liquified, forcing the entity to come to a stop as it no longer had solid snow to burrow through and was now very wet. There was a loud clatter as it fell to the ground, denting its metallic, pointed head.

The rigid—for that was what it was—raised its head out of the hole that had just been created, revealing itself to be a snake-like creature about a half-meter in diameter. It had no face to speak of, for its head was a smooth pointed cone with jagged edges like a saw around the rim. “Standing” as it was now, it was easily twice as tall as the Laboratory itself, but the extent of its length was unknown.

It pointed its head right at the shed that contained the Moonshot.

“Hey! Back off, dumb snake!” Arno shouted, heating up not its head, but part of its core body, igniting the air around one of the edges. This prompted the rigid to lower its body to the ground where the snow could counteract the flames, but Arno kept burning it in different locations, melting the snow away to keep it exposed.

Evidently, the rigid decided that enough was enough and threw strategy out the window, charging the Moonshot’s shed at full speed with reckless abandon.

It was at this point that the Minor Wizards started coming out of the Laboratory via the stairs. One of them pulled out Orange and placed a wall of force between the rigid snake and the shed, denting the rigid’s head even further. Someone fired a Purple laser, other Red fires burst out on the entity’s exoskeleton, and someone threw a wrench.

The snake decided that it wasn’t going to get to the shed with this protection, so it charged everyone on the roof.

“STUPID SNAKE!” Arno shouted, trying to melt it. This did not work and the moment he realized this his confidence was replaced with immense fear. “Oh no…”

The people using Orange switched to erecting a barrier between them and the snake, at which point the snake immediately charged back at the now-unprotected shed. The force wall moved back to the shed, but this time the snake didn’t run into it—instead, it lifted its tail off the ground and whipped it across the roof of the Laboratory, knocking several people off and into the snow, interrupting their magic.

Everyone was very fortunate there was so much snow, the landings were quite soft.

Eifa clawed her way out of the snow and watched in horror as the snake rushed the unprotected Moonshot shed. It would skewer right through and damage the interior, ruining everything…

…A loud bang rang out. There was suddenly a hole in the rigid’s head, one that appeared as though it had been melted clean through. The rigid remained perfectly still for several seconds. Then, slowly but surely, it collapsed to the ground, dead.

Agent Keller jumped down from a tree, landing on top of the Laboratory roof. He quickly put his arcane firearm away. For a moment, Eifa thought she saw Magenta sparks wafting off of him, but she couldn’t be sure. He calmly took out a smoke and lit it, calmly taking in the situation. “Ya’ll did good,” he eventually said. “Wasn’t expectin’ such a brazen attack, myself, thought they’d go for subtle sabotages or infiltration.” He blew out a ring of smoke. “Those few seconds ya bought saved the ship.”

“Yay! I’m a hero!” Arno shouted.

“Depends on your definition,” Keller said with a shrug. “But I certainly appreciate it.” He tipped his hat to them and set off. He must have been using some unusual magic because he didn’t sink into the snow when he walked across it.

Eifa looked down at the carcass of the snake rigid.

“…What do we do with that?”

“Melt it!” Arno said.

Everyone stared blankly at him.

“What? It’s made of metal! That’s useful, right?”

~~~

“No assailant can take Fort Powderbluff!” Jeh called from the entrance of a small snow fort she had constructed with Blue and Vaughan.

“The Moonshot is roomier than this…” Vaughan commented, seeing as the three of them could barely sit within the four snowy walls.

“I just realized we don’t have a way out,” Blue said. “We didn’t make a door.”

“We can make one!” Jeh started carving away at one of the walls, only for it to collapse outward. “…See? Door!” She tried to pretend like this was her plan all along.

“Suuure…”

“We are still unassailable! Invincible! None can match our snow fort prowess!”

At this point, Alexandrite landed just outside the fort.

“Hark!” Jeh pointed at Alexandrite. “The dragon lays siege to our battlements! Arm the cannons!” She picked up a snowball and threw it, hitting Alexandrite square in the face.

Vaughan and Blue joined in as well, pelting him with snowballs.

Alexandrite took a few of these to the face before opening his mouth. The torrent of water that rushed out washed the entire snow fort away and threw the three of them to the ground.

“We’ve been assailed,” Vaughan pointed out.

“Nooooooo!” Jeh screamed to the heavens. “We are defeated!”

“We should probably go inside before this water freezes us…” Blue commented.

Alexandrite grinned. “And they say that water-breath isn’t a very strong attribute.”

“I demand a rematch!” Jeh shouted. “When… whenever we build another snow fort, we’ll make it dragon-proof! Powderbluff II!”

“Oooh, I believe we could resist Alexandrite’s breath…” Blue said. “Coat the fort in water so it freezes solid and can’t be washed away by the wetness.”

“You’d still freeze to death in the cold if you were wet, fort or not,” Alexandrite pointed out.

“Well. Uh. Yes, I suppose that’s true…”

The four of them entered the cabin. It was always slightly awkward for Alexandrite to get inside, but it was large enough to hold him—though in the future, as he grew, this would eventually become impossible. Vaughan sat down next to the entryway’s arcane heater and started drying off. Blue just shook herself like a dog to get the water off.

“B-blue!” Jeh sputtered.

“You don’t have fur, I have to shake myself out. Also, your face was great.”

Jeh tried to shake her hair out, but it was long enough that it slapped her in the face. “…Ow.”

“Anyway,” Alexandrite said, reaching into his bag and pulling out a letter. “Just the one today, but it comes right from the Crown.”

“All right, let’s see…” Vaughan opened it up and read it aloud.

“To the Wizard Space Program, from Princess Tenrayce Kroan.

“Winter has begun to abate, which means the launch of the Moonshot is imminent. We are going to begin the process of scheduling, for we want to get to the Moon as quickly as possible; I understand you yourselves are itching to go. I understand the plan is to take the Moonshot up once for a testing mission, and then do the official launch later. This is acceptable, and I only require that you schedule the main launch ahead of time.

“I am aware that you designed the Moonshot with four seats in mind. I understand you probably wish to draw from some of the locals or your own workers for these seats, but I am going to have to require that at least one of the seats be occupied by someone directly under the Crown. Please do not take this as a slight, I do trust you, but a large number of the nobility do not and so I am requiring you to take one of ours as your fourth.

“I understand this might annoy you, so I am willing to give you some control over what sort of person you want on board. I can send one of the secretaries, one of the noble wizards, an Agent… unfortunately, I myself cannot go, as much as it would be highly illuminating the danger is simply too high to justify it.

“Let me know your preferences as soon as possible.”

Vaughan put the letter down. “Well then…”

“I kind of forgot we designed for four,” Blue said. “The mission plan just has the three of us in it.”

Vaughan scratched his beard. “This is tricky, we have no way of knowing what sort of person Tenrayce will pick from our preferences…”

“I trust her to try her best.”

“Still, whoever it is might just get in the way… the government types tend to do that.”

“Well, what kind of person do we want?” Blue asked. “I’m thinking just ask for a secretary, someone quiet who will record everything and not do too much. A—”

“Why not just ask Keller if he wants to come along?” Jeh asked.

Blue and Vaughan looked down at her.

“What? He works for the Crown, everyone likes him, and he’s cool.”

“I…” Blue paused. “I do suppose he’s been doing his job well.”

Vaughan smirked. “And, more importantly, he treats us like people, not commodities or an annoyance.” Vaughan patted Jeh on the head. “I think that’s an excellent idea, Jeh, we’ll bring it up at the meeting tomorrow, I don’t think there will be any objections to requesting Keller.”

“Who will protect the town while he’s gone, though?” Alexandrite asked.

“During Operation Lunacy, there will be a royal presence,” Blue explained. “Someone is going to be here to personally oversee the launch, and with them will be a lot of guards, naturally, as it’ll be official and everything. It’ll be fine.”

“Hmm… a royal coming all the way out here without trying to be stealthy about it…”

“If they were stealthy, they would actually be easier targets,” Vaughan explained. “This launch is big enough that everyone knows at least one of them will show up, so it’s better to have a ton of guards rather than try to hide. At least, I think so.”

“…It’s not going to be much longer,” Blue realized, looking up and out the window. “The… snow will be gone. We’ll… go to space. We’ll go to the Moon.” Blue started tapping her hooves excitedly with a mad laugh. “It’s going to be… I don’t know but it’s going to be amazing, great, stupendous, and more!”

“You two are going to love the view from space,” Jeh said, beaming.

“You and Margaret always go on about that…” Blue said. “I mean, sure, it’ll be pretty, but I’ve seen the images…”

“You’ll understand when you get there!”

~~~

Jeh and the Sourdough twins sat in a tree, completely silent. Below them… there was a bear. Most bears hibernated during the winter, but not this kind, the greenish moss-bears* were always awake.

*Moss-bears are partially plant, partially animal. Rather than hibernating during the winter, they make up for the lack of calories with photosynthesizing. They still stock up on calories before winter since this is not enough to keep them going indefinitely, especially considering how cloudy it can get.

Jeh grinned. She gave the twins a thumbs up and jumped out of the tree onto the bear’s back. She unleashed her bear-claw mitts on the beast’s neck and drew copious amounts of blood. The bear, naturally, fought back, throwing Jeh to the ground. There were only a few centimeters of snow, so it didn’t do much to cushion her fall. The bear took advantage of her downed state and crushed her ribs with its paws.

Jeh, despite currently being unable to breathe, was more annoyed than anything and proceeded to claw and literally bite at the bear’s legs until she managed to slip out far enough for her lungs to regenerate. With a laugh, she punched the bear right in the jaw, the claws in her mitts digging into its flesh.

The bear had enough intelligence to realize that Jeh wasn’t taking any damage and that it was taking a lot, so it opted to run.

“Hey, wait, come back!” Jeh shouted. “You’re supposed to—come on!”

An arrow whizzed out from the nearby trees, skewering the moss-bear in the head and throwing it to the ground, dead.

“…Huh?” Jeh looked up at the twins. “Did you do that?”

“Nope.”

“Nada.”

“Then who…?”

“IT WAS I!” Ripashi said, dropping onto the snow with an extravagant “CAW!” He spread his wings wide. “You were letting your prey escape, Jeh! Shame!”

“It was being a coward.”

“A proper hunter never lets his prey escape, for survival depends on it! ”

Jeh rolled her eyes. “Thanks for the assist, anyway.”

“All in a day’s work!” Ripashi declared, flexing his wings.

“What is it with men—"

“—and trying to show off their strength?” the twins asked.

“It is the creed of manliness!” Ripashi declared, flexing his wings in a different pose. “To dominate, to have power… but to know how precisely to use that power! To fight, to kill, but never in service of evil!”

“But it makes—”

“—you look ridiculous.”

Ripashi’s face fell. “You… you really think so?”

“It is quite silly,” Jeh said, striking a pose identical to his own. “See?”

“That just looks cool!” Ripashi said. “Get yourself some bulk and… well… actually you’re a human girl that might not be possible…”

“I can’t build muscle at all anyway, regeneration keeps it from happening.”

Ripashi let out a caw of shock. “What a horrifying existence! I pity you, small one, forever cursed with weakness!” He bowed his head to her. “If you ever need a strong wing for any reason, mine shall be yours!”

Jeh giggled. “Thanks, Ripashi. I’ll let you know.”

“Hold that thought,” the twins said in unison, holding up their hands. They audibly sniffed the air. “We smell something.”

“Eh?” Jeh said.

“Someone’s cooking meat,” one of the twins said.

The other one pointed. “There, I can see smoke from a campfire.”

“Who would be camping out in this weather?” Ripashi called.

“Me,” Jeh said.

“But that’s not you out there.”

“Yes. Maybe I have a long-lost sister!” Jeh paused. “Though I don’t think I used fire while I was in the forest… cooked meat tastes so much better…”

“Let’s go investigate,” either Rina or Rona said as both of them descended from the tree and started walking through the shallow snow. Ripashi quickly pegged the moss-bear carcass to a tree so they could retrieve it later.

It was not difficult in the slightest to follow the smoke. They soon came to a campfire that was blazing hot and currently had a spit over top of it that was slowly turning. There was a very small tent made out of some kind of plant-based fibers, and a few skinned foxes were laid out nearby, clearly in line to be cooked like their brother on the spit.

There was only one inhabitant of the tiny camp, and it was a dryad. An extremely young dryad, smaller even than Jeh, with bluish-green leaves, huge eyes, and bright blue flowers all over her head. She was singing a tune* to herself in some language none of them could identify, but tickled the back of Jeh’s memory.

*The tune, roughly translated, is as such:

“The outside world screams in darkness,

The inside world abounds in safety,

Home is where you forget all your woes,

The world is where you get forgotten,

So, come home, little one, they are not yours,

The Glen is all a dryad ever needs.

So let the world rot, their bones turn to soil,

And our leaves will reach to the sky.

Stay inside, inside, inside, or the outside will wipe you clean.”

A traditional dryad song that is essentially a nursery rhyme, though it doesn’t rhyme even in the original language, it’s more of a rhythmic than rhyme-focused song. The history behind the song is that young dryads often feel the need to explore the world and leave the Glen, but usually grow tired of the ways of the other races and return to the Glen to put down roots. The dryad who penned it was a man by the name of Turmeric, who had managed to make a name for himself out in the world, but returned to the Glen with nothing, and no one who actually cared enough to see him off on his journey. It was originally a deep and perhaps vengeful lament. In modern times it’s just a song young dryads sing without thinking.

“…Hello?” Jeh said, waving her hand.

The dryad looked up and grinned. “People! Hi! Greetings! Nanadaskero! Krukkai!” She waved excitedly. “Happy to see, yes!” Clearly, her Karli was very rough.

“What are you doing out here in the snow?” Ripashi asked.

“Camping! Fire, warm, meat, tasty!” The dryad clapped her hands together. “Want?”

“Um… no?”

“Dryads don’t usually eat meat,” either Rina or Rona said.

“Meat has… food.” The dryad awkwardly rubbed the back of her head. “Uh. Word?”

“I mean, meat is food…” Jeh said, tilting her head to the side. “Maybe try talking in your original language?”

The dryad understood this enough to try it. The words ticked at jeh’s mind but she couldn’t pull any meaning out from them. “Okay, yeah, that’s not going to work. Uh…”

“Word not big,” she said with a shrug, taking a bite out of roasted fox meat. “Tasty!” She waved her hand in the air. “I’m Scurfpea! You?”

Jeh introduced the four of them.

“Rina, Rona. Or Rona, Rina?” Scurfpea giggled. “Fun!”

“She gets it,” one of the twins said.

“Be careful of this one, most don’t,” the other added.

The dryad giggled, continuing to eat.

“So, what are you doing out here?” Jeh asked.

“Camping!”

“Why?”

Scurfpea thought about this. “Exploring. Seeing world. Glen say I not like. I do like! Glen say I come back in days. This second winter!” She giggled.

“They let someone so young out to explore?” Ripashi asked, tilting his head.

“Yes!” Scurfpea said. “They say I not brave, they wrong. Creepy thorn monster was funny! Not real!” She took another bite of fox meat.

“Some Glens do let their young ones out into the world for a time,” one of the Sourdough twins said. “Though I’ve only heard about this from books and—”

“—she does seem really young for it.”

“Smallest adventurer! That is me!” Scurfpea grinned.

“So you just explore randomly?” Ripashi asked. “I respect that!”

“Random…?” Scurfpea tilted her head.

Jeh nodded. “Without a plan, unpredictable, crazed…”

“Oh! Usually, yes! But not now. Was told some people go to Moon!”

Jeh blinked. “You… heard about that?”

“Yeah! Was at bar, big deal, people make plans to here! I first!” She looked absurdly proud of her achievement.

“People… are coming,” Jeh said, blinking.

“What did you expect?” one of the twins said.

“Uh…”

“Your project is not secret, people are going to want to see it,” the other pointed out.

“There will be a great crowd—”

“—here to watch your every move—”

“—Scurfpea here is just the first to arrive.”

“First!” Scurfpea declared, throwing her fists into the air.

RIpashi let out a caw. “If there really are going to be that many people, I don’t think Willow Hollow can support them all…”

“We already have plans for that,” the twins said in unison. “We’ve been coordinating with Lila to get food arranged, stockpiles improved, and supplies shipped…”

“You two were part of the plan?” Ripashi gawked.

“What?” they both asked, tilting their heads in opposite directions.

“It’s just… uh…”

“We are the town bakers—”

“—and know the most about economic logistics—”

“—and Big G is a bit busy with other things.”

Ripashi stared at them.

The twins grinned at him.

“I’m starting to think you two might actually be able to take over the world,” Ripashi said.

“That’s the idea!” They high-fived each other in unison and winked at him.

“Oooh, you rule world?” Scurfpea asked.

“Not yet,” one of the twins said.

“Yet,” the other added.

“Cooooool…”

“Hey, Scurfpea,” Jeh said, kneeling down. “I’m the girl who will fly to the Moon.”

Scurfpea gasped. “Really!?”

“Really.”

“Take me!”

“Can’t, not enough space.”

“But but… Moon…”

“But I can show you the ship, and when I get back I can show you what it looks like!”

Scurfpea’s eyes sparkled. “See world beyond world…” she devolved into her native language and started talking excitedly, grabbing Jeh by the shoulders and grinning.

“Um… you wanna come back to town with us?”

“Yes!”

“All right…”

“Let me pack stuff.”

It turned out that everything Scurfpea owned could be rolled up into a single backpack that was almost as large as she was, and was definitely heavier. However, she had a special way of carrying it—she used her dryad attribute to grow floating air-sac plants that she attached to the backpack to make it significantly lighter. Her mouth ran a mile a minute while she did these things, but not a single word of Karli was spoken in the midst of it. That said, she did follow them back without incident.

Agent Keller tapped out some ashes from his vantage point in a distant tree. “There’s gonna be too many of them to keep track of, soon…”

~~~

Snow still came, but it came less and less as the days wore on. The amount that remained on the ground reduced from a few centimeters, to a centimeter, to less than a centimeter. People started going out just to enjoy the weather again, even if it was a little cold. And with this shift in the weather, Scurfpea was proven to be completely right—a lot of people were coming.

Willow Hollow didn’t have a proper hotel or tavern—the closest was the bar and the barkeep didn’t let people sleep there. Most of the visitors were prepared for this, having brought their own tents and gear to wait out the time until the launch. There were a few fools who hadn’t, but for every fool there was a scam artist with extra tents to sell.

As such, a small tent “city” started forming at the edge of Willow Hollow. Despite Willow Hollow’s small population, this tent “city” never grew large enough to overrun the people—but it was getting to the point where maybe one in twenty people in Willow Hollow weren’t actual residents.

Margaret had taken to walking among the tents at least once a day. Her father might have become a bit of a shut-in who rarely engaged with others like he used to, but Margaret still enjoyed hearing tales and viewpoints from far-off lands. She would strike random people up in conversation just to see what sorts of thoughts they had to offer. Since she was a pilot of the Wizard Space Program, even people who would normally be reluctant to talk gave her the time of day.

She determined that there were a few different types of people who were here. The first were those who thought they would get to see something amazing and didn’t realize that the actual launch itself wouldn’t be a visually spectacular event and were going to be disappointed. Then there were those who were just curious, or wanted to prove/disprove the rumors they had heard. A third class knew history was about to be made and just wanted to witness it. Then there were those who were technically interested and wanted to observe for the betterment of their own research. Lastly, there were those only there for political reasons, which currently included a single Shimmer sphinx who looked really bored, and a couple Kroanite nobles.

However, there was a sixth class.

“Hey, hey, hey, what are you doing!?” a human man shouted as Keller lifted him off the ground.

“Checkin’ for suspicious activity.” Keller shook the man and numerous things fell out of his coat, including an arcane weapon with a needle on the end. “Hmm, would ya look at this, not just a weapon, but a fancy one that injects poison.”

“I—I have the right to defend myself!”

“Oh, yes, but lessee here, hmm… yep, Shimvale design, the kind ya can only get from very high up. And seein’ as ya aren’t on the list o’ official types, mmm, not lookin’ good for you.”

“This is an outrage! I will…”

“What? Complain t’ your government? If you’re a nobody like ya claim, they won’t care, and if you’re somebody, well ya just failed at your job, wonder how that’ll go over.”

The man scowled. “You won’t live to regret this.” He reached into his coat, pulling out a small Red device affixed to him by a chain—

—Magenta sparks flickered off Keller and with a swift motion of his hand, he exploited a weakness in the chain and severed the device from the spy. He followed this up with a kick to the chest, throwing the man to the ground. The Red device landed unceremoniously in the snow.

“Well well, that’s a nasty little thing right there…” Keller said, picking it up off the ground. “Explosive, quite deadly. Gonna take everyone out with ya, were ya?”

The man started singing, but a quick kick to the face shut him up.

Keller tipped his hat to the small crowd that had gathered. “Carry on, nothin’ t’ see here.”

“I very much think there is something to see here!” a cat in noble dress declared. “Agent Keller, how could you let such a danger get so close to us?”

“Ma’am, with all due respect, there are too many of ya to check thoroughly.”

“Isn’t that your job, Agent?”

“I’m just one man. Your guard ain’t helpin’ me.”

“The audacity! His job is to guard me, not root out potential insiders! That’s yours!”

Keller lit his smoke and breathed in.

“Agent Keller!”

“What do ya want me t’ do here, exactly? I’m already doin’ all I can, hopin’ that the Princess arrives soon with some actual help.”

“Are you dense? Do your job better! Find all of them!”

“And how do ya suggest I do that?”

“That’s for you to do, Agent! Gah! Why we’ve given a sandblaster your position is beyond me…”

A few people in the crowd gasped in shock, making the noble suddenly aware that she wasn’t alone.

“Oh, shut it, the lot of you,” the cat grumbled before turning and walking away, hissing at anyone who dared get close.

“Rude,” Margaret said, walking up to Keller.

“Nobles tend t’ be like that, the world tells them they’re better than everyone.” He blew some smoke into the air. “There’s a few good ones, in Kroan the higher up ya go, the more actual decisions they have t’ make and the less stuck-up and more overworked they get. What ya just saw was some spoiled brat who never had t’ work for anythin’ in her life.”

Margaret nodded slowly. “Sometimes makes you think that Shimvale might have the right idea.”

“Until ya see all the infightin’,” Keller said. “Lemme tell ya, Marg, I don’t think either of us have it right. Your people don’t either, by the way.”

“Then… who does?”

“Jack all nobody.” Keller tapped some ashes on the ground. “Sadly, I do have t’ listen t’ her, gotta keep findin’ whoever’s trynna be sneaky in these tents.” He lifted a hand in a subtle wave. “Until next time, Marg.”

“See you, Keller.” Margaret continued on her walk through the tents, passing by Seskii’s kiosk, which was selling juice as well as little prints of things for the space program. People were eating it up. Margaret noticed that Seskii had lowered the price at least five times over the last few days—girl was probably thinking she was making too much money from this.

She was busy, though, so Margaret didn’t go up to her. Instead, she walked home, ready to tell Jeremiah about all that had transpired. She hoped he would be in one of his better moods today, more receptive. Her hopes were high when she heard laughter from inside the house—perhaps Kirkkok had told a joke or something to lift Jeremiah’s spirits.

However, as Margaret put her hand on the door, she heard a woman’s laugh. Margaret froze. Who…?

“…you think it’s a good idea?” the woman asked.

“Oh, it’s brilliant. You’re crazy.”

There was a soft giggle. “Oh, Jeremiah, you rascal!”

Deciding she didn’t want to be an eavesdropper Margaret opened the door. “I’m home!” She called, trying to act natural and not completely shocked to see a Red Seeker sitting at their dining table, drinking tea with her father.

Jeremiah looked flustered for a moment but then broke out into a smile. “Ah, Margaret, meet Minnie, one of the Red Seekers! She’s in a situation somewhat similar to ours, we’ve been trading stories about our situations.”

Minnie stood up. She was a human woman with emerald green hair and eyes that matched. She had a scar across her face that horribly mutilated her nose, but otherwise her features were smooth and pristine. She was an older woman, but still significantly younger than Jeremiah. Something about her gaze was… deep, in an unsettling way.

Her voice and mannerisms were completely normal, though. She extended a hand to Margaret. “Pleased to meet you!”

Margaret shook her hand. “Minnie… I think Arno talks about you a lot.”

“Oh, has that rascal been giving me a reputation?” Minnie chuckled as though it were the funniest thing in the world. “That child will take anything and run with it. I take it he never mentioned to you what I actually do for the Seekers?”

“Uh… well no, not that I’m aware of.”

Margaret pulled back her robes so she could pull out a lute. She strummed it with amazing precision. “I’m the bard. I sing the songs and stories of old, which Arno is infatuated with. Understandably a lot of them are a little crazy, but they’re still our culture and history.”

Margaret relaxed considerably. “That kid… probably should have known not to take everything he said at face value.”

“Or anything he says. He annoyed Joira so much she sent him to you, that should tell you something.”

Margaret rubbed the back of her head. “I’ve only met Joira a few times, most everything else I hear from others…”

“Well, as someone who knows her quite well, all the talk you hear of her rage and anger used to be true. Now she’s… well, I’d describe her as tired.” Minnie shook her head. “The changing times are taking a toll on her, it’s sad to see.” She put her lute back into her robes. “I should probably start the journey back, my songs are important for improving morale, including her own. I hope we can have a longer conversation one day, Margaret!”

Margaret bowed slightly. “I do as well, you likely have many stories to tell.”

“Oh, I have a few, that’s for sure…” She chuckled as she left the house.

Margaret slowly sat down in the chair. A dumb grin crawled up her face as she looked at her father.

“What?” Jeremiah said, looking around. “What’s with that look?”

“You let someone into the house. And had a good time.” Margaret pressed her hands together. “Thank Eyda.”

“I… I guess I did!” Jeremiah laughed. “She just… had so many things to say, you know? And…”

“You don’t need to justify yourself, Dad. Remember, you used to like just… having visitors and talking about anything and everything.” She pressed her hands over his own. “I’m glad you’ve found some of that again.”

Jeremiah nodded. “R-right…”

Margaret faltered. “Dad, this doesn’t mean you suddenly have to invite everyone here, all right? I’m just happy for you, I’m not dragging you along.”

Jeremiah chuckled. “A man couldn’t ask for a better daughter. Look at me, getting all sappy…”

“I missed it.”

Jeremiah’s eyes became damp. “You—”

Margaret pulled him into a hug and the two didn’t say anything for the next little while.

~~~

“I know you can understand me,” C-R said.

“I can!” the Ch’eni’tho that was currently missing two legs shouted. “I can! I can!”

“I’m not talking to the one speaking and you know it,” C-R added. She tilted her head and Blue sparks sheared another part of the leg off, prompting the Ch-eni-tho to cry out in pain. “Analysis of the rigid plague has confirmed beyond a reasonable doubt that not only are you intelligent, but you can understand language and make plans around it. We released agents trained to say specific phrases and observed proper changes in rigid movement. You can communicate.”

“Please… hurting me won’t… get you to whoever… it is…” The monotone voice coming in with so many pauses was a little disconcerting for Itlea, who was standing nearby making records of the whole thing in Purple devices.

“I am simply drawing the plague’s attention. My presence may not be enough, but sudden pain would be a threat to one of the stronger soldiers… your pain is incidental but we appreciate your sacrifice for the greater good.”

“Please… stop… just kill me already…”

“Part of the deal I hope to work out here is to return you to the plague in working condition. I do apologize for not being able to give you the embrace of death you seek so desperately.”

“Don’t let me hurt anyone else…”

“That depends on the actions of the plague. It controls your body now, and yet it has made no motion to communicate, no—”

Suddenly, the Ch’eni’tho’s leg that was still functional stopped trying to lash out randomly and instead started making scratches in the wall. In Karli. Why do you seek an audience?

Itlea stared at the words in shock but kept recording everything.

“You are a threat, I wish to understand you better, simple as that,” C-R said. “Perhaps negotiate, rather than continue attempting this bizarre shadow war.”

What is there to negotiate over?

“To understand that, one must know what your ultimate goal is.”

If I were to tell you, you must tell me what your goal is.

Itlea froze. The forbidden knowledge…

“I am bound by code not to disclose that information.”

Then I shall not disclose my purpose to you.

“I can, however, tell you my current and immediate mission. That is to discover what you are and, if you are a threat to the way of life on this world, eliminate you, or find the means to eliminate you. If you wish to somehow avoid being targeted for elimination, perhaps you should consider opening up to negotiation.”

And I will reveal nothing in return. I am also well aware you have no intention of returning this rigid of mine. Your lies will get you nowhere. This conversation is over.

C-R’s white, smooth body went limp. There was a sharp tone that rang through the minds of everyone on the balloon whale.

C-R’s body suddenly started working again. “It appears I have been made out. An… infuriating experience.” She lifted two hands toward the Ch’eni’tho. “I did always intend to give you the release you sought.”

“Thank you…”

“I have used you, you should not thank me.”

“Stop… it…”

“I… am trying my best.” Blue sparks flew around the rigid, shearing him into several pieces in a split second. “…Itlea, analyze everything the plague said, we have to see if there’s something we can get out of this.”

“O-of course!”

~~~

SCIENCE SEGMENT

So, why is the sky blue?

The answer Blue came up with in the chapter is that air itself must be blue. This is actually not true, air is entirely colorless, having no preference. The main evidence against this is the existence of the sunset, where the sky is red and orange.

So what actually happens?

It all comes down to a process called scattering. Different colors of light have different wavelengths. In the visible spectrum, red light has the longest, and violet light has the shortest. Shorter wavelengths of light are scattered more often--that is, they hit a particle and are redirected into a different direction. This happens more often to violet light than anything. Blue happens to be the next-most-scattered.

The sun produces mostly white uniform light of all colors, though it peaks in the yellow-green. As this light passes through the atmosphere, the violet and blue components are scattered all over. This removes some of the blue and violet light heading directly toward the ground from the sun, redirecting it into the larger atmosphere where it bounces around a lot until it also hits the ground (or reflects into space, which is why you can see a blue shell around the Earth from the ISS). This means that looking at anywhere in the sky you’re seeing blue light that was scattered away from the sun’s primary beam.

We don’t see a violet sky since even though violet light is scattered more, there are a lot more blue wavelengths of light than there are violet.

Now, one might notice that this is hardly different than the air just being blue. Isn’t the blue light just effectively being reflected around? Well, keep in mind, the rest of the light still needs to get through. A blue-colored object would absorb red, green, and the other colors--and, more importantly, wouldn’t suddenly be red during a sunset. Scattering, however, explains the redness.

See, blue and violet light are scattered readily. Which means, after passing through enough air, all the blue and violet light has been scattered away--there’s none left! When the sun is directly overhead the light isn’t passing through much air, so we see predominantly blue light. But when the sun is on the horizon, the light is coming in at an angle, and there is a lot more atmosphere to get through. Thus, the blue light gets taken away and what remains are the oranges, reds, and yellows. (You generally don’t get green since it’s in the middle of the spectrum and whenever green dominates, there’s also lots of blue and red, making things look white).

My favorite demonstration of this I saw once at the local Discovery Center. There was a lamp placed in front of a tube of cloudy material. Nearest to the lamp the tube appeared blue like the sky, but as you looked along the tube you could see that shortly afterward the tube was white, then at the end it was red. I don’t know what the material in the tube was, but I know it wasn’t air, it was something much denser that nonetheless behaved the exact same way, just on a smaller scale.