House of Winter

Chapter 16, Part 1

L U M I

They were sleeping in one of the abandoned barns near the old mill factory, which lay deserted, the huge steel mill collapsed on its side. Ten years after the Fire War, and the evidence of it still cut across the Fire Lands. Here was a place where destruction and death had happened. A fire had ripped through most of the village near the factory but some of the houses and barns remained.

They saw a single tiger in flight above them at night and they suspected it was the Fire Army, searching for Lumi. Doctor Hart cast magic across their hut, so that their movement wasn't visible from high up in the sky. Light magic made stealth so much easier, but they were still wary. If someone approached through the trees, they would have seconds to escape.

Doctor Hart was already asleep, tucked into the crook in her lion's belly. It was remarkable to Lumi that the old woman so easily fell into sleep wherever they were. Lumi had realised she didn't know enough about Doctor Hart, and she was curious to know more. The woman claimed she was friends with Empress Kiyo. Lumi wanted to know how that friendship had started. Maybe it explained why Lumi and Tai had been sent to Hart's school.

Lumi could see that Tom wasn't anywhere near sleep, just like she was. The two of them exchanged glances, and then Tom murmured, "Would you like to go for a walk?"

It was much colder here, and already Lumi's clothes weren't appropriate. They would need to stop in a town to buy new clothes and equipment to travel in the snow. Lumi had a fine gold necklace around her neck that held no sentimental value, and she was planning to sell at the first chance. But she would need Doctor Hart to do the bargaining for her - Lumi didn't have the first clue how much a necklace would be worth, or how much money they required.

Tom and Lumi set off into the night. The two of them had grown comfortable with each other in the recent days of travel. Lumi appreciated how Tom looked out for her, and in turn she tried her best to be a helpful travelling companion. She had learned how to collect fresh water and she was good at starting a fire the ordinary way, with a flint instead of magic.

The forests here were a tangled mess, nothing like the rainforests around Singtsu but instead more woody, with tall pines. Moss grew on the sides of trees that faced away from the light of the suns.

"The more I travel, the more I realise how little I know about my own nations," Lumi said, revealing something that was paining her. She pointed out over the crest of the hill, where they could see a town below. Beyond it, there were snow capped mountains. "I didn't even know this town was here. We passed this town to reach the mountains when I was just a young child. My grandmother took Tai and me to hide in the mountain lodge for a few years. And yet I didn't even know the name of this town. Nor do I know the town's industry, or anything about its people. And yet my blood rules over these people."

"You're only young," Tom said. "You still have time to learn."

"I am only two years younger than you, and yet you seem to know a far greater deal than I do about things," Lumi said. She glanced back where they had come, to the abandoned mill town. "Just twenty minutes ago you had to explain to me what a mill factory is."

"I've had the impression that you've had a vast deal of education, but a lot of it has been theory, rather than practical," Tom said. "You told me you so rarely left the Volcano Palace before coming to Lombardia."

"Except when we lived in the snow."

"So you've never toured the country with your family, never met the ordfolk, or even the starrlings of different nations of Kakaio?"

Lumi shook her head. "The council met with my grandmother, and she would give speeches to the council, but I was never even invited. I learned math and science and history and languages. But somehow when I learned of the numbers of people who were killed in the Fire War, I never really imagined this..." she gestured up towards the abandoned town. "It never really occurred to me that this is the reality. It was all just figures to be memorised."

"They're not just figures to be memorised for you, Lumi. I've seen that," Tom said. "I've seen how passionately you've fought against everything, even your own family, to stop a war that could harm innocent people. You're scared that you're like your brother or your father, but that's not who you are at all."

Lumi bit her lip. "I'm terrified every day that I am like them."

"And that's what sets you completely apart," Tom said. "As long as you have this inside of you, this fear of being like them, then you will never be like them. Because you will fight every day to do good. It is your worry in your heart that you are not good that shows me that you are. Because the people who are righteous and never worry about their actions are the ones who are not good. Your father thought he was right and good but he never cared about these people. But you worry because you care."

"I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't shown up, Tom," Lumi admitted.

"You would have been strong enough to fight against your brother's plans, and you would have been brave enough to follow your grandmother's directions to find your mother's home. I know you would have. You didn't need me. I just came along for the ride."

His grin disarmed her, and she found herself smiling back at him. She liked the way he was able to turn something serious into something funny, to make her laugh when she felt at her worst.

The wind picked up and Lumi felt a chill. She wrapped her arms around herself, looking out over the snowy mountains. They were headed in that direction, and it would get colder and colder as they went, until eventually they would reach the iciest reaches of Sredsibirsk, where Lumi's mother was from. That far Dorth, where the suns barely reached, the winters were long and cold and treacherous. Lumi had heard stories.

Tom moved closer to Lumi, and for a moment she thought that he would wrap his arm around her, to shelter her from the wind and the cold. She leaned towards him, wanting him to do just that, but just as she could feel the warmth of him, there was a sound coming from behind them.

Lumi and Tom both froze at the sound of a howl.

"Kobuk," Tom whispered, and the two of them turned and ran back towards the abandoned mill town.

But then there were tigers, three of them, blocking their path. Each had a rider, wearing the Fire Army uniform. Beside her, Tom cursed.

x

I guess by now you know how this goes. I thank you for reading the story and beg you to vote, and maybe 1/10 of you vote. Idk why it's so hard to vote because it's literally pressing a button, but hey, I'm just the one spending months writing this book :) :) :)

See you next week!

elle xx