House of Winter

Chapter 23, Part 1

LUMI

There were no windows, so her room was lit only by the dying embers of the fireplace, but she woke in the morning to the sound of bells, and a brilliant light. She shielded her eyes, staring up at the very top of the wall. There was a recessed groove at the very top of the wall and fire blazed along the length of each wall, lighting up the room in a soft yellow glow.

When Lumi stood up on her bed she realised there was a thin metal pipe along the top of the wall. There must be gas fed into the tubes to light the fires. It wasn't magic at all.

Lumi dressed warmly and left her bedroom, to find Tom waiting for her outside her room, with Kobuk beside him.

"Our hosts sure know how to wake us up," Tom said. His hair was messy, and Lumi imagined for a moment reaching up and brushing it back with her fingers.

Kobuk, who had a better sense of direction than either of them, led them with his nose back through the maze of stone hallways to the icy dining room where they'd eaten the previous night.

Doctor Hart was already sitting at the breakfast table, with Mondli standing behind her. She was joined by Armo and Eero, the brothers who had shown them around yesterday, and a few other Reunsgardians who were eating and talking. The conversation stopped when Lumi and Tom entered with Kobuk.

"Please, sit," Armo said, and he stood to make room on one of the long benches, and then offered a pot of tea, which Lumi gratefully accepted.

"How many people live here?" Lumi asked curiously, after she had served herself from the spread of breakfast, and tore apart pieces of rye bread to eat with preserved fruit.

"We have close to a thousand living within the pyramid," Eero said. "And a few villages within a few hundred more of us at the mines and refineries."

"The liquid star mines?"

"Liquid star," Armo said, nodding.

The dining hall they were in had a table big enough for twenty, but this morning there were only a few people here, with a few tigers and wolves lazing next to the fire. It was almost like the palace, with servants bringing food from the kitchens on platters and leaving it on the table.

"Who is in charge here?" Tom asked.

"We have a council, who dine together here every day," Eero explained. "There are ten of us who serve on the council for a maximum of ten years, elected by voting."

Lumi raised her eyebrows. "A democratic council? But you must spend every day arguing amongst yourselves. Democracy in Vastier has caused so much instability and now the capital is split into two warring factions. It's chaos."

"I've often heard democracy sounds good in principle but is impossible in reality," Tom said. "Although I suppose with a population as small and remote as yours, you have managed to make democracy work."

"It has its merits," Eero said, and then he nodded at the icy ceiling. "The storm has passed."

"Does that mean we could go outside and see the liquid star mines?" Lumi asked.

"You not leave the temple," Armo said gruffly.

Lumi glanced at him. He had spoken in Starg, and she knew that his grasp of the language wasn't so good, so she asked again in the Fire language. "Why wouldn't we be able to leave the temple?"

Armo bit into a piece of bread and stared at her, then talked with his mouth full of food. "You not leaving the temple."

Lumi glanced between Armo and Eero, confused. She switched to the fire tongue to say, "I've come here to seek your assistance to learn quelling. After that I'll go back to Singtsu. Are you under some other idea?"

"You can learn quelling," Eero said. "But you won't leave the temple. We have no quellers. You're a Reunsgardian, by blood, and according to our sacred oath you must stay here to protect the liquid stars. To leave is sacrilegious."

"But I'm... I can't stay here," Lumi said. "That's not the plan!"

"We cannot let you leave, Lumikki," Armo said.

"My name is Princess Lumiko," Lumi said sharply.

"Daughter of Lumivara, you shall be Lumikki. Your hair shall be white as snow. Your name is a Singstiy name. It is not Reunsgardian. But you are Reunsgardian by blood, so we shall call you Lumikki."

"Why would my hair be white as snow?" Lumi asked. "My hair is black."

Eero smiled. "When you quell more, your hair shall turn white."

Lumi blinked. "My aunt's hair is pure white."

"Virani surges very often, then," Eero said. "We have seen it before."

Lumi swallowed. "I cannot stay in Reunsgar," she said. "I'm here to learn to quell, and then I must use this power to stop a war that my brother has started."

"You will stay in Reunsgar," Armo said. "The council met last night and we have voted on it. You will stay as our honoured guest and queller."

Lumi glanced at Tom, who once again had been left out of the conversation once it had switched back to the Fire language. She tried to keep the panic out of her face.

She knew that Eero and Armo both spoke Starg, so she would not be able to communicate with Tom without them understanding. She needed to warn him that something was wrong, but she didn't want to do it by alarming their hosts.

"Thank you very much for your gracious hospitality," Lumi said with a smile. "I will be honoured to stay here. If it suits, Tom and I would like a tour of the temple."

Eero and Armo were both to show them around the temple. Lumi dropped back, pretending to pat Kobuk, and then glanced at Tom.

He realised that she wanted to remain discreet, so he moved to stand closer to Kobuk.

"They don't want us to leave," Lumi whispered. "They want me to stay here."

"We need to get out," Tom whispered back. "Don't let them split us up. We need to get back to Doctor Hart, get our things, and get out of here."

Lumi and Tom hurried to catch up to Armo and Eero so that they didn't notice they were lagging behind. They were being shown around the winding stone passageways of the inside of the pyramid. Some of the walls were made of ice but a lot were made of stone. Lumi noticed now that every stone wall had a recessed groove along the top with a metal pipe that must be pumping gas through. Small fires were lit along every wall. This whole temple was built on streams of gas, warming it, while the thickly packed ice of the pyramid perfectly insulated everything.

There were wolves and tigers around every corner. It seemed that there were hundreds of them, and as they walked Lumi even saw a litter of wolf pups running past. There were people rushing everywhere. Everyone had pale skin and dark hair, with dark eyes, just like Lumi. It was clear that these were her people.

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