Claus

Fifty One

They slept on the train and arrived before the sun had risen on the Frozen City. The moment Faryn's boots set foot onto the platform, she was whisked away by two Elves without so much as a word. They led her away from her friends, from Nick, from Klaus. And she panicked. This all had been a trap. She was going to be taken below the city and locked in a cell.

But instead of chains and ice, she found herself dunked into a warm bath before being left alone.

Heart still racing that her body was warm and not frozen, she sunk down into the water, trying to force relaxation.

         Where her grandfather's home was reminiscent of a wintery storm, everything in this bathroom appeared as if it had been touched by frost. The true colors of the furniture underneath were muted by the sparkling white material. It was on the tub as well, and she touched it to see if she could determine what it was. It wasn't as cold as ice. Rather it felt like glass.

         It was almost an hour later when three women, all Elves, swept into the room. By that point, Faryn had tugged on a robe that had been laid out and was thankfully not completely naked.

         They pulled her out of the bathroom and into the adjoining bedroom. This room also looked as if it had been touched by frost. A platter of grapes and crackers rested near a headless gray mannequin garbed in a dress. 

The dress was beautiful. Truly stunning. It was the lightest blue—almost gray. Lace that looked like frost was placed in certain spots on the dress to create the illusion that it was crawling up it. The sleeves broke at the elbows before continuing halfway down the forearms in lines, as if they were icicles, held together by thread that Faryn had to squint to see even with her heightened vision. Though the neckline plunged deeply there were strips of clear fabric laid between the V like the ones on the sleeves.

         She was expected to wear something so grand? She would disappear in that dress.

The women told Faryn to eat while they examined both the dress and her, making small adjustments here and there.

Once they were ready, they instructed her to remove her robe and step into the dress with their help. Faryn's face was flushed the entire time.

There wasn't a mirror for Faryn to see what she looked like, and the Elves' faces were drawn together as they circled her, placing a pin in her skirt and two in her sleeve.

They had her take it off so they could make the alterations and one of them held open her robe for her to slide back on.

There was no way they hadn't seen the bruises on her neck, a reminder of Klaus. They were impossible to miss, but they didn't comment, didn't let their eyes linger, and Faryn wasn't sure if she was grateful for that.

*****

         By the time the Elves left her, the sun had risen and set in its short presence in the sky. She'd been fastened into the dress, her makeup done so that silver sparkles shown on her face in the places where Klaus seemed to usually wear gold. Her hair had been curled and left to hang down her back. Whether it was an intended effect or not, the white streaks were now more prominent. And she was going before Winter with them.

         She stood on the balcony attached to the bedroom. Here it was, above and below her, the city she'd been trying so hard to avoid. It was as if every building was made of ice that looked like thickly packed snow. The city had been constructed in a circle, the buildings towering higher the closer to the center they were. The Court's palace was only about a fourth of the way into the city. From her balcony, part of the ice moat and the wall that kept the city separated from the Barents Sea were visible.