Frostbite

Chapter Two

They dressed all in grey; grey trousers, shirt and long cloak. All of their clothes were plain -- unembroidered. Their faces were as stony as their clothes. They gave no hint of friendliness as they were let into the house, only efficiency. There were two Testers there that day, the usual for a small family. They carried a briefcase each, which were presumably tools for the Test. 

Eira felt thoroughly apprehensive of them and kept her distance -- at least until she was to be tested. The whole family gathered in the sitting room: Eira, Cerin, Moira, Graham and eldest son Owen. Graham looked particularly displeased as the Testers walked into his house, but he said nothing, as there couldn't be anything done about it. It was that or be arrested.

Speaking for the first time since their arrival, one of the Testers said: "The boy goes first." 

Cerin looked momentarily alarmed, however, he obliged and began to walk over to where the Testers stood near the doorway.

Eira's heart began to race, but she still watched closely and tried best to ignore thoughts of what the possible outcome of Cerin's Test could be. One of the Testers placed his briefcase on the writing desk and opened it, reaching in for whatever they would use to test Cerin. In all the stories Eira had heard about the Test, she never knew quite what was used.

The Tester had retrieved a large, polished oval-shaped crystal around the size of an egg and a cork stoppered vial full of a clear liquid that could have been water or something else entirely. 

"Hold out your hands," he said to Cerin.

Cerin did so and the Tester placed the crystal in one hand and the vial in the other. It was all happening so quickly, but Eira supposed that that was due to there being so many houses in the town with children their age needing to be tested. 

"Close your eyes." These were not suggestions; they were orders. "Focus only on the water in the vial." So it was water after all.

Cerin appeared to be doing so, or at least was trying to. His brow scrunched as he held his eyes firmly shut. 

The same Tester brought an ancient looking leather-bound book from the briefcase. Its cover was embossed with all sorts of ancient looking runes and symbols and had no visible title. He opened it and began looking for a page. After he'd seemingly located the page he wanted, his attention turned to Cerin.

Steely eyes staring straight at the boy, the Tester began reciting a passage of some sort in a language that Eira couldn't recognise. It was an ancient, yet magical sounding tongue. His voice was rich and enchanting and reverberated around the small room. Eira felt herself going into a trance, but brought herself out of it with a jolt as she remembered what this test could mean for them all. It wasn't a time to be spacing out, despite how hard it was to resist. She clenched her fists, willing them to stop trembling. Stay focused, she told herself. Stay strong.

Cerin remained the same and so did the objects in his hands. There were no jolts of magical power and no ice in sight. Eira wasn't sure how it would manifest, but they'd probably at least see something. The Tester finished reading the passage and then looked Cerin over thoroughly, focusing especially on the vial in his hand. 

The Tester took the glass from Cerin and studied it closely before looking back at everyone else. "He does not bear the frost in his blood."

The statement made Eira's shoulders sag in relief and Cerin's did the same. At least he was safe. However -- it was  now her turn to be Tested.

"Now the girl."

Eira took a deep, shuddering breath and closed her eyes momentarily, before walking over to where the Testers stood. 

"Good luck," Cerin whispered as she went past. It made her realise she'd never had the chance to wish him well before his Test. Nevertheless, Eira nodded to him and flashed an unsure smile. 

Once she was stood next to the Testers, the second one pulled out his briefcase and took out two objects identical to the ones the other had had. She wondered why they didn't just use the same ones, but dared not ask them. 

She held out her hands just as Cerin had, without having to be told to do so. The Tester placed the crystal--a milky white sort of stone that she could not identify-- in her left hand and the vial of water in the right. The crystal was ice cold to the touch, so much so that she had to actively stop herself from recoiling when it was put in her hand. She wasn't sure what would happen if the person being tested was of the Frost, but suspected the water in the vial was there so it would be frozen.

She wasn't sure of the crystal. Although, she did have a slight inkling of what it could be --there were stories of a special stone that was mined in the very very north. Icestone, it was called. A stone that was rumoured to be used to conduct and hone the powers of the Permafrost. Due to the fact that everyone who was one of the Frost-bitten had dormant powers before they were tested, perhaps they needed something to bring the powers out of their hibernation. 

The Tester took out his own book and Eira closed her eyes tightly. She did her best to focus on the water, but her mind kept wavering. That was, until, he began to recite that strange passage  from his book. An odd feeling immediately began to creep over her. She felt dazed, enchanted. It was the same feeling as before, but much, much more intense. She was in deep thrall of the Tester's words, that were --despite her being unable to understand any of them-- calling out to her. Her body felt weak and strong at the same time and all of a sudden, she felt as if she had left the room entirely. Where was she? She was cold. Much too cold. All she saw was darkness, still,  but she felt.

Had Cerin been this way? Had he felt the far off call of the Tester's words? Then why hadn't he shown anything but the nerves of the test? Why hadn't he been the least bit shaken after it finished? Why was Eira feeling this way? Was she different somehow? Was she--?

All of a sudden, she felt her blood run cold. Not metaphorically, as it was commonly used, but literally. She felt as though her insides had frozen stiff and was overcome by an acute coldness. Yet, she did not shiver. She did not even mind it. It felt natural and safe.

The cold called for her. It whispered her name over and over in her ear. Eira, Eira, Eira.

 Her whole body now felt frozen still; there was no hint of warmth inside her. She longed to answer back. To embrace it. The cold wasn't so bad. She could feel its freezing arms wrapping around her, swathing her in its icy embrace. She was helpless to it. She could do nothing to fight it. Somewhere far away, she could hear the Tester finish the passage. And then the uttered a command, sounding too far away to be properly comprehensible, but it sounded a lot like: "Open your eyes."

She tried to comply. The cold was pleasant and welcoming, but she wanted to return back to her family, fake as they were. It still grasped her, even without the Tester's words, but its hold had loosened slightly. Enough so that she could return.

Eira opened her eyes, and the first things they met with were the shocked faces of Moira, Graham and Owen. And then there was Cerin, who looked not only shocked -- but terrified. What had happened? It had felt as though an uncountable amount of time had passed since her test began, but looking back now, it had been less than a minute. She still felt the cold lingering within her veins and her fingertips, but most of it was gone.

She looked down at her feet and  froze in fear. The ground beneath her was covered in a thick layer of frost. It was in a circle around her, with the circumference lying around a metre away. She stood perfectly in the middle. Turning her attention to the vial, she saw its contents were frozen solid as well. Eira knew exactly what that all meant, and the Testers likewise. 

"The girl bears the Permafrost."