Frostbite

Chapter Nine

Eira returned to her room soon after. She and Gwen hadn't continued talking; they'd just sat in silence for close to an hour. Once Eira felt tired enough to sleep, she'd left with only a muttered farewell.

Upon entering, she glanced up at the clock on the mantle. It told her it was almost midnight. She'd been with Gwen longer than she'd thought.

Eira changed into her nightclothes and clambered into bed, after blowing out the candle she had lit a minute prior. She closed her eyes, waited for sleep to take her. She forced her mind not to wander and focused on only her breathing. Taking deep breaths was actually quite relaxing. After twenty or so, she felt like maybe she could go to sleep. Maybe.

~

She surprisingly fell asleep much faster than expected. She barely remembered what happened between getting into bed and waking up to light peeking through a gap in the curtains. It had been a long time since that had happened. She actually felt well rested, for the first time in what seemed like forever. She hadn't slept fitfully or woken up many times like she'd thought she would, if she slept at all. She'd actually had a deep, tranquil sleep. She had no doubt that that wouldn't happen again anytime soon.

Perhaps it wouldn't be such a bad day for once. If she was well rested, then she wouldn't fall asleep so often in classes. It was Frost training, though. It wasn't like she could go to sleep for longer than ten seconds without Madam Fairburn noticing and doubling her work or forcing her to clean every window in the building. That had happened before on more occasions than Eira cared to admit.

She—with reluctance—left her warm bed and made about getting ready. The clock told her it was just past 7:30. She wouldn't have to rush breakfast, then—like she usually did. She had enough to eat as much as she wanted and have a conversation with her friends. She usually spent the morning hungry because she only ever had enough time to down a lukewarm cup of tea, since she always overslept. She supposed Gwen would scold her for that as well—that was if the older girl knew about it. Which she didn't. Gwen always left early for her classes.

Eira dressed in her usual attire and attempted to fix her now entirely snow white hair. It had grown rather long in the past year, she supposed, coming down to her mid upper arm. She kept her eyes trained on her reflection in the mirror. How much had she changed since coming here? She hadn't noticed much, but to others there could be great difference. She never wanted to change so much that her loved ones wouldn't recognise her, or even know her. She hoped that the opposite was true. She hoped she still retained the essence of who she was. The hair and the powers didn't affect her personality, did they?

She sharply turned away. She shouldn't think of things like that now—not so early in the morning and without having eaten anything yet.

Edan was waiting for her in the dining room. He was sitting in their usual seat, just about to dig into his porridge. No sign of Gwen.

Perhaps she had already left, or was just late. Eira had never known Gwen to be late to anything, though. But it was most likely she was just studying for her upcoming examinations. Maybe her classes had started early today. Nothing to worry about.

Eira got herself her usual roll and cup of tea, taking a handful of berries for good measure.

"Eira!" Edan exclaimed. He looked surprised. Was she really always that late? "You're early! And you don't look tired."

Eira sat herself down in a seat beside him and began pouring milk into her tea. "I went to sleep at a perfectly respectable time last night, I'll have you know." She stirred her tea and brought it to her lips.

"Really? didn't you read that book of yours into the early hours again?"

Eira felt the corners of her mouth tug into a slight smirk. "No. I didn't even read." Or do any of the work I was supposed to do. She hadn't thought of that. But it wasn't as if Edan needed to know.