The King Trials 2: Beyond.

~Nivalis~

Flakes of snow fall from the blanched, barren skies, polar-white ice petals. My skin kissed by wintry-feathers of holy white, the frozen air like wisps of lace. Everything in the distance enveloped in a powdery haze. The world around me is imprisoned in a glair-white silence. A gentle hush cloaks the ship. The decks carpeted by an elegant veil of scattered snow, glittering with its flash-silver lustre.

The wind grows hostile, the battering gusts whipping at us. I slowly exhale, an icy plume seeps through my lips, even through the thin material. My head wrapped in the black scarf I wore when I infiltrated Bumlot's estate. A stretch of it masked over my nose and mouth.

"What are you doing out here?"'

Solaris slings his arm round my shoulders, drawing me to him, protecting me from an incoming gust.

"Fresh air does me good."

"Artic air—," he corrects. "—is good for no living being. It's freezing out, come inside." He tugs at my shoulder. "Vince's currently wrangling the ship's cook. He wants to be the one to make the stew. At least now we may consume something edible."

I glance at him. Shimmering beads of white dot his eyelashes, only now realising how thick and luscious they are.

"I loathe the brute, but even I cannot deny that he can make a delectable broth. The only decent thing about him."

Unable to even force a smile, I say, "Thank you, but I am fine right here."

His arm remains frozen on my shoulder. "Alright," he says decisively. "If you are determined to glacially wither in the cold. I suppose we shall have to freeze together."

Though my face doesn't. My heart smiles, beaming.

I endure the skin-seeping cold, my joints sore, limbs stiff, but still my body quivers. Nose and ears burning, my fingertips sting with a numbing sensation.

"Can I ask you something?"

I hum a yes.

"Are you alright? And do not say that you are," he says quickly. "I only ask to encourage a genuine answer. For the past week or so, you have been so downcast. Your words fewer, insistent on spending more time in isolation—more than your usual amount. Skulking the ship like a tormented ghoul."

I urge myself to meet his gaze. Those piercing, frosty blue eyes eddy with unabated worry.

"I am well," I say steadily, so compelling that I even believe my fraudulence.

"Your eyes...they are too dark." His gaze analysing my own. "The light that burned so brightly within them has ebbed into desolation. It as if the sun itself has lost its brilliance, it's warmth waning."

A miniscule smile splinters my gloom. "How very poetic."

"I will not prod at you any further but know that I am always here to help, to listen," he says, hoping that it will diminish the grief he sees within me. He twists and broadens the side hug into a full embrace, wrapping both arms around my shoulders. I respond promptly, wrapping my limbs round his waist, drawing slithers of comfort.

I lay my ear on his chest. "You have done it already," I murmur.

We remain as we are for an extended time, each leaching bits of warmth from the other.

He chuckles softly to himself. "Why don't you pay a visit to our charismatic Primus? When you are close to him, you are aglow. I'm sure his presence will restore your spirits."

I say nothing. But my silence alone is a grim response.

"....Or is he perhaps the reason for your crestfallen demeanour?"