Ice-Bound Promise [Wattys 2023 Shortlister]

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Hatyara stood with a face like a thundercloud, arms crossed about her small chest, her cheeks a darker ice blue than usual. She glared towards Únik as though she had requested something vulgar from her. To the side, Shihiri sat against a tree, staring at the fletching upon one of her arrows as though that arrow was the most important thing in the world. The little smile on her face, though, showed she listened to every word.

"I'm not wearing those!" The Ice-Kin kicked out at the pile of clothing before her, sending the dress, underclothes and boots scattering. "They're disgusting! Bad enough you made me wear those filthy furs!"

"Do you want to be seen? Is that it?" Crouching, Únik tidied up the pile of clothes. "Is your ego so fragile that you need everyone to know who you are? What you are? Or do you just like having most of your body on show for all to see?"

"They are disgusting!" Her foot raised to kick out at the clothes again, but Únik picked them up before the slippered foot could hit them. "They are a child's clothes. Do I look like a child?"

Únik glanced towards Shihiri as the Fae sniggered, her eyes staring at the fletching with intense scrutiny, while she nodded her head. In truth, the Ūtharan did look much like a child. Short, slight of frame, no curves to speak of and a complexion that Únik ventured had hardly seen harsh sunlight. Perhaps the girl did look like an adult to other Ice-Kin. To the other people's of Karramon, she had the appearance of someone yet to reach puberty.

Smoothing the clothing in her hand, Únik sighed. Arthid had refused every option of bartering. Lhidik had disappeared, into a side room, returning with the clothes, pressing them into Únik's hands and shushing every protest that Únik made. The clothes were a gift and Únik could use her furs for supplies, instead. Únik already missed the warm family.

"Look, you need to hide. That's the top and bottom of it. If you want to reach Star Harbour without people telling our pursuers they've seen you, you have to disguise yourself." Grabbing Hatyara's hand, with more force than she expected of herself, Únik dropped the clothes onto the Ice-Kin's palm. "Wear the bloody clothes, or, I swear by all the Patrons, I'll strip you down and force you into them myself."

Clamping her mouth closed, Hatyara glared at Únik with undisguised fury, her almost-white eyes seeming to blaze with white-hot fire. Únik ignored that, turning Hatyara by her shoulders and pushing her behind a stand of bushes. Hatyara stopped her forward momentum, raised her chin in the air and moved with deliberate slowness to disappear behind the bushes.

"If it looks like a child, talks like a child and acts like a child, it's a child." Shihiri raised her head, giving Únik an amused smile. "I've seen enough children. If you were her mother, I'd advise a good chastising, over the knee."

"I'm not anybody's mother." Dropping to the ground, Únik felt as exhausted from talking to Hatyara as from walking for an entire day. This was nothing like she remembered motherhood, but, then, her memories were irreparably scarred.

"And what is this?" A bare arm appeared from behind the bush, holding a long, wide strip of cloth, intricately dyed. The arm disappeared, only to return holding something else. "And gloves? Why do I even need gloves?"

"It's a scarf! To cover your face, as the gloves are to cover your hands." Rubbing the bridge of her nose, Únik felt a headache begin to pinch at the front of her skull. "We talked about this. If people see your blue skin, that's you known far and wide. Ice-Kin don't come to Uriok!"

The Ūtharan acted as though her life was not in danger. As though she could stride through the countryside of Uriok without a single care, unharmed, accosted by no-one, not recognised as someone out of place. Únik could not seem to get the Ice-Kin to understand the seriousness of her situation. Instead, Hatyara would walk through villages and towns and would feign surprise when they told everyone they knew, and anyone who asked, exactly what and who they had seen. The folk of Uriok had rare opportunities to see Other-Kin, let alone Ice-Kin, who tended to stay in their own lands.