11. warmth

"I'll set your clothes down here."

Nyx watched as Catori bent down and set one of her new folded dresses, along with a clean smock, down on a root right at the edge of the water. The fae's bathing pond was actually a place where a river once ran hundreds of years before but had since dried up (which Caspian said was due to Alastair's teenage years when the forest was more like a fiery desert), leaving a deep crevice in the earth. Catori had to help the girl slide down a less steep area where the very last piece of the ancient river still remained—a little pond that stretched for about a quarter of a mile, deepest at its very middle, which was where the fae bathed themselves.

The pond was nestled deep in the only crevice that remained of the long-gone river that was deep enough to leave the remaining pond about twenty feet down. The rest of the earth where the river once ran had closed up long ago.

Nyx arched her head around to look at the tall walls of dirt and rock surrounding them. Trees lined the very edges of the two cliffs, their petrified roots poking out from the divided ground, meaning that the trees were even older than the river had been. Patches of snow covered uneven bits of the rocky cliffs and big boulders that sat in the middle of the pond, but the shores between the water and the cliffs had no snow. It was made of fine bits of rock that were a bluish black, some of them a muddy orange color. Encompassing all edges of the water was a line of lit torches that provided for light.

"This is a cozy place," Nyx whispered as she glanced upwards, feeling completely nestled in and protected by the hole in the ground that they were in.

"It is," Catori chuckled. "I've told Caspian that he should start on reviving the river, but he says he likes it this way better."

Nyx turned towards the fae whose rainbow wings clutched around herself from the cold air. Nyx was also cold, but thankful it was not snowing again. "Could Caspian do that? Use his powers to fill a whole river back up?"

"It would take time," Catori answered her, nodding with a small smile. Her eyes that rested above the blue painted line over her nose and cheeks twinkled. "Months, maybe years. But he very well could."

The girl nodded, turning her head back to the water that looked clear, even under the dark sky. She knew the water was going to be cold from how blue and crisp it looked.

"Well, I'll let you get to it." Catori leaned down and rested a white cloth towel next to the girl's fresh clothes. "Call for me when you're done, I'll be making dinner."

The fae began to walk away, sprigs of her raven hair bouncing out of her loose braids. She was about to jump and fly away until Nyx quickly blurted, "Wait! What about soap?"

Catori turned around slowly to her, an amused look crossing her face. She laughed softly, lips pressing in a smile before she answered, "The water's clean." With that, she jumped and flapped her bright, colorful wings, soaring up out of the hole and over the trees, disappearing out of sight within seconds.

Nyx listened to the sound of her wings flapping away until she could no longer hear them. She could no longer hear anything, really—just the trickling of some water pouring from a hole in the middle of one of the cliffs and into the pond below. An owl's hoo frightened her, causing her to jump as her heart picked up speed. She was quite frankly all alone, and the thought began to creep in her mind that none of the fae were around to protect her if Eira were to attack again. She remembered the dreadful feeling of ice freezing her blood from the inside out, and she gulped with fear.

Her cold fingers fumbled with the button on her tan cloak until it came undone, and she let it slip from her shoulders and fall to the ground in front of the water. Next, she leaned down and pulled off her boots, struggling to peel her dress off by herself.

She was then left in her old, tattered smock that her mother made for her years prior. She was going to pull it over her head until she wondered about any peeking eyes that might have been around. Although she was unsure if creatures like fae really cared about nudity, she certainly did.

But she knew she wouldn't get as clean as she wanted to if she left it on. So, hesitantly, she pulled it over her head and thick blonde waves, leaving her completely in the nude and actually thankful that she was alone. It was now colder than ever, though, and she wrapped her arms around herself as she shivered. By the way the fae could walk in snow barefoot, she assumed they weren't as fragile to temperatures as humans. Perhaps Catori foolishly failed to realize that the girl might freeze to death in the cold water.

Sighing, Nyx neared the water and slowly dipped her toe in, shrieking and pulling back when she felt how cold it was. Clutching her arms closer around her body, she clenched her teeth and dipped her toe back in, bearing the cold as she stepped fully into the water.

The water was shallow at first as she stepped into it, some of the particularly sharp rocks hurting the bottom of her feet. But her feet became used to the coldness, and it became much easier to step farther into the pond. As she stepped farther until she was about a foot deep in, she began to wonder how she was going to bathe in such shallow water—that was, until her foot took another step forward and did not meet ground, instead sending her falling into deep water.

The girl tried to let out a scream, but her face was soon met by the cold water that muffled her cry. The fear of drowning was rampant in her mind as she thrashed, but her feet finally met the rocky bottom and she stood up, gasping for breath when she popped up from underneath the water.

It was perfect for her height, actually. She could stand up straight in the water and have it come to just below her breasts—the sudden drop had only frightened her.

"J-Jesus," the girl breathed as her teeth chattered, hard goosebumps forming on every inch of her numb skin. The water was even colder than it looked, especially now that all of her body and hair was wet, and her stagnant breaths came out in foggy clouds. All she knew was that she needed to hurry and bathe before she attained frostbite or hypothermia.

Bringing her trembling hands to the water, she cupped them and splashed the cold water onto her face, the shock making her gasp. She struggled to breathe from how cold it was, and she made a sudden decision that she needed to get out and come back during the day when the temperature wasn't so low.

Right as she was about to make her way back out of the pond, a sound coming from the forest above froze her in her steps. She held her breath, her eyebrows scrunching as she looked upwards to the trees and listened for the sound again.

Leaves rustled, snow hitting the ground. Golden brown eyes that reflected the line of torches around her widened. The sound of wings flapping filled her ears, and she craned her head up towards the sky, watching all around.

In her mind she pictured Eira's snow white wings, her piercing blue eyes that had stared into her soul when she almost killed her. Nyx's heart began to race in her chest—she was cold, naked, alone, and vulnerable. If Eira was coming to get what she had been waiting for, Nyx had no defense to fight her off.

A shadow crossed over Nyx's face, but as she whipped her head all around, she could not catch sight of any wings or body in the sky. She turned in circles, the water splashing about her cold body, breaths short and sharp. The flapping came closer and closer, until they stopped right above her, the sound of something landing on ground drawing her attention.

She snapped her head over towards the direction of the sound, and there she saw none other than Alastair, sitting at the very edge of one of the cliffs, legs swinging in the air below her.

Nyx felt a rush of relief that was quickly followed by fright when she realized she was naked. "Ah!" Her voice came out in more of a croak, as if her voicebox had frozen over, and she quickly bent her knees and slipped down into the water so that her bare chest was hidden and her chin hovered right at the top of the water.

"Don't worry," Alastair's velvety called out with a devious tone from where she sat high up on the cliff, looking down at the girl with dull red eyes. "I didn't see anything."

But Nyx knew that she had, for Al had seen her several moments before Nyx saw her, and the girl had been standing up straight in the water, bare breasts and all. She considered forfeiting her modesty when the cold water began to bite at her sensitive skin.

"W-Why are you h-here?" Nyx asked, letting out a cloudy rush of breath as her teeth chattered so hard they ached. She crossed her arms over herself both to preserve body heat and to be sure the impish fae couldn't see through the water.

A vague smile could be seen on Al's dark lips even from so high up. Her dark eyebrows arched against her pale forehead, mahogany hair parted more to one side than the other. It looked wild like flames, thick like lava.

"There's no way you could be left out here alone. There's probably some ice fae creeping around here, waiting to snatch you up," Al answered, her prominent voice echoing down into the crevice and against the water below. "And as helpful as Catori is, she forgot about humans and your weak fragility to cold."

If Nyx had enough body heat, she would have been blushing with embarrassment and annoyance at Al's words. It wasn't as if she chose to be so prone to freezing to death.

Al stared down at Nyx, tilting her head slightly. She could see the way the girl shuddered so violently, her skin as pale as the snow that Al was sitting on. She knew that she was going to freeze to death in that water.

Nyx watched as the fae leaned forward slowly and began falling head-first down towards the water. Nyx was afraid that she was going to do a cannonball, but at the very last moment, Alastair spread out her giant wings, her black and red feathers with burnt orange ends fluttering as she stopped her fall mid-air and began slowly drifting downwards. Her wings had brought such a gust of air that the torches' flames quivered and dimmed until they nearly went out. The gust surely didn't help Nyx's freezing to death.

The fae landed on her feet on the small rocky shore, and the girl sunk even deeper into the water which she was afraid the fae could see through. Alastair seemed to appear even more intimidating every time the girl met with her. The cold night air brought a bluish tint to the fae's face, and her eyes were a duller crimson color.

"You're going to freeze to death, you know," the fae declared as she stepped closer to the water elegantly, her wings that were larger than any other fae's dragging on the rocks around her.

"R-Really?" Nyx asked, her eyes becoming hard to keep open and her voice only a scratchy whisper. "I d-didn't f-fucking notice."

"Watch your language, girl," Al quickly snipped, the sound of her edged voiced bringing Nyx's full attention to her. The fae bent down, the leather of her pants squeaking at her knees. "Perhaps if you say please, I can prevent it from happening."

Nyx's eyes, which had closed, reopened again and locked with Al's red ones. Her entire body jerked as she held herself, and she could feel the last of her body heat evaporating away from her. So, gulping hard, she let out a pathetic, "P-p-please..."

Al watched the girl, the way her wettened hair was already forming bits of ice on it, smiling evilly at the way she obeyed. "Obedient," she remarked, chuckling before focusing on actually saving the girl from hypothermia.

The fae outstretched her arms with her open palms facing the ground, sliding them slowly into the water. Al certainly was not fond of the cold, being a fire fae, which was why Eira had been sending so many blizzards her way, but she was grateful that she was powerful enough to overcome the cold and use her powers.

Nyx watched as the fae's hands underneath the water began to glow yellow at first until they turned into a deep orange, the light seemingly originating from the very inside of her hands. A sizzling sound arose, along with steam emanating from the area of water that Al's hands were under.

The girl could feel a slight warmth fanning towards her, and even though the water around her began to not be as murderously cold, she was still too far away to feel any heat.

Al noticed this, raising her head to look at the girl from across the water with her eyes which were now a brighter hue of red, cracks of orange glowing in her pupils. The entire circumference of water around her hands was glowing, casting a warm orange light over the fae's face. "Come closer."

Nyx wanted to badly, for she knew that the water where Al's hands were was warm, but the problem was that it was also lit up because of the light coming from her hands. If she got any closer, Al would be able to see her body through the water.

Alastair seemed to be able to read her mind, for her red eyes rolled in her sockets. "I'm not going to look at you," she urged softly, a tone of truthfulness in her voice. "Come here."

Knowing that she desperately needed the warmth, Nyx nodded and began to wade herself closer to the fae, keeping her arms crossed over her chest which was still underneath the water. The closer she got, the warmer the water became, and she let out a sigh as she felt her body begin to defrost. She came closer and closer, the light from Al's hands casting across her face as she eyed them.

But the girl's body was still too numb to realize just how warm the water was getting the closer she came to Al, so the faerie quickly said, "Don't come any closer!" She retracted her hands a bit closer towards herself, watching the girl carefully as she halted her steps in the water. "The water is too hot over here for you."

Forgetting that Alastair was literally warming the water with her hands, Nyx mumbled, "Sorry," and stepped back a bit, sinking down further into the water so that her chin was touching it again. Looking down, she could see that her entire body was visible beneath the water, but she hesitantly trusted Al to not look.

And Alastair made a point to not look, keeping her eyes trained on her hands. "Does it feel better?" she asked emptily, wafting her hands about in the water.

"Yes," Nyx answered softly, closing her eyes and exhaling a breath. She then took in a sharp breath and pinched her nose with her hand before lowering her head beneath the water.

Al watched, sure to avoid looking where she wasn't supposed to, as the girl used her free hand to tussle her hair beneath the water. Even in the dark, the girl's hair held its golden tint, and it made the fae's lips twitch.

Nyx came back up from beneath the water, inhaling deeply and splashing some of the warm water onto her face. She hummed in contentment, bending her knee to her chest so that she could rub her feet which were the dirtiest part of her body.

The girl glanced back up to the faerie, seeing that her eyes were already locked on hers. Now that her body heat was back, her cheeks did blush and burn. And when she watched the faerie's eyes slowly rake down her body beneath the water, her cheeks burned bright pink.

"Hey!" the girl yelled, splashing water towards the fae who dodged it easily. "I told you not to look!" Her voice wavered in embarrassment.

A wicked smile etched itself into Alastair's full lips. "Nothing I haven't seen before."

Nyx crossed her arms back over herself, just soaking in the warm water as she watched the fae who flicked her fingers up and down under the water. Blonde eyebrows sewed together at such a statement, and Nyx's curious mind began to wonder. "On yourself?" she asked quietly and hesitantly, wondering if it was appropriate or not to ask.

Al smirked, darting her eyes back up to the girl who admired how dark and lush her eyelashes were. "And other women."

The girl's cheeks could not have possibly gotten any redder. Her eyebrows arched upwards as she sunk deeper into the warm water. "O-oh." She shifted her eyes between Al's structured face and her glowing hands beneath the water. "Fae women, I assume?"

"Not exclusively," Al answered with ease, balling her hands in fists before spreading them back open again, sending a particularly warm wave Nyx's way, causing her to shudder.

"I thought humans and fae don't associate."

"As whole species, we don't," the fae answered as her eyes returned to Nyx. "But that doesn't mean you can't mingle with a few. Of course, I have to kill the poor girls right after." She watched the way the blonde's lips parted and her eyes widened, a tendon visibly straining in her pale neck. "Jokes," Al added with a despotic laugh, and Nyx also eased before letting out a reluctant laugh of relief.

The girl couldn't handle more of her cheeks burning so hot, so she quickly changed the subject. "I thought fire couldn't burn in water?" she questioned, nodding down towards the fae's hands that glowed dark orange and were slowly turning light red.

"It's not fire, it's just heat," Al remarked. "You're right, fire can't burn in water. But I've been practicing for a couple decades, and if I try hard enough I can..." The fae trailed off, a concentrated look crossing her dark features as she leaned closer to the water and strained her hands, fingers bending inwards towards her palm.

Her hands began to glow brighter and brighter. She turned her palms towards themselves, and right as Nyx saw something form between them, a tiny flame the size of a strand of grass went shooting from under the water towards the girl. The flame hit the flat of her bare stomach, sizzling before extinguishing in the water. The heat from it nipped her skin and caused her to yelp, "Ow!" as a warmer wave of water passed around her body.

The fae chuckled and pulled her hands out of the water, the light from them slowly disappearing. As she stood up, Nyx could see steam coming from her hands that were still hot. "Better get out before the water turns cold again. I'll let you get dressed, and I promise I really won't look this time." Alastair shot the girl a quick wink before she flapped her wings and soared up into the sky, disappearing over the forest with her scarily large wings.

Nyx let out a breath that she didn't know she had been holding, the water instantly cooling as warmth fled away from it. She wasn't so sure if Al truly meant what she said about not looking, but she crawled out of the water anyways, taking the towel Catori left her and patting her body dry.

And as she slipped into the peach-colored dress, soft and silky, that Al had stolen for her, a smile engraved itself into her lips and stayed there.