It is an unusual time of day for Hineni to be outside, but here he is nonetheless. The man stares around himself, listening to the song of the winter-birds, as his gaze wanders around the forest clearing; this is the one he had met Obscura in, all those weeks ago. He adjusts the straps of his rucksack, hoisting his steel axe over his shoulder and continues marching through the deep layers of snow. He had said that he was going out to get some wood, but that was not entirely the truth in and of itself.

Hineni bends down, gently wiping the snow away and off of a small mound of dirt.

- No, there’s nothing here either.

He sighs, standing back upright and looking around himself. Where else could it be? By the river, perhaps? Rhine always has luck finding things by the river. But… hmm…

Hineni keeps walking, thinking about the page of the book that he had read in the library. It was a very specific book; a book on flowers. Coincidentally, the man had noticed that when he went by the ‘F’-section in the library, all of the books on ‘frogs’ had been returned to their spots on the shelves. He had never mentioned anything about the missing books to Rhine, but he makes a note to get something for the boy too, while he’s out of the house.

Snow crunches behind him.

Hineni quickly turns around, his hand gripping the axe’s handle. But there is nothing there. Maybe it was just a falling branch or a rabbit or something?

The man carefully scans the area and then, seeing that there really is nobody there, he shakes his head and keeps on searching.

The ‘frog-hunting’ pond is frozen over.

The swampy, brackish muck of the enclosed body of water that is surrounded on all sides by thickly rooted, old trees has now taken on an unusually pristine beauty. Flakes of fresh snow fall from above, landing on the thick layer of ice, which is as vividly bright blue as the sky of a summer’s day. Any signs of the murky water, of the lily-pads, of the frogs, have been erased, as the winter has come to claim this pond for itself, at least for the duration of the season.

The man narrows his eyes, staring down through the ice. He bets that they’re still down there, sleeping, waiting…

- Frogs…

He looks around the area, walking along the edge of the pond. It’s supposed to grow in moist, fertile places like forests with a lot of water in them. So he had assumed this would be a good spot. But it doesn’t look like there’s anything here.

Something crunches.

Feeling a little paranoid, Hineni looks over his shoulder. But he is still alone.

The man makes his way to the river.

Now with the winter having come in its brunt, even the water of the usually fast river seems tepid and lazy. The flow of the surface currents is disturbed and hindered by the inwardly branching chunks of snow and ice that have tried to form a bridge, but had inevitably lost the battle against the flowing waters of the river.

Hineni leans down, staring at the water. This river is one of many which flows towards the city, where they then meet together on the side of the tower quarter. But he doesn’t like to go to that neighborhood. Waterfront property is pricey even by the standards of Avarice.

His fingers dig through the smaller banks of snow, trying to find what he’s looking for. There! He stops as his hand brushes against something soft.

Carefully pushing the snow to the side, he looks down, having found what it is that he was searching for. A winter-bell, a seasonal flower with three cupped heads, that can only grow while it’s buried beneath snow. Alchemists prize it for its medicinal effects, but he’s not after it for that. Carefully, Hineni digs around the flower, loosening up the dirt so that he can take the whole thing without killing it, roots and all.

Something crunches in the snow. Hineni’s gaze shoots back behind himself.

But there is nothing there.

- Frogs…

Hineni narrows his eyes, getting up. He had heard three crunches of snow so far. Three. That means if something good was going to reveal itself, it would have done so now, on the third crunch. The fact that his eyes only see barren trees and snow suggests that there is something there, something that is waiting for its fourth chance. The four-magic is overriding the three-magic.

His eyes, paranoid, scan the world.

- It makes perfect sense.

Hineni quickly takes the flower and heads back towards the city, before someone can take their chance to reveal themselves while he is out here by himself. Damn frogs, he can’t even go out and pick flowers in peace.

- [Winter-Bell] -

- Quality -

Rare

- Quality Effects -

Alchemical Potency: When brewed into a potion, all natural effects are multiplied by three.

A rare, blue flower with three cups that only grows in the depths of winter. It is commonly found beneath heaps of snow.

When consumed: Restores 10 stamina

Weight: 0.09kg Value: 016 Obols

Having lost whoever was pursuing him, Hineni stops at a baker’s cart and buys a still warm sweet-roll for the boy, Rhine.

The man then heads home and opens the door, looking around the room. Sockel, the elf, is behind the receptionist’s counter, her head laid down on her folded arms as she sleeps there. Rhine is sitting on a second chair next to her, slumped back over it. It looks like he had been helping Sockel with her work. It’s not really like him to be sleeping, but from Sockel he almost expects it. Though, now that he thinks about it, that was just what she was like back at the old guild. At the frog's guild. The two of them have apparently really been working hard. If the whole Avarice thing works out, he makes a note to treat them both to something nice.

Shrugging to himself, the man sets down the sweet-roll next to Rhine for him to find when he wakes up and grabs one of the empty vases on the counter, taking it with himself as he heads into the kitchen.

They had fixed this place up the other day. There was still some frog-blood on the brand new floor, so the expensive wood now already looks like it belongs to a house that is ‘lived in’. The same could be said for the stain outside where the blood of Rhine’s mother had fallen. They still hadn’t talked about that at all, him and the boy. He’s not really sure if he should even try, in all honesty. From what little he understands about young people dealing with such things, it’s perhaps wiser to simply offer a quiet, stable personality so that the boy can just come to him when he’s ready.

Hineni finds himself lost to an oddity, he hums as he replants the flower into the small, hand-made vase, gently packing it in some dirt. The man looks around the kitchen, wondering where Obscura is. He hopes that she’s here today, he did all of this for her, after all.

Finishing up, Hineni wanders around the house, carrying the freshly potted flower with himself. Sure, he can’t help but wonder about the usual things. ‘Is this weird? Is she going to think I’m weird? I hope she doesn’t think that this is weird.’ But Hineni finds himself continuing his search for her despite that. In fact, despite his nervousness and his worries, he doesn’t even break a sweat anymore like he might have done in a time that is not that long since past.

Thirty-three days, in fact. It has been thirty-three days since the two of them ‘officially’ got engaged. That basically makes this their anniversary.

Now, they hadn’t talked about such a thing and really, after barely a month, isn’t all of this just a bit crazy? He’s really messed up, right? All of them are. They have to be. But he had woken up this morning next to her and realized that he had to go and do something nice for her, even if it’s just something dumb like a flower. He won’t even tell her about their fake ‘anniversary’. He’ll just say that he wanted to get her a flower. He wouldn’t want to seem weird, after all. The man stops at the top of the staircase, turning his head towards the right, towards their bedroom door.

The entire hallway is covered in twigs and branches. Green leaves from trees, that clearly can’t be from here given that all of the trees in this region are currently barren, hang from the many boughs that are jutting out of the gaps between the walls, tied to the support beams with strings and cords. Foliage covers the ground, having been laid out to make what resembles a forest path through their hallway.

Hineni blinks, wandering through the many colors of leaves and flowers, filling their home with a drifting floral perfume until he reaches the door of their bedroom and looks inside.

Obscura turns around, looking his way. She’s wearing what remains of an old pair of his pajamas. She seems to have ripped them apart and shredded them with her razor sharp talons in what appears to be a mostly-failed attempt to make something more seductive than her tawny, brown robe. The two of them stare at each other for a confusing moment.

“Happy anniversary,” says Hineni, finding his courage and holding out the three-cupped flower.

Obscura reaches to the bed, lifting up a piece of honey-candy that is shaped like a frog. “Happy anniversary, Hi~ ne~ ni!” she hoots, looking around the room. Hineni can tell that she’s fighting the urge to turn into an owl and fly away.

The man shuts the door behind himself and is quietly grateful that the other two have conveniently fallen asleep downstairs, as if by magic.

Rhine yawns loudly, his voice traveling around the empty restaurant. Sockel, disturbed by his movement, begins to stir as well, looking around herself. The elf rubs her eyes, before stretching herself out.

“Oh man…” she mutters, looking around the room. “What a nap.”

Her eyes land on Hineni, who was just walking by on his way out to the city. It’s about three hours later. “Oh, wow, you look rough,” notes the elf. “You good?”

Hineni blinks, looking down at himself and adjusting the buttons of his shirt and coat. “I’m fine,” says the man, clearing his throat. He’s still a bit sweaty, but nothing some fresh air can’t take care of and his hair is still messed up, but it’s nothing his wizard’s hat can’t hide and his legs are still shaky, but that’s nothing that a good meal can’t fix. “I’m going to get dinner. We’re lighting the forge afterwards,” says Hineni, nodding to the elf who turns her head, looking at the sweet-roll laying between herself and Rhine.

Sockel and Rhine stare at it and then towards each other for a moment. There is a quiet tension in the air.

A growl breaks the silence and the two of them descend down over it, getting into a fight with each other.

Hineni steps out of the house, deciding to just let them handle it like reasonable people, while he goes out to buy a perhaps somewhat larger dinner for them all.

It’s late, they’ve eaten and eaten well.

Sockel sits across from him, a few scratches and scuff-marks on her cheek. “So,” she says. “I made that list of everything that needs to be replaced, repaired, re-everythinged.”

“And?” asks Hineni.

She shakes her head. “And it’s not good. This place is a death-trap,” says the elf. “No offense.”

“None taken,” replies Hineni, rubbing his right leg against Obscura’s. She lets out a quiet hoot and moves hers too. He turns his gaze to Rhine, who is nursing a bump on his head. He doesn’t know which of them won their fight, so he just assumes that both of them lost in the end.

“It’s just that with all of those years of sitting unmaintained, unheated, with the ice in the basement and the heating system and all of the ash and… well.” Sockel stops herself. “There’s just a lot that needs to be done. Door handles are loose, support beams need to be readjusted, the water-system for the bath needs to be inspected. Don’t even get me started on the windows.” She thinks for a moment. “It’s going to cost a lot.”

Hineni nods. He had expected as much when he gave her the task. “Any news from Avarice?” he asks.

Sockel shakes her head. “I’m expecting something to show up tomorrow, that’s about their usual pace. Fingers crossed that it covers the bills.”

Hineni nods. It would be very helpful if his parents had any money saved that he could use for these things. The man looks around at the people surrounding himself. Food and heat isn’t going to pay for itself and neither will the constant repairs that need to be done. He gets up. “We have less than three weeks to open a guild,” says Hineni. “We need a plan. Sockel, get us ready, whatever that means.”

“Sure thing,” nods the elf.

He looks towards the boy. “Rhine, we’re going to be working longer hours in the forge.”

Rhine nods. “I think we can make the kiln now. The design looks right.”

“Great work,” praises Hineni, placing a hand on his shoulder. “We’ll look at it together now.” The kiln will be extremely useful in getting their income streamlined. It’s going to be a very powerful asset if they make it right. He turns his head towards Obscura.

“Obscura will hunt many frogs!” she hoots, hitting her taloned fists onto the table.

Sockel lifts a finger. “About that, actually,” says the elf. “Can you… you know, maybe hunt something that isn’t a frog?” The three of them turn her way with wildly varying expressions, one of which is deeply offended. Sockel lifts her hands. “I’m just saying, like, maybe some rabbits or something would go a long way to stretching the food budget.”

“The weak should fear deadly Obscura!” hoots the owl, before vanishing in an explosion of feathers.

“I assume that means ‘yes’,” says Hineni, though he’s not sure if it wasn’t a sour remark towards Sockel at the same time. Still, Obscura hunting food for them is both a reasonable and a very pragmatic suggestion.

“Let’s get to work. Time’s running out,” says the man, narrowing his eyes as he stares out through the dark window, sure that just for the briefest instant, he heard something crunching in the trodden snow outside.