“I’ll do my best,” Lilian promised.

With the relic finally repaired and integrated into Angel’s arm, he sat down to take first watch and keep an eye on his arm. The night passed silently. Angel supposed that anything with much of a brain had vacated the area after the loud blast.

His arm didn’t fully cool down and return to its normal colors until almost five hours after he’d fired the shot. As soon as he was confident it was back to normal, Angel woke Lilian for her watch and slipped into bed. Exhaustion took him quickly and he was soon lost within a dreamless sleep.

Over the course of the next few days, the desert grew progressively colder. The sand turned a crystalline gray color and the sun was consistently hidden behind a thick blanket of drab, low hanging clouds.

“Look,” Lilian called over the howl of the wind. “Is that a town?”

“I think so,” Angel replied, squinting. The small structure was quickly growing larger on the horizon. A thick fog started to set in, hiding much of the town from sight. As they grew closer, details worked themselves out bit by bit.

Dozens of orange dots in the fog turned out to be lanterns atop a short stone wall that surrounded the town, trying and failing to stave off the heavy mist. Within the wall was a large cluster of houses. None were taller than two stories.

Angel and Lilian slowed down, deactivating their artifacts as they reached the edge of the wall. Nobody was there to greet them, so the two hopped over it. The chill had grown to a sharp freeze by this point. Even with his scarf wrapped around him, Angel’s teeth were chattering.

They made their way over to the largest building – a two story stone house with damaged shingles and a broken sign hanging from the entrance – and slipped through the door.

A man sitting at one of three tables in the room glanced up, his bushy eyebrows raising in surprise.

“Is this a tavern?” Angel asked, his words coming out thick through his chilled lips.

“It is,” the man said, rising to his feet. “And it looks like you two need something warm. I’ll get something heated up for you.”

He slipped through a door at the back of a room beside a stairwell. Angel and Lilian sat down and, a few long minutes later, the man came out with two large bowls of steaming hot stew. He put them down on the table before the travelers.

Angel and Lilian both dug in. They didn’t speak a word until every last trace of the food was gone. The taste was only average, but the warmth that the food sent through Angel’s system was like a blessing from the gods.

“Better?” the man asked, a grin breaking out on his bearded face.

“Much,” Angel said, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “Thank you. How much do we owe you?”

“Two Vex.”

Angel handed the coins to the man and raised an eyebrow. “Not that I’m complaining, but that’s it?”

“We don’t need much coin to get by here,” the man replied with a chuckle. “It’s more of a courtesy than anything. Nobody bothers attacking us and the monsters all hate the cold, so they stay in their catacombs. That means there aren’t any magistrates in Icebound Valley, so no taxes or the like.”

“Almost makes this horrible weather worth it,” Angel said. “Almost.”

“Eh,” the man replied, waggling his hand back and forth. “Not exactly. But what brings travelers here? We don’t get many, and for good reason.”

“Personal reasons, mostly,” Angel replied. He gave the man a small shrug. “Came by here a long time ago, and I’m just revisiting old memories.”

“Can’t imagine what memories you’ve had here that you’d want to revisit, but I hope you find them,” the man said with a grimace. “If I were you, though, I’d wait until tomorrow morning to find those memories. Going out in this weather is a terrible idea.”

“I’m not going to argue with that,” Angel agreed. “Do you have rooms?”

“Does it look like I get a lot of visitors?”

They all chuckled and the man nodded at the stairwell beside the kitchen door. “I don’t have keys, but the rooms lock on the inside. Feel free to make yourselves at home. Hopefully you’re okay with dust, though. It’s been a while since I last cleaned.”

“Better the dust than the cold.” Angel rose to his feet and gave the man an appreciative nod. “How much for the rooms?”

“Free of charge. It’s not like they’re doing anything else.”

“Thank you,” Angel said. “Your kindness is appreciated.”

“Just pay it back later,” the bearded man said, waving his hand dismissively. “You two must be exhausted. Go get some rest before you drop dead.”

“We’d be happy to oblige,” Lilian said. She headed up the stairs and Angel followed behind her.

There were only four rooms on the top floor, and the bartender hadn’t been lying. The moment Angel opened one of the rooms and stepped inside, a wave of dust rose up around his footstep.

He grimaced, then made his way over to the bed. Angel peeled the cover back, then shook it off in the corner while holding his breath. Once it was as dust-free as it was going to get, he turned it over and tossed it back onto the bed.

With a yawn, Angel flopped onto it and rested his head on his left hand. Using the warmth of his mechanical arm to fend off the chill, he slipped off to sleep.

The following morning announced itself with a peal of thunder. Angel jerked awake, nearly falling out of bed as he scrambled upright. It was storming outside. Hail slammed against his window like a scorned spouse. He rubbed his forehead and let out a sigh. Perfect.

Angel ate a quick meal of jerky and cheese before opening the door. Lilian stood right outside it. He let out a surprised curse, then shook his head and stepped to the side so she could enter.

“Why didn’t you knock or something?”

“I heard you coming to get the door,” Lilian replied. The thunder rumbled its assent outside. “Are we going to go out with the weather like this?”

Angel peered out the dirty window. It covered with sleet that made it difficult to see anything outside. “I don’t know how close the Reawakening are, but I’m not suicidal. Let’s wait for a few hours and see if the storm lets up. Icebound Valley doesn’t tend to have great weather, but we can do better than this.”

Lilian nodded. She leaned against the wall as Angel stared out the window and time ticked by. After a few hours, the howling storm showed a modicum of mercy on them. The winds relented and the clouds settled for snow instead of ice.

“Good enough.” Angel rose to his feet and Lilian followed him out the door as they headed back down the stairs.

“Planning on heading out?” the bartender asked, glancing up at them.

“We are,” Angel said. “Do you know where we could get our hands on some coats to make this weather a little more bearable?”

“Of course. Try the building right across from this one. It’s Iceridge’s general store.”

“This town is Iceridge, then?” Lilian confirmed. “Is it new? I don’t recall it on the map.”

“Oh, we’re hardly large enough to get on a map,” the man said with a smile. “But yes, that’s our name. If a Magistrate has any issue with that, they’re welcome to come find us here and complain.”

They all got a laugh out of that one. Angel bid the man farewell and they walked out into the storm. The wind whipped snow into his face almost immediately, but it wasn’t so bad that he couldn’t see where he was going.

A quick dash through the snow brought them to the entrance of the general store. They darted inside and closed the door before the snow could follow them in. It was pushing it a little to call the building a store. There were three shelves stocked with a random assortment of goods, and that was it.

“Oh, visitors!” an older lady exclaimed from behind a shoddy counter. “What can I get for you?”

“Some coats, please,” Angel said. “We’ve found ourselves dreadfully unprepared for the weather. I swear it wasn’t this bad the last time I was here.”

“You’ve just come during a particularly rough month,” the woman said, rubbing her hands together. She dug through the bottom of her counter and pulled out a large bundle of brown fur. “But I can help with that. I’ve got some coats that should fit. Try these on.”

She handed Angel and Lilian each a bundle. They were really more like heavy cloaks, as there were no sleeves. Even so, the moment Angel wrapped himself in it and pulled the hood up, the room became uncomfortably warm.

“It won’t stop the chill,” the merchant warned. “But it’ll hold it back. Don’t let them get wet, though. If they do, they’ll be useless.”

“Noted,” Angel said. “And these will work great. By the way, do you happen to know the man that works in the tavern?”

“Why, yes. That’s my husband.”

“Great,” Angel said. He tossed her a Vei and pulled his new cloak tighter around himself as he and Lilian stepped back into the storm.