The cold chill of that winter afternoon left silence in the mansion’s library, a lone girl the only occupant of the room. This young woman was thus left with an opportunity to think back upon everything that had brought her this far.

In truth, it was almost a year ago at this point when everything had truly begun. It made the harshness of this winter seem mild in comparison to everything they had gone through, and that was saying something. She could feel just how much the cold air outside almost seemed to deny her, to hate her, like it was itself a bitter rival. She even knew better to argue the point, such a winter was bad. It wasn’t just the cold, people were getting very hungry, supplies were tight.. and everyone was still trying to adjust to what was being expected of them. Schorlwood Village had been a place which had denied change, but the unforgiving winter left no room for living in the past. This is why the girl had found solace on her own, a girl who had lost her past and was working to recover it, to make use of it in establishing her own future. She needed to ensure her work did not get in the way of others in the process.

Instead of being lost in the past, the girl was more lost in the present.. at least compared to the rest of the village. Change had been her life, change was everything she had ever known, getting the chance to at least start on bringing a future of stability instead was going to be so much better. But even that was going to take years more work to achieve. For now, they would work on the village, but there was so much more change still waiting for them beyond. The whole world threatened to immerse her in endless change, a challenging obstacle to overcome. Even so, she was always good at planning, in fact she already had plans in action to deal with.. everything. It helped too that she wasn’t working alone, she had people helping her that she knew she could count on. A faint sound from one of her pouches signaled one of such friends actually was trying to contact her, which she addressed by taking the small tablet-shaped object out that was contained within. After a few quick gestures, she began speaking to the thing.

“Oh, hey Vwyx. Everything okay?” “Perfect, sounds like this works finally. Augmentation wasn’t going very stable, probably because we’re using one of the more experimental designs instead of the normal stuff. The old stuff was never intended to be used so far away from civilization.” “Vwyx, stop, you know I don’t understand most of how your toys work. Are you saying this was just a test then?” “Oh, yeah, sorry. Sryine has been busy with her own stuff, so I just thought you would have been the better choice for this one. Did I catch you at a bad time?” “Oh, no, don’t worry. I’m glad to have helped. Send my greetings to your sister too, I know she’s there with you.” “She says you shouldn’t be afraid of a bit of cold. I’ll talk to her about that later. We’re on our way back, should be there soon.” Vwyx was still giggling until the room went silent again, the girl putting the tablet-shaped object away. The girl knew why that was funny, it wasn’t as if she had a history of being afraid of the cold, rather that was a new change too.

Vwyx had been at her side right from the beginning, as far back as she could remember. Vwyx being a human hadn’t mattered, not even among the company of elves that people assumed of them. Sryine at least was an elf, but the girl was basically an elf too, which should have made things harder for Vwyx. Instead, the three of them were bound by something even greater. All three of them had a bit more to their essences than people typically did, a second layer.. traces of something even stranger. People typically weren’t visited with death quite as much as they were either, in all accounts it was a miracle they had survived everything. Even so, Vwyx’s crafting potential was priceless in making sure everything they needed was properly assembled. She was additionally worried about how well Vwyx might have been enduring the cold, but knew that Vwyx had a few additional resources that helped with that process.. something about borrowing a discarded suit from a departed friend. The girl had a general idea about what that might have been about and wasn’t going to complain about the idea, even if the concept of putting Vwyx in such a suit was mind blowing overkill by itself.

“This is awesome! Perfect! Amazing! Absolutely fabulous! I’m a genius!” “Sryine, calm down. The laughter is creepy.” “Hey! That’s not fair, normal people can laugh and stuff. You just make me sound crazy.” “Vwyx’s laugh was normal, but sometimes.. you…” “Oh, nice, you’re actually using normal lights in here. I was honestly afraid you decided to just rely on a more.. natural glow to light the room up.” “Yes, I know we all have our.. complications. That’s why I just wanted to make sure you were taking care of yourself.” “Oh, yeah, well, I guess. Don’t worry, I’m fine. In fact, I’ve just managed to quintuple our food supplies over the last lunar cycle. I had been just talking things over with my brother, he’s reporting a lot of net gain overall for the winter. Sure, things are kinda bleek, and keeping up with everything has been rough, but I think we’re going to make it.” Sryine still sounded like a business woman to the girl, even when there weren't any corporate matters involved in the process at all. Sryine simply always sounded that way.. in addition to sounding crazy in the process.

Sryine herself was looking around at the books in the room while talking, feeling a bit nostalgic for the place. Though everything they had gone through, it had been ages since the elven bookworm had last actually read a real book. Much of it recently had even been by her own choice, the flow of change promoting alternate sources of reading materials. In fact, with Vwyx’s success, that would provide such a resource for Sryine too, a fact she would probably enjoy later once they get a bit of downtime. First, Sryine would have to actually take care of real corporate matters, the girl was well aware of a number of delivery arrangements that were still pending, mostly due to disagreeable terms. Sryine was a pro at making such terms more than just agreeable for herself, and would be the best woman for the task. In fact, hearing of the successes of the girl’s friends, it was making her feel bad for not being nearly as helpful.

“I knew you would pull things off, but I really wish there was more I could do to help out.” “Oh come on, I gave you a job to start on, that’s how you can help out. At this rate, it’s going to take you a lifetime to finish.” “Hey! I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t be more than a few years at this rate.” “... Years. That’s not much better! Look, I know this is more my thing than yours, but I’m really going to need your help with it. Like.. help as more like.. doing most of it yourself. You’ve got a way better memory, there isn’t anyone better.” The girl realized the irony of Sryine’s statement, considering the limitations of her own memories too. Still, accounting for the events that had occured over their journey.. there really probably wasn’t anyone who knew such a thing as well as herself.

“Oh perfect, Sryine is here too. If anyone has anyone they want to contact outside the village, now would be a good time.” “Oh nice! I wonder how he’s been doing.” Vwyx paused in the doorway as Sryine rushed out for a private moment, holding the door open in exchange. “Sryine working you hard?” “I just feel useless, writing all this stuff down.. when there is so much else going on.” “Oh come on, you’ve carried enough responsibility as is.. and you still are. Also, I seem to recall that there is a part of you that loves making records of this stuff. Did you sign any of it with a crescent moon mark?” “I don’t think so. Wait, stop changing the subject.” “Relax, we just help each other, right? You heal my injuries, I heal your’s. Isn’t that how things work?” Vwyx wasn’t leaving any room for the girl to hesitate. Everyone knew, when it came to worrying about friends, the girl was always the one to worry the most. It was a quality they each endlessly appreciated.

“Vwyx, your sister is here. Something about the box isn’t working again, and she needs it for a demonstration.” “Tell her I’m still warming up from the cold, I’ll work on it after some rest, sometime after not feeling so numb.” “How come you’re cold, didn’t you have that suit?” “Yes, but it got in the way of working, so that was mostly good for travelling.” “Right, that would kinda happen, wouldn’t it? Warming up actually doesn’t sound like a bad idea, sitting by a nice warm flame.. or two.” Sryine showed up soon after cancelling Vwyx’s other pending concern. Vwyx’s sister had gone back to work on other matters, leaving the three of them together again in the library, all relaxing in a chair of their own choice. The other two had already done substantial work, it was still up to the girl to make some progress of her own.

It was still a lot to go over, the year long struggle through constant endless change. In all accounts, things had truly begun right in the same mansion that one fateful day in that distant spring almost two years ago, just as the sun reached into the horizon.