The Adamant weapon is long and heavy, making it awesome in a big fight against bears, wolven, or clay puppets, but it also makes it a pain to carry around all the time. The æther flowing through my body is maintaining the body strengthening, partly to keep myself in training, but also because without it, I can’t carry my weapon with me.

More than even that, I can’t even strap it to my back like with the other sword.

Earlier attempts had me tipping backwards like a falling tree. After trying a few different things, we gave up entirely and now I’m carrying it around by hand and resting it on my shoulder to balance it as I walk.

By shifting the handle around, I can control my balance and move around almost as easily as without, except through doorways. Doors are a cursed challenge.

I have to lift the sword and angle it just right so that I don’t knock on the door frame. People wouldn’t be happy with me if I damage their homes.

“Do you want to put it away at the guild?” Adeleya asks, watching me struggle with the weapon.

“No, Syr needs to learn how to walk with it.” A boar must find its tusks a pain at times, but it would never let them be cut off for the bother.

I refused to get myself treated at the healer after the fight, instead flooding my leg with enough healing and strengthening magic to get it looking better again. It still aches a bit, but I can’t let myself limp. I will heal it myself.

Adeleya looks down over me, tugging at my ragged clothes.

“Well, with this mess of filth… I’m not sure you’ll be let in the shop.”

Living in the wild, I’ve gotten used to dirt and muck, but I can usually clean up in the nearby stream. Even for me, the thickly slathered mud is a little much. There are chunks of it falling off of me every other step, and the clean streets are that much worse off for my passing.

I’m not ashamed or anything, every battle ends filthy no matter how well you fight, but I hadn’t paid as much attention to the onlookers before now. In my violent and desperate struggle, I managed to spray clay and muck all over the crowd.

Now the sticky mud stains Adeleya’s dark patterned cloak. Nadia’s clothes are in much the same condition, too.

“Sorry.” I pat at Adeleya’s cloak, trying to wipe away the mud, but spreads rather than coming off.

“Don’t worry, it’s made to handle this sort of thing.” She smiles down at me, taking my hand in hers and squeezing tight. “You, on the other hand, need to get out of those rags.”

“Where are you two headed now?” Nadia interrupts us as we are about to leave.

“Well, Syr needs some real clothes, but I was thinking we’d clean up first. The springs are unlikely to be crowded yet, so it would make for a good chance to show her the place. Afterwards, we can get her fitted for some proper clothes.”

“Armour, you mean?”

“That too.”

“Well, I suppose you leave me no choice but to come along and make sure you don’t just fob it off. Syr needs some armour after all. If that means wasting some of my precious time in the springs, I suppose I’ll just have to make that sacrifice.” Nadia smiles widely.

“Well, I suppose I could join as well,” Alice says, appearing from nowhere right beside Adeleya “I’ve nothing left to do ‘till nightfall.”

“The more the merrier.” Adeleya chuckles at the sight of her. The way they all talk to each other so easily, I’m sure that they’re all good friends.

“What are ‘springs’?” I ask Adeleya.

“It’s better if you find out when we get there,” she says, walking us up the paved street. “I promise you’ll like it.”

“Truly, these springs are one of the few marvels of this world,” Nadia says, seeing something beyond the paved streets and stone houses.

“The baths of the gods,” Alice says, staring up towards the sky as if revering the divine.

Did they eat something funny? I know that I got a little weird in the head when I ate some strange mushrooms in the wild. Did the same happen to them?

I have to make sure that they don’t wander off anywhere dangerous or do anything strange like gnawing the bark off of trees. I was pulling splinters out of my gums for weeks after that.

With one hand in Adeleya’s and the other holding my adamant sword, I prepare myself for whatever strangeness awaits us at these ‘springs’.

“So, you two are clothes shopping after?” Alice asks, “Nadia, you should come along too, it couldn’t hurt to have one nice set of clothes.”

“Why bother? Where would I even wear them?”

“Everywhere.” Adeleya opens her cloak, spinning about with her skirt on display, “You wear clothes every day anyway, what does it hurt if they’re pretty?”

“If it gets in the way-”

“It doesn’t,” Adeleya spins about a little, bouncing her dress, “Believe me, Nyla is talented. If anything, you’d be more comfortable in her clothes.”

“And the expense?”

“Worthwhile,” Adeleya calms down, striding ahead confidently.

“Doubtful,” Nadia scoffs.

They both sigh and look apart from each other, trying to end it there.

“I suppose you aren’t much the type.” Alice also sighs, “There are affordable options though, you should try shopping for a few new sets of clothes occasionally.”

“Until there’s a reasonable need, such as escorting a noble, then I see no need to trade good coin for silk, fur, and cloth.”

Their conversation is largely flowing over my head. I know that people trade with coins, though I’ve rarely seen any, and I understand that they’re having some disagreement about the need for clothes, but I guess it’s a little much for me.

I’m still not one of them.

In the playful argument that follows, Adeleya runs off into a nearby building. Something the other two seem to be expecting.

“Don’t take too long,” Nadia tells her.

“You won’t at least take a peek?” She replies.

“It would be rude, covered in filth like this.”

“After the springs, then?”

Nadia remains silent.

Adeleya does not keep us waiting long, she runs to us with a clean black bundle of clothes over her arm.

“What is that?” I ask.

“It’s a dress.” Adeleya smiles while petting my head, or perhaps it’s more like she’s wiping at the mud in my hair.

With something of a renewed vigour, the others increase the pace as they push themselves towards our destination, which it seems, is up a long winding road. The houses here are fewer, with the land uneven it would be an added pain to building, yet up above us at the top of the town is a great big structure made of toppled trees.

“The warm, loving heart of this beautiful town,” Alice sings the words, “To it, we owe the existence of our little Snowspring.”

The nasty taste that fills the air only gets worse as we get closer, it’s like someone has gathered a whole bunch of rotten eggs and started heating them over a big fire.

“Why does it smell so bad?”

“That smell is one of the charms of the place. You’ll be used to it soon enough,” Adeleya nods huffing a breath of the rotten smell.

There is definitely something wrong with them. Calling this smell ‘a charm’ is downright madness.

Upon reaching the massive building we head straight inside where shiny coins are quickly exchanged, while Adeleya pulls me along into a large changing room. The others begin stripping at once.

What’s going on?

They hang their cloaks on large stands with pegs up so high that I can just barely reach them and then store their things in little boxes. After which they strip. They’re quick about it, pulling and tugging off their clothes as if in a rush to get somewhere, but where do they need to go while naked?

Adeleya takes a little longer than the others, taking extra care to make sure that her dress doesn’t get ripped or damaged. I can’t help but stare as she stands bare before me.

Her body is so different to mine; her chest is larger than I thought, and her skin is much paler than mine, squishier too.

My body, in comparison, is wiry and hard. I can feel every bone and the muscles running between them. I usually have a little more flesh on me just before winter, when the eating is good, but coming out of the snowy season, I’ve lost all that softness.

I throw my own clothes aside and follow them as they’re about to leave me behind.

A chill in the air touches my skin, spreading goosebumps all over me before a gentle breeze wafts the warm but stinky air around me. Outside, surrounded by rocks, is a clear pool radiating a strange warmth even as snow is still residing at the edges of the fencing.

“Clean yourselves first,” Alice tells us, bringing along a bucket filled with water as well as a few brushes.

“Here,” Adeleya says as she brings a bucket of her own. “We need to clean properly otherwise we dirty the hot spring.”

Sharing a bucket, we sit on short stools and clean away the dirt and muck. Adeleya seems to be scrubbing at nothing as she roughly scours her skin as if to war against imagined dirt. Her pale skin turns a bright shade of red after a short while.

I am giving it about as much effort but with a far better excuse, the mud from the fight has clung to me even through my clothes. Picking up the spare brush that Adeleya brought for me, I give it a try. Having used mostly just my hands and running water to clean up in the past, it’s amazing just how much easier it is to use a brush instead. The deep-set dirt and dried blood come away with a little bit of effort.

It takes more than a few minutes to get it all off and my skin feels smooth again but my hair, short as it is, is still a tangled mess.

“Are you ready to clean your hair?” Adeleya asks, sitting close to my back.

I nod, the blood rushing to my head a little as I realize just how close she is. Why do I feel like this? Is it some strange magic she’s using?

I refuse to let my weakness show. I need to prove to Adeleya that I’m strong, and being weak like this would be too embarrassing.

She starts running her fingers through my hair as I sit up straight, exuding confidence as well as I know how. Without growling that is, I don’t think that’s the right thing to do right now.

“Close your eyes or the soap will sting.”

I do as she says and with my eyes closed my senses focus instead on her fingers massaging my scalp. She’s carefully tugging at my hair and pulling out the knots, and the mud caked through it all. My head is a little lighter when she’s done pulling out all the muck weighing me down.

“Hya!” Adeleya shouts out from behind me.

Water rushes over my head, stealing my hearing for a moment. I freeze up, not knowing what to do.

The soap suds are all gone and I feel cleaner than ever, but a cold wind washes through, chilling me down to the bone. Warm arms reach around, wrapping me up from behind, the pressure feels like it’s going to break something inside of me.

I can’t be weak, but I can’t keep myself from leaning back into her.

“I always wanted a little sister.” Her breath tickles my neck and I feel warm all over. I swallow, unable to speak.

“Do you… would you want to be my little sister?” Holding onto her soft hands, I tremble. I feel warm; like I’m burning up inside.

What am I supposed to say?

What am I supposed to do?

I don’t want her to let go.

I don’t want this to end.

Slowly I nod. Squeezing her hands and leaning still closer to her.

“I’ll… I’ll wash your back.” Adeleya squeaks out as she rushes about for a brush. Maybe she feels that same burning. That’s why she’s as unsettled as I am.

She starts scrubbing at my back after a moment.

“Is that okay?” She asks.

“A bit harder.”

It feels good. Some of it because of that burning, but also because a part of me I’ve never been able to reach is finally getting cleaned. She leans into me, peeling away the dirt that’s covered me since I first fell in the forest and said goodbye to my mom.

She washes me down with water leaving my back stinging from her efforts.

“Wash me too, please,” she asks, turning around and showing me her naked back. “I… Are you really okay with that? The sister thing,” she asks without looking back at me.

I gently run my hand along her naked back, “What does it mean? To be sisters?” I ask, picking up some soap and running it over her.

“I… I don’t know.” Her voice echoes in the hollow room beside the baths. It sounds distant and lonely.

I have the brush ready but I freeze up.

The sadness in her voice pricks at my heart and prods at the heat in my guts. Swallowing back the tide of emotions, I lean in and enclose her in my arms, just as she had done for me a moment ago.

“Is it this?” I whisper.

She gently holds my hand, relaxing a little bit.

“I think so,” she says.

After a bit, I pull away and begin to properly scrub her back.

“Is this good?” I ask pressing my weight into the brush to scrub properly.

“That’s nice.” She says leaning back into it. Her reddening skin is already so clean, I run my hands over her back to clear away the suds. She has little muscle, and I can feel her shoulder blades poking out so slightly. The slight bumps of her spine leading down to her tailbone, and lower the softness of her-

“Hey, where are you touching!?” She gives a little shout, jumping off of her stool. Her reaction is really cute.

“Will you two quit messing around?” Alice calls out to us as she dips into the large, misty pool of water.

“Well then, shall we get in, Syr?” Adeleya washes off her back and offers me her soft hand, which I gladly take. She pulls me up before walking me to the edge of the bath.

“It’s hot, so you have to take it slowly.”

She pulls me in slowly, the water stings and burns. It reminds me of the dark place I go to when I’ve burnt out, but no one else seems bothered by it.

Adeleya slips slowly into the water ahead of me, and I try to do the same, but the heat prickles at my skin.

It hurts.

I feel alone in the darkness again.

I can handle the pain, I burn my fingers every morning as I heat breakfast.

I’m strong.

This is nothing to be scared of.

The others are even enjoying it.

Do they enjoy pain?

It doesn’t matter. If Adeleya likes it, then I should try it, too.

Gently, slowly, I dip my feet into the waters again. The burning sensation crawls up my skin but it’s far from unbearable, not nearly as hot as the dark fires in that place.

Sitting beside Adeleya, I squeeze her hand tight and keep the fear from my face.

“Uuuuuughh, it’s so nice.” Adeleya releases a loud satisfied grunt, the sort which I’d never have expected from her.

“Perfect,” Alice says in following.

Slowly, slowly, the burning fades away. I get used to the heat, and my muscles loosen. I can finally relax as I begin to understand what it is that they enjoy from these hot baths.

While the scrubbing cleared away the dirt; here, I feel as if all the coldness, all the many winters, are being washed from my body. They’d left a chill in my bones so deep, that I couldn’t even feel it until now.

A few tears run down my cheeks.

The white memories of winter’s cold seem so impossibly far from this invasive heat. As if they happened to someone else.

I lean against Adeleya feeling the warmth inside grow as well, “It’s so nice.”

“Must be good to finally be clean again, huh?” She smiles, brushing her fingers through my hair. “How long since you’ve had a proper clean?”

“Not so long. Syr lived by the creak, but it was cold in summer and even worse in winter.”

“Ah, I remember living wild in my own youth, not so long back,” Alice murmurs as she relaxes.

“’Not so long back’, she says.” Nadia gives a little laugh.

“So she says,” Adeleya parrots.

“Shut it you two,” Alice says splashing water at them.

They sound distant, even though they’re right here. Adeleya is so close. She’s so nice, and pretty, and she smells good, and she’s nice…

My head’s all fuzzy again.

Oh well, it feels good…

“Whoa, whoa!” Adeleya calls to me. She sounds so cute, but she also sounds like she’s drifting further away…

Why? She still feels so warm, so close…

Darkness steals away the world, but it doesn’t burn like in times past. It’s comforting and nice. I see mom and dad, and the other villagers with me.

“She’s passed out,” someone says, but I can’t tell who.

It doesn’t matter.

I’m safe here.