Viktoria took me back home after a bit, I was relived to feel the much more comfortable temperature of my mother’s home, I like the crisp, cool air of Sombulce, but that cold of Everwinter…it felt like it had ingrained itself into my skeleton and I’d never not be able to feel it, even though I was home and took the warming talisman off, my teeth were chattering intensely as I wrapped my arms around myself, rubbing my upper arms to warm myself up a bit.

“Yeah, it…sticks with you a bit” Viktoria said with a laugh, elbow resting on the mantle, “Sorry about getting you home so late, being above the arctic circle does some weird shit with dawn and dusk, didn’t know it was getting so deep into the night.”

“It’s…fine” I said between my chattering teeth, she laughed quietly before walking over to me as she just flicked a hand, black geometric patterns akin to snowflakes, ice growths and other ice/snow patterns flickered around her hand before she poked me in the forehead.

“That should help you a little” she added, I breathed deeply as I felt the warmth of the fireplace start washing over my skin again.

“Does being in other areas like…make you feel like you’re in a sauna or something?” I asked

“Sometimes, not often though, I’m pretty resilient to temperature, so I don’t really feel it at all” she said with a shrug before this large gold snowflake pin on her greet coat’s lapel started flashing, the large opal stone set in its center flashing a few times. “Duty calls” she added as she rested her fingers on the stone, “Coalblade, checking in…I’ll be there in less than a minute.”

“Something wrong?”

“Nothing too bad, the blizzard-yak farms are a bit temperamental at this time of year, minor avalanche is expected.” She added before shrugging, “I’m sorry to cut goodbyes short, but I need to get going.”

“It’s fine, are you said, duty calls”

“Thanks” she added with snapping her fingers into finger-guns towards me with a wink before walking towards the fireplace, “Let’s go” she added before muttering the last two “go’s” as the fireplace expanded and she walked through it, vanishing in a puff of white flames.

I laughed quietly to myself as I looked down towards the talisman on my palm, softly letting my thumb smooth across it, the rune not glowing anymore, but as I softly flicked my coat to fix it, I could see frost puffing off it as it dusted across the carpet around my feet.

“Everything alright, your highness?” the rattling voice of my own personal assistant asked, Jackson, he’s a skeleton butler.

“It’s fine, just…Everwinter is very interesting” I said as he walked into the parlor from the doorway where he had been, tuxedo fitting weirdly around his body with his lack of flesh, belt tightened to fully loop around his bare spine as his skull head had ornate colorful markings around his empty sockets, empty nose and around his exposed teeth.

“Of course, your highness…did you find any answers?”

“I’m not sure” I said quietly with a sigh as I folded my arms before sneezing with a quick shiver. “But…there are some things that I personally was asking that were answered” I added as I wrapped my hands in front of me. “I’m going to the library”

“Of course, your highness” Jackson said with a soft nod.

As I walked into the absolutely massive library of the palace, my boots were quiet on the thickly rug covered wooden floor, the floorboards stained black and roughed up to look worn, but cleanly varnished and polished, not a single area not covered by a miss-matching rug, masses of shelves both making the walls and filling the floors, massive domed ceiling shaped like a carved pumpkin, hanging gold light fixture adorned in crystal and flocks of bats asleep in the bright light of the room, the fireplaces lit with a low flame keeping it a comfortable warmth as I walked about. Running my long nails along the shelves as my nails clicked against the dark wood as I looked for the books I wanted.

“Everwinter” I said quietly as I pulled a thick book off the shelf, at least two-three inches thick bound in navy velvet, silver and white, a giant snowflake embossed on the cover with Everwinter across the cover. I walked over to one of the dark wooden tables in front of the fireplace and set it down before walking back over towards the shelves, I found another matching thick book of dark brown hide with green and gold along the edges with The Warren across it, a third with a gold cover adorned with black and yellow that said Drolamkta across it, a fourth with red hide adorned in white/pink with Isola Amore, a fifth with white hide edged in blue/purple that said Damtapahada, a sixth with gray and black that said Shadevale and the last one I found was brown with all sorts of colors along the edges that said Aardesiel across it.

I sighed softly as I smiled and send a bat for an order of tea as I nestled into a velvet chair and cracked open the book of Everwinter, the pages crispy and almost frosted over at the edges and corner, a massive pull out map of Everwinter tucked into the cover along with all sorts of other pieces that were tucked between the covers and about the other areas of the book, but there were masses of sketches that were rather upsetting to see with the depictions on the pages.