The morning sun was bright.
A fresh breeze moved through the trees, carrying the clean scent of pine and distant snow. After everything that had happened, the simple warmth of sunlight on their faces felt like something quietly generous.
Vyvian, Faye, and Rem walked without rushing.
The forest path had gradually changed over the past hour, the trees thinning and the ground growing harder beneath their feet. The soil had given way to pale stone, and a faint chill had begun threading through the breeze that had nothing to do with the season.
Rem glanced at the map briefly before folding it away.
"The Frozen Peak is ahead," he said. "Once we cross it, Valenor is on the other side."
Faye pulled her collar slightly higher. "Of course there's a frozen peak."
Vyvian looked ahead at the rising terrain. "How frozen are we talking?"
"Frozen enough," Rem replied simply.
Faye shot him a flat look. "That is not helpful, Rem."
He didn't respond, which was its own kind of answer.
The path climbed steadily as the trees disappeared entirely, replaced by pale rock and patches of old snow that never fully melted regardless of the season. The wind grew sharper, cutting through their clothing with quiet insistence. Their breath began forming faint clouds in the air.
The Frozen Peak earned its name quickly.
Within an hour of climbing, the ground was covered in a permanent layer of ice that caught the morning light and scattered it in every direction. The hills around them were white and silent, broken only by the sound of the wind moving between the rocks.
It was strange and beautiful and very cold.
Vyvian, for his part, seemed entirely unbothered by the temperature. He walked through the frozen landscape with the same ease he would have walked through a summer field, the ice element in his blood making the cold feel less like discomfort and more like familiarity.
Faye was less enthusiastic.
"I genuinely cannot feel my left ear," she announced.
"Both ears are attached to your head," Vyvian replied.
"That is not reassuring."
Rem pointed ahead. "We are almost through the worst of it. The descent toward Valenor begins after this ridge."
They continued climbing toward the ridge.
Then Faye stopped.
"Wait."
Rem and Vyvian turned immediately.
Faye was looking at something half buried in the snow beside the path. A shape that didn't belong to the rock or the ice.
A person.
They approached carefully.
It was a boy, roughly their age, lying face down in the snow with his arms stretched forward as though he had been crawling before consciousness left him. His clothing was torn at the edges and darkened with cold. Bruises covered both arms from wrist to elbow, deep and numerous, the kind that came from something more than a single fall.
Faye crouched beside him and checked his breathing.
"He's alive."
Rem knelt and studied the bruises carefully without touching them.
Vyvian stood slightly apart, his eyes moving from the unconscious boy to the surrounding hills and back again.
"We should keep moving," he said quietly.
Faye looked up at him.
"Vyvian."
"I'm serious. We don't know who this person is. We don't know what happened to him. What if helping him puts us in danger?"
Rem looked at him steadily. "He's unconscious in the snow. Alone."
"That doesn't mean he's safe," Vyvian replied. There was no coldness in his voice, just caution.
Faye stood up fully and looked at him.
"I know why you're saying that," she said. "And I understand it. But we can't leave him here."
Rem nodded once. "He'll die if we do."
A long moment passed.
The wind moved across the frozen peak in silence.
Vyvian exhaled slowly, watching the breath cloud and dissolve in the cold air.
"Fine," he said. "But we stay alert."
Between the three of them, they carefully lifted the boy from the snow. Rem took most of the weight without complaint, his frame well suited to it. They moved steadily down the far side of the ridge until the wind softened and a shallow gap between two large rocks offered shelter from the worst of the cold.
They set up the tent with practiced efficiency, the months of travel having made the task second nature. A fire followed, built carefully with the dry wood they carried in their packs. Its warmth pushed back the chill inside the small sheltered space until the air became breathable again.
Faye cleaned and treated the bruises along the boy's arms with the medicine supplies they had carried since Sereneth. The wounds were older than the fall, she noted quietly. Some of them had already begun healing on their own.
Rem gave him water carefully, tilting just enough to reach his lips.
Then they waited.
It did not take long.
The boy's eyes opened slowly, adjusting to the firelight with visible confusion before sharpening into awareness. He sat up carefully, looked at the tent around him, the fire, and the three unfamiliar faces watching him.
Then he smiled.
It was a completely genuine smile, warm and slightly embarrassed, the kind that belonged to someone who found his own situation faintly ridiculous.
"I... was unconscious, wasn't I?" he said.
"Very," Faye confirmed.
He laughed softly and rubbed the back of his neck. "That's embarrassing. Sorry for the trouble."
"Don't apologize," Rem said. "How are you feeling?"
"Cold," the boy admitted. "But much better than before. Thank you."
He looked between them with open curiosity.
"My name is Barnett. I'm from Valenor."
"Vyvian, from Rivera."
"Faye, also from Rivera."
"Rem, from Sereneth."
Barnett nodded at each of them, his expression easy and friendly. He was close to Vyvian and Faye's age, with an open face that seemed built for smiling.
Faye tilted her head. "What happened to you out there? Those bruises on your arms look like more than a fall."
Barnett glanced down at his arms briefly. "I was trying to cross the Frozen Peak to reach Valenor. A massive storm came out of nowhere. The wind was strong enough to throw me off my feet, and I must have hit the rocks more than once before I lost consciousness."
He shrugged with the casual acceptance of someone who had been through difficult things before and had learned not to dwell on them.
"Honestly I'm lucky you three came along when you did."
Vyvian studied him for a moment longer, then quietly let the tension he had been carrying since the ridge ease slightly.
Rem looked at Barnett with mild curiosity. "You're from Valenor but you were crossing the peak heading away from it. Where were you coming from?"
Barnett's expression softened.
"Prythos," he said. "My mother has been sick for a while. There's a medicine that can only be found there." He reached into the inner pocket of his coat and carefully produced a small sealed bottle, checking it almost reflexively before tucking it away again. "Got it. That's what matters."
Faye smiled gently. "I'm glad."
A comfortable silence settled over the small tent. The fire crackled steadily. Outside, the wind continued across the frozen peak, but inside the shelter it was warm and still.
Barnett looked around at the three of them with genuine interest.
"So what brings you all to Valenor? You don't look like merchants."
"We're looking for information," Rem said simply.
Barnett nodded, accepting that without pushing further.
"What are your soul creatures?" he asked instead, his tone light and curious.
Faye answered first. "Fox."
"Snake," Vyvian added.
"Crocodile," said Rem.
Barnett looked genuinely impressed. "That's a strong group." He paused. "Mine is a bird."
"What kind?" Faye asked.
He smiled faintly. "You'll see someday."
Before anyone could respond, Barnett went still.
His head tilted slightly to one side, the way a person looks when they are trying to hear something just at the edge of perception.
"Do you hear that?" he asked quietly.
The three of them listened.
Wind. The faint pop of the fire. Nothing else.
"Hear what?" Vyvian asked.
"An echo," Barnett said slowly. "Distant. Like something calling."
Rem and Faye exchanged a brief glance.
Rem looked at Barnett calmly. "You've been unconscious in a snowstorm. Your body has been through a lot today."
Barnett blinked, then laughed softly. "Yeah. You're probably right."
"Rest here with us tonight," Rem continued. "We're heading to Valenor as well. We can cross the rest of the peak together in the morning."
Barnett looked at the three of them for a moment, something warm and slightly surprised moving through his expression, as if the simple offer of company was more than he had expected from strangers.
"Thank you," he said quietly. "Genuinely."
The fire burned steadily between them.
Outside, the Frozen Peak held its cold silence.