Elara Frostwhisper's Arc

Chapter 2 of 2

The storm still howled outside, but inside the crystal house the air was warm and bright. Elara leaned on her staff and tried to think like a teacher. She had found her heir. Now she had to begin. A child with the sight needed guidance, and Elara had little time to give it. She turned toward the fireplace, where a bright fire glowed inside clear, faceted walls. "We should start now," Elara said. "I will show you how to read a vision without losing yourself in it." She took a step toward the fire. Her legs folded under her. The staff slipped from her hand and clattered on the floor. The room tilted, and the warm light rushed up at her. Small hands caught her under the arms. Michaelah was only a child, but she held firm and did not let Elara fall. "I knew you'd drop," the girl said. "I saw it before you took the step." She braced her feet and steadied the old seer's weight. "Let me go," Elara said. "I can stand." "No, you can't." Michaelah guided her, one slow step at a time, to a small bed covered in white fur near the hearth. She eased Elara down onto it. "You're too cold inside. Teaching can wait." Elara wanted to argue. She had three winters left and no time to rest. But her hands shook, and the cold sat deep in her chest like a stone. She had pushed her body across the whole Permafrost, and now it refused her. She could not teach anyone while she could not even stand. Michaelah pulled the fur blanket over Elara's legs. Then she dragged the bed closer to the fire, grunting at the weight. The crystal frame of the hearth threw heat across Elara's face and hands. Slowly the shaking eased. Feeling crept back into her fingers. "Drink," Michaelah said. She pressed a warm cup into Elara's hands. It smelled of melted snow and something sweet. Elara drank. The warmth spread down her throat and into her chest. The stone of cold began to break apart. "You planned this," Elara said. "The bed. The fire. The drink." "I told you. I know things before they happen." Michaelah sat on the floor and watched her. "I knew you'd try to teach me today. I knew you'd be too weak." Elara closed her eyes. The warmth held her. Her strength did not come flooding back, but it stopped draining away. She could feel her own heartbeat again, slow and steady. For the first time in days, she rested. The lesson she had wanted to give had not happened. Instead the child had cared for her. Elara saw the truth of it clearly now. She had come to teach Michaelah. But the girl's sight was already sharp, already working, already ahead of her own. The question was no longer whether the child had the gift. It was who would be teaching whom.