Lumina Coinfell's Arc

Chapter 1 of 1

Lumina Coinfell walked the frozen flats at dawn. Her cape dragged across blue ice. She held three coins in her palm, weighing them like a question. Today she had to choose a spot for her marketplace. The place she picked would tell people who she was now. She stopped at a wide clearing. An ice sofa sat near the edge, carved long ago by wind and frost. Travelers used it as a rest stop. If she built here, people would come easily. But the path also led straight from the old trade roads she once worked. She walked further. She found a small igloo with crystal windows glowing pink in the sunrise. It stood alone, hidden from the busy paths. Safe. Quiet. Too quiet, she thought. Hiding was the old way. A small blue fairy darted past her ear. It hovered above the ice sofa, then back to the hidden igloo, then back again. Lumina watched its tiny wings beat. She felt her coins grow warm. She made her choice. She would anchor at the ice sofa, in full view of the old roads. Let her past customers find her. Let them see the ledger she planned to keep, written down by the fairy's careful hand. Every trade open. Every charm honest. She pressed her palm to the frozen seat. "Here," she said. The fairy landed on her shoulder. The marketplace had a doorway now, and Lumina had named herself by where she stood.