She let herself float back up into the air again, looking down onto the shattered glass below.

The air.

It felt indescribable. It was real and brisk and it was fresh. The whole open space of it was nearly frightening. But there was another thing there, a sensation she could only think to describe as cold, or at least what she thought real cold would feel like. It bit at the exposed skin on her arms and legs, and wrapped itself around her, pushing its way into the thin material of her dress.

The cold was comforting in an odd way, and as harsh and savage as it was, it was also real and alive with a power that she found she nearly revered.

She held out her hand as a windy gust veered towards her, little white freezing flurries surrounding her skin in a most curious pattern. As if they were testing her. Approving of her.
They must have, for they left no sooner than they had come, glittering off into oblivion.

She took care to float quickly away from her point of origin after that, knowing that she would be discovered at any second, if she already hadn't been.

The visibility was low, but she let her eyes scan to the little snowy area above the ridge. They were still there, the people. Congregated in some sort of loud sport or celebration around a frozen lake. She found it odd, that the king had himself gathered among them like a normal person, laughing and carrying on. They had been there for quite a few days now, and she was worried, no, terrified that she would miss them before her plans were carried out. It was a relief to see that she had been wrong.

Steeling herself, she let the wind carry her a short way. Close, but not too close. She only needed to find him.

When she was a good enough distance back, she stopped, hovering gently over them all. They hadn't noticed, thankfully for her, so she quickly preoccupied herself with the task of getting down.

The only problem was, she seemed to be stuck there in the air, infinitely floating. At least the first time, there had been a sense of urgency bringing her back, but this round, she was taking it at her leisure.

Unfortunately, this seemed to be working against her.

Taking a deep breath, she tried to push herself towards the ground, only succeeding in rising more. An anxious feeling lept into her throat as she flailed in the thin air.
In a last ditch effort to calm herself, she closed her eyes. If only the Master could see her now. She was sure he would be very smug about her failure.

Just as he was with her mother's failure.

She sighed, feeling tears come to her eyes for the first time in a long while. Sbe concentrated on her breathing just like her mother had taught her. In. Out. In. Out. Her heart pounded, but she managed to stop herself from going up any more at the very least. As usual, her confidence, or lack thereof, was causing her to falter.

Looking down at the ground, she made a decision, hoping it was for the best. Inhaling once more, she closed her eyes, closing out her thoughts to everything but the gentle tug of gravity that pulled her from the earth below.

The response was almost immediate.

She began to fall, gliding through the air almost deceptively easily. She let herself go for some time, before the ground started getting a little too close for her comfort. Panic crept into her heart once more, and she began to wave her arms in a last ditch effort to stabilize her power again to stop herself. In retrospect, it probably hadn't been a very good idea for her to try this particular thing so soon into her discovery of it, but it was her only option at the moment, and so it was what had to be done.

After a good thirty feet of sputtering in between hovering and falling like a fledgling from a tree, she managed to at least hit the snow with a soft thud, the cold and wet immediately soaking into the backside of her white cotton dress. It took her breath away, and she gasped, immediately beginning to tremble.

She passed a furtive glance back to the frozen lake. The king and his subjects were still oblivious, still making merry. Her only problem was that she had lost sight of the man whom she was here to collect, so she watched them, the people, for a while, appraising them. She had never seen such happiness in all her life. It was more than just a sense of relief as she had been so accustomed to relate that particular emotion to. It was so unlike the smiles on the contenders faces that she had witnessed as she saw them come out of battle or the way they looked after they returned alive from the questionings and the tests. It did not even compare to the aura of delirious satisfaction she had felt emanate from the master from time to time when a plan all came together. None of those experiences compared to the bliss and contentment these people. They were joyous, almost resolute in their happiness. It was immediately foreign to her, but gave her such a great sense of longing and she all she wanted to do was continue sitting there and just watch them. She was loathe to ruin it.

A crunch in the snow directly in front of the woman startled her from her thoughts, and she looked up to find him towering over her. Of course he had sensed her.
He looked slightly more menacing than he had from a distance when she saw him from the arboretum window, and he glowered down at her, as if expecting her to announce the reason for her sodden, shivering presence.

She scanned him, trying to decide whether he could really be trusted. Whether or not her gut was right. Her perceptions were usually never wrong, but she was wise enough to realize that they could be.

"Aren't you cold?" Her own trembling voice sounded odd to her ears, and she realized just how freezing she actually was. She pointed to his arms, bared in some sort of old, torn leather vest that he wore with not even a shirt underneath it. From what she had perceived of his character in the brief matter of seconds that he had stood there, she imagined it was more for show than anything else.

He smiled, laughing to himself, as if it were a joke only he understood, and she could swear his green eyes had flashed to crimson for the briefest of moments.

He was even more beautiful than she had originally thought.

"I'm never cold." He responded, the intonation of his voice like an anchor to her in the midst of a stormy sea.

He finally seemed to remember his manners and held out a hand to her. She grasped it, lifting herself off of the ground, brushing the wet off of her bottom.

He eyed her curiously. Again he was waiting.

She glanced back to the party, to all of the beautiful happy people, and then to him again.

"I need you to come with me." She whispered.

He nodded once, as if he already knew. She looked down at their hands, still clasped, and began to pull him along in the snow, her slipper clad soaked feet sinking pitifully with every step.

He barked out a laugh, although she knew not why, and she turned to look at him curiously.
He solemnly pulled her towards him and laid a surprisingly gentle hand on her forehead, probing for answers.
She permitted him look into her mind, only allowing him to feel her urgency, only showing him were they needed to go. She still wasn't sure if she trusted him yet.

He seemed to be satisfied with the answers for now, as he placed a hand on her upper arm.

"Hold on and don't let go." Was all he said.

She nodded and clasped at his arm for dear life, just as the world dissolved into black.