Atem shivered on the furry bed. It had gotten even more bitingly cold after dark, and Atem was sensitive to chilly weather. Two seasons before, during the Domino winter, Yugi and Atem had to duel over what to set the thermostat at. Unfortunately for Atem, he had lost, and therefore spent the next three months in an ice-box.

Joey snored from the lounge chair. Atem didn't understand how he could sleep so well when they were trying to doze in below-freezing temperatures. Tea he could understand. She was always cold. Yugi thrived in this weather, so he of course was sleeping well. Tristan seemed to be the only one who shared his pain.

"It's freezing…" the brunette mumbled, wrapping his arms tightly around his waist in a futile attempt to get some warmth. "How long have we been sitting here, anyway?"

Atem checked his watch. The time was completely wrong. According to it, they had all gone to bed around 1pm. "We've been here for about eight hours," Atem said, calculating the difference.

Tristan groaned. "I barely got two winks of sleep, man! How are we supposed to go out to battle like this?"

"We'll be fine, Tristan," Atem said. "We've managed to stay awake this whole time. Considering that we're about to climb up an arctic mountain, I don't think we'll have any problems."

A loud clanging noise woke the sleepers with a jolt. Pijana came out, banging an ice pick on what looked like a large gong. "I will not allow slackers!" she bellowed with amazing volume for an elderly, diminutive alien. "Everyone up!" Still pummeling her gong, she went back into the Spartan Astalan kitchen.

Yugi rubbed his cerulean eyelids and sat up. "Slave driver…" he said, getting up and downing a few rock-candies.

"And no candy in the morning!" she yelled from the other room.

Yugi swallowed with awe. "She knows me too well…" he said.

Tea was waking herself slowly. She wasn't used to being alert as soon as she awoke. Even during school, she would wake up an hour earlier in order to be lucid for class. "Do Loramysha have any coffee?" she asked. Deep inside, she hoped the answer was no. If Grandma Pijana had coffee, Yugi would drink it. And if Yugi drank coffee, it would be a very interesting climb up the mountain.

Pijana walked back out of the kitchen and began folding sheets and fluffing pillows. "I'm afraid not, dear. We have obsidian and ice berry juice, though."

Tea frowned. "I'll stick with my PB&J," she said, reaching into her backpack for the food they had brought for themselves. Joey quickly joined her by ravaging through his own.

"What did you bring, Joey?" Atem asked, chewing a hard-boiled egg and a piece of bread. It had certainly kept well in the refrigerator-like atmosphere.

Joey rummaged around in the sack's bottom. "Ah, you know. The basics. Two turkey sandwiches, a bunch of bananas, those cookies Tea's mom made for me, some ginger ale…" The list went on and on.

Yugi had happily accepted Pijana's offer of obsidian and ice berry juice. He drank the smoothie-like, black-berry colored concoction thoughtfully. "I think we should take the Vestra Pass. It's the fastest and safest way, although it's a bit chilly."

Atem peered at him. "Is this chilly by your standards or chilly by ours?"

"Chilly by… mine," Yugi said at length. "But we won't be there long. We'll get up into the Caves in about an hour."

Atem grimaced. He was tired and cold, and his limbs were stiff from his lack of sleep. The last thing he needed was an hour-long trip though a below-zero mountain pass. But he told Yugi that he would be fine, so he would be fine. Even more so when he got back home.

Pijana noticed him. "Not a fan of the climate, I presume?" Atem nodded. She smiled. "I have just the thing for you." She bustled off into the kitchen and came back with a small flask.

Atem took it hesitantly. "I am still a minor, ma'am," he said. "In Domino, humans aren't allowed to drink alcohol below a certain age."

Pijana shrugged. "You're not in Domino, are you?" she said deviously. "Besides, that will warm you up better than any cover or fire. You might find that you need it."

Atem thought it over for a minute. He used to drink beer all the time; it was nothing to him. "Thank you," he said finally, placing the flask in his backpack.

She smiled in success and walked over to Yugi. "It was very nice to see you again, Grandson," she said in the Loramyshan language.

"It was nice to see you too, Grandmother," he replied. "I like the human world a lot, but I missed my home. It was nice to see it again."

Everyone gave Pijana their goodbyes and bundled up for the long road ahead. As they traveled down the shelja streets to Vestra Pass, Tristan asked, "What were you and your grandma talking about, Yugi?"

Tea slapped the back of his head. "Did you ever consider that they were talking in a language we don't understand for a reason!? Geez, how rude could you get…"

"It's alright, Tea," Yugi said, shaking his frosty head. "We weren't trying to keep anything from you; it's just that she's more comfortable talking in Loramyshan. We were just saying our goodbyes."

Forty-five minutes later, they were quite a ways up the Vestra Pass. All of them were blue at this point, including Yugi.

"A-are we th-there yet?" Tea chattered. She squeezed her arms around her waist, trying to get extra warmth. There was no wind, and no snow fell, but the frigid air cut through their clothing and stung their skin.

Yugi looked around for a moment. A dead, twisted tree stood around the bend of the narrow valley through which they passed uphill. "The Tree of the First Age…" Yugi mumbled in Loramyshan. They only had a few more bends to go.

"We're almost there!" he said triumphantly to his shivering friends. "Don't worry, we'll be at the caves soon enough."

They walked farther on. A stream that once trickled down the mountainside was frozen solid by their path. "How come all this stuff is here?" Tea asked. "I mean, a tree wouldn't be able to grow like that in this weather, and it wouldn't get warm enough for a stream."

"During the First Age, a group of Poya decided to take residence on Mt. Fortanya." Yugi explained. "They used advanced terraforming techniques to change the climate on the mountain, making it warm enough for them to live on. Eventually, the Loramysha living in the area decided that it wasn't right to change the natural climate, and drove the Poya out. The remains of their terraforming have been here ever since, serving as markers for travelers to the caves."

Atem chuckled. "It seems like relations between the worlds are more unstable than a house of cards. I'm surprised that the Federation hasn't become obsolete after all of these years."

"So am I," Yugi said. "But people have become better about it, I think. Before, everyone used to take offense to even the smallest cultural mistake. It's easier to be friends with another species, now."

"Well, dat's obvious." Joey stated. "I mean, just look at you and—ah!" Joey was cut off as he slipped and fell hard on his backside.

Yugi giggled and helped him up. "Uh, after we pass the stream, a whole bunch of ice is going to be on the paths. I guess I should have warned you."

Joey rubbed his rear. "Ya really should have…"

Everyone stepped carefully after that. Tea slipped once, and Joey, ever clumsy, slipped again. Finally, they saw the valley widen dramatically, and there before them was an entrance to a frozen cavern.

"These the caves?" Tristan asked, getting his balance on a rock. "Finally…"

Atem seemed to be suffering the worst from the cold. The others had eventually gotten used to the loss of feeling in their extremities, but he looked faint and extremely tired. "I'm glad we didn't g-get lost," he said softly. "Hopefully the Lilitum will be somewhere close inside."

Yugi noticed Atem's poor state of health as they walked into the cave. "Are you alright, Atem?" he asked, concerned. "You don't look so good, and I know it must have been cold for you."

Atem, resilient as ever, merely shook his head. "I'm alright, Yugi. We should get going." He could also be aggravatingly stubborn.

"You're the one who told me that this mission didn't have a time limit," Yugi retorted. "Besides, I'm feeling a bit chilly myself. Let's start a fire and hang out for a bit."

"Yugi, I told you. That's really not necessary—"

"I'm feeling cold," Yugi said sternly. "I'm starting a fire. You go ahead into the caves if you want, but I'm going to take a rest."

Atem sighed, but he nodded in consent. Yugi could be aggravatingly stubborn as well. Yugi took a small device out of his pocket and set it on the ground. He pressed a few buttons, and in an instant, a large fire sprung up. Yugi smiled as his handiwork and leaned peacefully against the cave wall.

Atem quickly sat beside the fire. "What was that, Yugi?"

"Something my father used to have," he replied. "He and my mom always used to get into fights about the temperature, so he would just go outside and start a fire. He did it so often that he invented a way of starting a big fire without bothering with fuel or flint."

"Cool…" Tea said, grinning as she rubbed her hands. "Your parents sound really awesome, Yugi."

Yugi smiled. "They really, really were. I wish you could have met them."

They chatted idly for another few minutes, but they didn't realize that their warm fire was stirring something. Something that lay deep within the Caves of Mt. Fortanya.