"More wine, sir?"
"Yes please."
Antonio held out his cup and allowed the farmer's daughter to pour more wine into his cup. She stopped once it had been sufficiently filled, before she nodded at him and walked back into the cottage.
They had just finished supper, and their group was relaxing outside in front of the cottage. The only two members of their party not present, Alfred and Lovino, were still inside trying to wake Madeline up. Arthur's strategy had worked flawlessly, and it only took a couple hours for her heart and lungs to defrost and start working again. While her heart and blood took care of the rest of her body, Alfred had moved his magic to her head in the hopes of waking her up.
In the meantime, Antonio was able to sit on one of the benches and listen to the others chat away. They had plenty of time to explain to Tolys where Arthur came from, and of his unusual realm where he knows all of them. They were now pestering Arthur for stories about their alternate selves, including Tolys who had not yet known anything about Lithuania.
Their conversation was interrupted by caws from Naktakė, who squawked when Tolys suddenly moved to stretch his arms out.
"Oh yeah, you must be tired," Feliks commented as Naktakė landed on his lap instead, "You've been on princess-guarding duty for two days now."
"It's been a long couple days," Tolys said, "and a lot of information to let sink in."
"I don't expect you to understand my story right away," Arthur allowed, "Take your time coming up with more questions for me."
"Oh no, I think I understand your story, Arthur," Tolys reassured, "It's about Princess Madeline that I don't understand things."
"What do you mean?" Antonio inquired.
"All those rumours through the years don't make sense anymore," Tolys elaborated, "Princess Madeline has been called an icy witch by everyone in Prathage, only known for the murder and her icy wrath. But when I met her in the woods yesterday, she was kind, gentle, and humble. There was no trace of this evil force everyone claims her to be."
"How did you find her?" Feliciano asked, "Your letter said you watched her unfreeze a blueberry bush before lifting the whole winter, what was that about?"
"We crossed paths near a creek where we both wanted to fetch water," Tolys illustrated, "Before Naktakė spotted Madeline's presence, I had been speaking to a frail starving bird who was struggling to feed her chicks. When I told her that the bird was looking for food, Madeline tried to unfreeze the bush and it worked."
"She unfroze a blueberry bush because a bird was hungry?" Feliks checked, "After five years of endless winter, that's all it took for her to lift it?"
"Madeline did not explain her logic to me," Tolys disclosed, "I tried to ask how she did it, and whether she could do more. She never answered my questions, but she wanted to know if the animals of the forest would be happier if the winter was lifted. When I said the birds would appreciate it, she then cast the larger spell."
"Her choice makes sense to me," Arthur ratified, "Back in my world, Canada is a fond nature lover, and cares deeply for animals and the environment. If she knew that something was harming the animals, she would do a closer review to see if those risks could be mitigated."
"But she cast the eternal winter, isn't that what Lovino said?" Antonio recalled, "If Madeline knew the animals would be hurt by this endless winter, why would she cast this spell in the first place?"
Arthur shrugged his shoulders, allowing the group to drop into silence at the lack of a known answer. For a few quiet moments, the only sound was soft crooning from Naktakė, who was still getting neck scratches from Feliks. This was then interrupted by Lovino coming outside from the front door of the cottage.
"Princess Madeline has awoken," Lovino reported, "She is finally conscious, although still quite weak."
"That's good to hear," Antonio remarked, "I assume Alfred is talking her ears off?"
"He sure is, we'll see how long she can stand to listen to him," Lovino added, "She did make a curious request, however. She wants to speak to the man who was there in the forest with her, the one who speaks to birds."
"That would be my cue," Tolys commented as he stood up.
Antonio watched as Tolys placed his cup of wine on the bench where he had been sitting next to Feliks, before heading towards the front door. Lovino moved aside to let Toris pass inside, leaning against one of the wooden beams to the outside awning.
"How is Madeline recovering?" Feliks inquired, "Anything you can see about her eternal winter spell?"
"Tolys was right, she over-exerted herself," Lovino explained, "There is always a price to pay when using powerful magic. As high as it may be to cast it in the first place, trying to reverse your own magic afterwards out of regret is even more punitive. This was already a powerful spell that Madeline cast for the eternal winter in the first place, which is why it nearly killed her to reverse this portion of it."
"This portion of it?" Arthur probed, "You mean the endless winter spell is still partially active?"
"That is correct, she could not reverse the entire spell at once," Lovino continued, "In this first attempt, while she was able to free a large portion of Prathage from the winter, she could not free the entire kingdom. As such, there are areas of the kingdom still subject to the endless winter as we speak."
"Do we know which territories?" Antonio grilled, "Can you see where from reading her magic?"
"I don't have anything specific to confirm," Lovino denied, "There seems to be a northern influence, I can say that much. The scouts and rangers sent out from Primgate the other day will need to report back with the confirmed details."
"So once she recovers from this attempt, there is still more for her to do?" Feliciano examined, "Could the subsequent attempts be just as deadly?"
"That's hard to say," Lovino answered, "We'll need to fully judge the extent of this attempt first, before demanding her to possibly risk her life for the rest of it."
As Lovino finished speaking, Tolys walked back outside with a soft smile on his face. Antonio watched as he silently slipped back over to his seat beside Feliks, picking up his cup of wine before sitting down.
"Well?" Feliks asked, "What's with the dopey smile?"
"Madeline fell back to sleep while I was in there," Tolys explained, "She was barely awake, and only had the strength to ask me one very important question before she passed out again."
"What did she ask?" Arthur pried.
Tolys sipped his wine, and Antonio saw him pause to reflect on it in a seemingly dazed manner, before finally giving the group his answer.
"Are the birds happy now?"