Chapter 8

SO SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING!

Midori woke up before dawn the next morning and decided against going back to sleep. There was really no point.

So she quickly got up and made her bed, dressed in her uniform and did her morning routine of cleaning her teeth, brushing her hair, and practicing with her glaive. Glancing out her window, she noticed that a thin frost had formed on the windowpane, hinting that a cold night had hit them.

She searched in her trunk for her warm clothing and paused when her hand brushed what felt like tightly woven cloth, she pulled it out and noticed it was a group of Yamani poems stitched into white linen with green thread, they seem to connect into one winding conclusion.

She could just translate a few of the words on her own, and yet she understood the full poem:

If I gave my life

Would it be enough for you?

Enough to hold and bear

She read the second poem:

Courage comes from within you

Though you may not see it there

It guards you, daughter

She kept reading:

Take up your blade. Kill

Take up your shield and defend them

Take up your heart. Love

The last she remembered:

If you shall die here

Know that he loves and remembers you

Even now as night dawns

Slightly dazed from what she read, Midori continued searching and found what she needed: a wool sweater, boots and coat.

Exiting and locking her door, she begged the cook for a bun and a slab of meat and a few raw carrots. She made a sandwich and walked to the stables, eating on her way, the carrots she saved for Yukiko.

"You're not the only one who rides before dawn, 'Green-eyes'" a deep voice stated, sounding amused.

The mage lights illuminated his kind face and Midori couldn't help but grin as he continued saddling up his black charger—a mare named Velvet. "Well Kalen, I had to give up extra hours of sleep, you know"

Kalen chuckled and took Velvet's lead rein, facing the woman he asked, "Do you want to ride in the forest?"

"Sure, I'd love to" she replied.

As both mounted and began toward the mouth of the Royal Forest, Kalen looked out to the white- gold light of dawn that was just kissing the top of a low hill. "You know there's a Midwinter ball coming up?"

"Yes?"

"Well I'd like...like to escort you" he whispered.

"You would? After almost no one would sponsor me the first day?"

"That was five years ago, Midori, you've changed since then..."

Midori almost halted Yukiko in mid-gallop, the way he had said her name, with a soft tenderness, gave her a sweet taste in her mouth as if his words were a tasty meal and she a hungry beggar.

But if his tone was true, then why did she have a lingering doubt? Of course his choice of words had possibly meant nothing and he had just made a kind statement to lift her spirits, but then again...

They rode in silence for another ten minutes and finally Midori mustered up the courage to ask him: "Have you ever been in love?"

"Me? No, but it seems nice in fables, the way they describe it. The moonlit nights, soft music playing, a perfect silence, no words needed...I guess love is what you call an indescribable feeling, it's too difficult to comprehend and yet our hearts understand entirely..."

"That's an interesting way to put it" Midori commented, watching as the snow fell lightly around them and melted as they landed on her coat. She had brought no gloves in her hurry to go riding, and her hands felt like ice. She rubbed them together to keep them warm.

"You need your hands to control the reins" Kalen whispered. "Here, borrow my gloves" he handed her a pair of leather gloves, which she took gratefully.

They rode and talked for another twenty minutes before heading back to give their mounts a rest. Midori took off the gloves and handed them back to Kalen, who shook his head, "Keep them, you might need them later..."

After lunch in the mess hall, Midori and the others talked about the skating event that was to happen soon, in honor of midwinter and to just have some fun, they agreed to meet with their skates at the edge of the frozen pond in five minutes.

Midori remembered to bring her own gloves this time and placed Kalen's pair in her trunk, where a pair of skates sat propped up against a few books. She hurried outside and greeted the others with a wave as she sat on a log and removed her boots to slip on the skates, which were just warm calf-high boots with blades magiked to the bottom of the sole.

Wobbling slightly on the thin blades, while Emrys, Amyl, Kalen, Oraina, and Sheba glided almost effortlessly across the ice, she envied them. She tried to copy them and instead fell on her back, with a gasp of fright. Midori laughed at how stupid she must've looked and tried to stand, she succeeded in standing and turned to see Amyl holding her steady, "It's easy, Midori" she encouraged.

"I haven't skated in years!" Midori grinned, and gasped again as she slipped but caught her balance, with Amyl's help.

"It's easy, all you have to do is imagine you're in boots and that you're floating..." Amyl replied, "Try it"

Midori nodded and closed her eyes, she slid one foot forward and then the other, and soon she opened her eyes and smiled as she continued across the pond. She turned sharply and stopped in the middle of the pond. "I did it" she whispered, proud of herself.

But what she didn't notice, nor hear, was the sharp sounds of crackling.

Then she felt someone push her backwards--a splitting sound, and a splash soon followed by a surge of panic—the ice had broken. Midori sat up and frantically looked around. Only four of the five of her friends were seen. She felt a rush of horror catch in her throat, an overwhelming sense that choked her.

If I gave my life

Would it be enough for you?

Enough to hold and bear

She scrambled to her knees, digging away the snow that covered the frozen surface of ice, trying desperately to find her friend. Tears pricked at her eyes as she imagined him, searching frantically for the air hole, in fear of dying...

No.

She wouldn't let that happen.

She pounded hopelessly on the ice, panting, and tears pouring down her cheeks at her own failure.

Suddenly she saw him in the mirror-like ice and scrambled to her feet, she saw a large piece of ice had broken off and left a hole...

Midori threw off her boots and, hearing the cries of her friends, she dove into the frigid pond water, not caring if she only wore thin layers to keep her slightly warm. The cold hit her like a thousand knives or a thousand snake fangs, numbing her body from head to toe. Opening her eyes to the murky water, she saw him swimming, or rather drifting, not too far off.

Using powerful strokes, Midori reached to him and took his wrist, he turned and she gestured for him to follow her, nodding and gripping onto her wrist he helped both to where Midori had last seen the hole. But where was it now? She couldn't find it, it had disappeared...

Courage comes from within you

Though you may not see it there

It guards you, daughter

Her supply of oxygen was flickering, fading. But he needed it more. Midori then, without thinking, cupped his cheeks in her hands and kissed him softly, letting the air pass through her cold lips to his mouth. With her air spent, she felt her eyes close and her body fall into unconsciousness.

With the extra oxygen, Kalen managed to find the hole and with Midori cradled in his arms, he brought her and himself to the surface. As Emrys and Oraina helped him out of the water, Amyl ran to get help while Sheba placed Midori on the ground, wrapping her coat around he friend.

Almost a minute after Amyl came running back with Alanna, and Neal. All looked anxious and immediately Alanna took control of the situation, "Stand back all of you," Alanna kneeled next to Midori and let her violet Gift flow through Midori. "Goddess, please help her..." the lady knight silently prayed.

Neal brought Kalen a blanket which he took and wrapped around his shoulders with a murmured thanks, "She saved my life, I would be dead now, if it weren't for her..."

If you shall die here

Know that he loves and remembers you

Even now as night dawns

Amyl bit her lip in worry, Oraina snuggled closer into Emrys' shoulder in need of comfort, and Sheba silently prayed to all the gods that were listening, that her friend would not pass into the Peaceful Realms.

Cursing and muttering under her breath, Alanna finally sighed in relief as Midori turned to her side and coughed up the water from her lungs, chest heaving and filling with the sweet air of winter.

"You're alive!" Neal exclaimed, others joined in, hugging and smiling at her friend's recovery. Alanna smiled and left, telling the others to stay off the ice from now on.

Only Kalen hung back. Questions tumbled in his mind. Had that kiss she had shared with him meant something to her? Or was it just to keep him alive underwater?

He shook his head in disbelief, refusing to believe that their friendship had developed into more.

And yet, in his heart he knew that it was true.