It didn't take long for the party to reach Stillsnow after they departed from the shrine of Aelfric. The cave closed itself away from the world once again as soon as they had left, and the Ember's glow started to die down. The words of the goddess continued to ring in all of their ears, offering reminders of this supposed power of second chance that Aelfric had provided them. Beyond that, the goddess of light had offered them all the ability to use her specific brand of magic, including those who had never tried to do so before. All of Aelfric's gifts had been granted to the team, and they would be more than able to take advantage of them from then on.
Stillsnow wound up first appearing to the group as an outline on the horizon, a small silhouette of black against the cerulean blue of the setting sun of the Frostlands. Since the sky was perpetually shrouded by clouds that consistently offered new flakes to the ground below, it was impossible to see the actual sun in the Frostlands, but it was easy to see when the day was drawing to a close. The normal pale blue of the clouds was dyed bright blue before tapering out to navy as a marker of the ending day, and Ophilia found herself relishing in the snowy colors as Stillsnow grew ever nearer.
The group had been quiet ever since they left the shrine behind, and they had been lucky enough to not be attacked by any wild monsters. Ophilia had to wonder if perhaps this was a gift that Aelfric had left behind for them, temporary safety from the brutality that the monsters of Orsterra were capable of unleashing upon unsuspecting travelers. She still held the Ember a bit tighter as a path began to emerge from the snow below.
Stillsnow offered a climate that Ophilia was used to, and she was glad that she had dressed for the weather when she first left behind Flamesgrace. In Ophilia's opinion, it was always best to have dressed too much for the weather than to have not dressed enough. She would be able to take off her cloak if she had to, but she wouldn't be able to add more fabric if she grew too chilled.
Tressa and Alfyn, clearly not used to the scathingly cold climate of the Frostlands, had shown signs of shivering since the group left the shrine behind. The temperature in the cave had evened itself out to be tolerable regardless of the attire of the travelers, but that benefit had been ultimately short-lived. Both of them practically melted with relief at the sight of Stillsnow in the distance.
The town itself was a simple place, Ophilia found. Stillsnow was hardly anywhere near as large as Flamesgrace, instead simply consisting of a few relevant buildings in the main area of town. The inn could be seen nearby as long with stores for weapons, clothes, and other supplies. Tressa and Alfyn stared longingly at the shop that would provide them with warmer clothing to combat the cold temperatures, and Ophilia already knew where they were going to be spending their time for at least the coming half hour.
Primrose didn't seem to mind the cold contrary to Ophilia's expectations. Given that Primrose was from the Sunlands, it only made sense that she would detest the chilled temperatures of the Frostlands, but she didn't seem to mind in the slightest. It was as if she wasn't focusing in the slightest on what was happening around her. Primrose's dark eyes had been overcome by an unfocused and glassy texture, like she was entirely detached from the situation at hand. Ophilia couldn't help but feel a pang of concern knowing that they were there for Primrose to begin with, and she was the one struggling to focus upon their arrival. Then again, perhaps that was the whole point.
"It's getting late," Olberic declared. "I'm off to get us a few rooms for the night at the local inn. We're going to want to get settled as soon as possible. I... I sense something is amiss in this town."
Ophilia was admittedly taken aback by that at first. Stillsnow was the closest place that she had found in terms of climate when compared to Flamesgrace, and as such, it seemed to feel the most like home compared to the other places that the party had explored up to that point. She didn't know what Olberic was referring to, saying that there was something amiss with a place that felt so much like a perfect snowy paradise to Ophilia.
But as soon as he said it, Ophilia knew that there was something wrong. It was as if her instincts hadn't fully kicked in until after Olberic pointed out what was going on, and after that, she couldn't stop noticing it. The knot in the pit of her stomach grew worse, and Ophilia's frown grew overwhelming. It wasn't as if the unfortunate aura of the town was as notable as Sunshade's had been, but it was still something to be wary of, and after what had happened in Sunshade, Ophilia knew better than to let her guard down.
A purr could be heard off to the side, and Ophilia glanced over to see H'aanit chuckling under her breath at the sight of Linde bounding around excitedly in the snow. Linde was a snow leopard, so it was only natural that she would enjoy the climate of the region. Linde seemed to want to nuzzle her face against H'aanit's hand as a way of dragging her hunting partner off to explore, and her feline smile couldn't be restrained. Ophilia hadn't realized that cats could express their joy in such a way until she saw the gleam in Linde's eyes, something so notably excited that it didn't even seem to be real.
"I will stayen with Linde," H'aanit declared to the group. She leaned over and scratched the leopard behind the ears gently. "She is glade to returnen to her homeland, and her energy is hardly suited for an inn room at present. I shall reuniten with thou shortly." She stopped petting at Linde's head as she took a small step back, giving the white cat the chance to start roaming around the entrance to the town once again. Luckily, there weren't any other occupants of the town to stare at Linde's kitten-like behavior, so the only ones who did anything to observe the snow leopard were the members of the party themselves. Hägen watched Linde with what Ophilia assumed was an old-soul expression, only halfway understanding the excitement that had overcome Linde.
"Let's go to the inn to get our rooms then," Cyrus declared with a light smile. "Ophilia, Therion, Primrose, would you like to come with Olberic and I? I presume that Tressa and Alfyn will be searching for warmer attire first."
Ophilia nodded, and Therion didn't offer much of a response. He glanced around the rest of the town, his visible eye narrowing. "I'm going to look around," he said in the place of an open disagreement. He slunk away soon afterwards, claimed by the shadows themselves as he disappeared from view.
Once Therion was gone, Olberic and Cyrus turned their attention to Primrose silently. The dancer still hadn't responded, and Ophilia couldn't help but feel that even the dancer's warmer attire wasn't entirely what she needed to endure the harsh temperatures of the Frostlands. It was as if Primrose didn't even notice that though, too busy watching the snowflakes below to bother register the chill around her, much less the fact that she had been asked a question by Cyrus a few moments prior. Primrose was too lost in her own thoughts to care about the rest of the world, and to Ophilia, that was the most concerning thing of all.
"Primrose?" Olberic questioned once again after a short period of silence came over them. Cyrus and Ophilia both watched patiently, waiting for an answer with concern in their eyes.
Primrose finally seemed to come back to her senses when she felt the eyes of the others on her once again. "H-Huh?" she questioned. It took her a moment to figure out what question she was meant to be answering in the first place, but once she did, she smiled tensely, undoubtedly caught by surprise. That was clearly impacting her ability to put on her regular show, but she did her best to hide it regardless. "O-Oh, yes... Let's go."
Cyrus offered Primrose another brief glance of confusion before he turned on his heel and started to walk in the direction of the inn. Olberic followed after him with Primrose trailing in their path next. Ophilia shook her head as she watched Primrose from behind. She had an awful feeling about how nervous Primrose seemed to have gotten, and she could only hope that the other girl decided to open up to them soon enough about her issues.
Therion had been to the colder towns of Orsterra before, and his clothing had been made specifically so that he would be able to weave through the chill without any worries. In Therion's opinion, it was better to be hot than cold, an opinion that was formed after one too many nights in the chill of a midnight sting.
As such, he didn't particularly mind the fact that he was wearing warm clothing in a cold place. He was going to be fine, and he would undoubtedly only feel better when he got to the inn and was out of the elements. It had stopped snowing, and Therion was glad for that much. The Frostlands had more than enough snow as it was, and it had to let up every once in a while.
Therion could feel something wrong with Stillsnow. He had been there once in the past, but it was his only time visiting the town because he knew that there was something amiss about this peculiar town. At a first glance, it appeared to be perfectly innocent, but Therion knew better than to trust surface level information. After all, he had trusted outward appearances before, and it had nearly driven him into an early grave.
In a way, Stillsnow seemed to come to life at night. That was something Therion had noticed during his last trip there. Some people only seemed to show themselves at night, and the tavern was such a shady place that Therion, regularly a connoisseur of all types of mead, decided to stay as far away as he could manage. He wanted nothing to do with the place, and as far as he could tell, he wasn't the only one. There were many people who seemed to walk a little bit faster when the tavern came into view, and Therion only took it as evidence that there was something extremely wrong with the town as whole.
There was one building in particular that sat against the regular aesthetic of the town, and Therion couldn't help but glare at it from afar. Other buildings were all made to sustain the chill and keep the occupants warm, but that was no the case in the slightest with this one refuge from the cold. It was simple and brown, flat and close to the snow with only a single door on one side and a chimney on the roof far from the street. The building was close to the tavern as well, and when the two structures were compared, it almost seemed as if they didn't even belong in the same town in the first place. The tavern was one of the nicest in physical appearance that Therion had ever seen, and yet, he didn't think that anyone would be able to pay him enough money to set foot inside knowing that there was something wrong.
The barkeep had been a reputable enough man as far as Therion could tell. There wasn't anything that appeared to be wrong with him on a surface level, but there was still something going on in his business, like the trouble hung in the air around him rather than consuming him. It was enough for Therion to be suspicious, and he knew that he was going to have to figure out what was happening one way or another.
It was merely a gut instinct that told him this was the case, but Therion wasn't going to be able to ignore it. He didn't know much about Primrose, her mission, or why she was going to Stillsnow in the first place, but it was just a matter of time before he heard what her reasoning was. Stillsnow was a place that even Therion, a master thief until his most recent heist, wanted to avoid at all costs, so what the hell could Primrose want from it?
Therion had nabbed a few leaves and Soulstones from the pockets of passerby and was currently shuffling his fingers around in his cloak to feel for the weight and value of everything that he had picked up when he saw something out of the corner of his eye. Therion looked up, seeing that there was something wrong immediately. Something deep down told him to reach for his dagger even though he knew realistically that he was safe. He was out in the open, so there was nothing to fear, right?
Soon though, Therion realized that it wasn't as if he was in any type of danger; instead, he was simply bothered by the attire of the person who had passed by. It was a girl wearing an outfit that Therion had once seen on the dancers of Sunshade on the other side of Orsterra. Therion had only been there once as well, wanting to be sick the second that he caught a glimpse of the tavern's owner, but as soon as he saw the dancer, Therion realized exactly why he thought something was wrong with Stillsnow.
It wasn't something that people would notice at a first glance, but Stillsnow had the same terrifying issues that Sunshade did. There was something lurking in the shadows, and it was undoubtedly related to the way that Sunshade treated the women who lived within its boundaries. Stillsnow had dancers wearing similar attire that was only slightly adapted to the extreme cold of the Frostlands, and the dancer that passed by was wearing the same expression of horrified shame that the dancers of Sunshade once had.
Therion was glued to the spot for a long moment, simply staring at the dancer even though she had no interest in him. She vanished around a corner a few beats later, and it was only then that Therion was able to pull himself out of his internal trance. His eyes were wide, and his heart was beating much faster and louder than he had realized beforehand. Every part of his body knew that there was something wrong with this town, and he wouldn't be able to deny it no matter how hard he tried, not that he even wanted to attempt that in the first place.
It took another handful of moments for Therion to pull himself together enough to start walking away. He shoved his face down into his scarf, his breath puffing out as a white trail in front of his nostrils. He didn't trust being alone in this town for longer than a few minutes, and even that was questionable. He didn't know what in the world Primrose wanted from this place, but he prayed that she didn't get herself sucked into hell along the way.
Primrose was lucky enough to be able to spend some time alone in her room for a short while. Since H'aanit was out letting Linde run out her energy, Primrose was alone in the room that they were sharing. Cyrus and Olberic were together in the room across the hall with Ophilia and Tressa next door. Finally, Alfyn and Therion were diagonal from the space that Primrose would be sharing with H'aanit for the night. They had been lucky enough to all get rooms gathered in the same area, a privilege that they likely wouldn't be offered the next time that they were in a town.
Primrose was relieved that H'aanit was occupied by her partner's burst of activity. She needed time to think all of this over, and she knew that she was going to have to confront the beast in the room sooner or later. She wouldn't be able to keep the rest of the group in the dark for too much longer. Primrose didn't know if she wanted them to get involved with her problems in the first place, but she was also smart enough to know that sneaking in and trying to take out the crow would be too risky on her own.
They still didn't know what they were getting into. Primrose hadn't been able to tell them, and nobody had bothered to breach the subject yet either. It wasn't as if her fight against Helgenish had yielded much in the way of answers for her companions. It was a simple affair that was only tangentially related to her search, not offering any information for those who she was traveling with. In other words, that meant that the full story was going to have to come from her own lips, and Primrose couldn't tell if she preferred that or hated it more than the alternative.
They were in Stillsnow because of her mission. She was the reason that they had come here, and if not for her motivations, they would have been able to coast right through town to move on and head into Noblecourt as per Therion's mission. Primrose hated the idea of going back to Noblecourt even after all this time, still feeling the taste of disgrace on the back of her tongue, but she wouldn't be able to avoid it forever. Was Stillsnow a welcome or unwanted obstacle to her old home? Why didn't she have a conclusive answer to that question?
Primrose let out a heavy sigh as she shook her head. She wouldn't be able to run forever. It seemed as if that was all that she had been doing ever since she left Stillsnow, but it wasn't an option that she could take advantage of each day from then on. She forced herself to stay moving so that she would be able to avoid the internal fallout that would come from grieving Yusufa, but everything was going to fall apart soon. Stillsnow was going to be their temporary home for at least another few days, and this was where the next step of Primrose's journey would be taking place.
It was only a matter of time before H'aanit returned to the room, and while H'aanit was more than able to respect silence, she was bound to ask at least something about what was happening. H'aanit knew how to strike to the heart of a matter, and she was going to want to try and figure out what Primrose was struggling against internally. H'aanit was arguably the best at giving people space save for perhaps Therion, but the others in the group were going to find themselves curious sooner or later.
The mission was going to be taking place the next day. Everyone was too tired from the battle against Aelfric to charge off into danger for the time being, and that meant Primrose had at most twenty-four hours to try and find a way to explain everything to her companions. It wasn't going to be easy, but she had held it off for long enough, and that wasn't going to be a luxury that she kept forever.
Primrose could only imagine their responses when she explained that she was searching for the killers of her father to murder them in cold blood. For all of the respectability that they thought she had, she was awfully willing to betray their trust just after she had been given the chance to earn it. She was not the same person that they thought she was. She had cried over Yusufa and shown the true extent of grief in the deserts around Sunshade, but she wasn't the same person that they dreamed her to be. She was a traitor and setting herself up to dip her hands in blood until she couldn't scrape it from beneath her nails. Primrose could only hope that she didn't spend so long staring at the creases of her palms when she killed the crows in comparison to how she had been in the aftermath of Yusufa's death.
It was all too easy for Primrose to shove her face into her palms. She welcomed the heat that it brought to her cheeks, almost wishing that it would be able to take her somewhere that rested between the drastic bone-deep chill of Stillsnow and the scorching heat of Sunshade. Noblecourt's climate was somewhere in the middle ground, and yet, she didn't want to go there yet either.
Primrose didn't know how she was going to handle returning home. She was certainly going to have to hide her true identity while they were there, but hopefully it wouldn't be too hard for her to acquire a cloak while she was in Stillsnow. If she had known that they were going to be heading to Noblecourt, she would have purchased something of that nature while they were still in Clearbrook all that time ago, and yet, life had ways of shifting in unexpected directions.
But sulking and thinking about how she was going to carry out her responsibilities was hardly productive. She had to get out there and make sure that she actually spoke with the other members of the group the way that she knew she had to. They wouldn't be able to help her until she explained what she was searching for in the first place. It was required no matter how much she wished to get out of it.
The main thing that was holding her back was the fact that she feared their reactions. Primrose had made her peace years ago with walking this path alone, and Yusufa had been the first sign of a change in that respect. And yet, Yusufa never got the chance to understand the true extent of Primrose's secrets or struggles, and the rest of the group was going to have no choice but to face her deepest stabs of honesty, flaws and all. Was this going to be what pushed them over the edge to part ways? Would her actions be what sent them all fleeing in horror of the monster that she was bound to become? It wouldn't surprise her in the slightest, and she knew that it was inevitable for people to leave under these pretenses, but it cut much deeper than she anticipated regardless.
Primrose could have sworn that she heard a knock at the door, and the mere assumption that there was someone coming to see her made her feel as if she was going to leap free of her skin at a moment's notice. In the end, she realized that the sound had actually come from the door one room over. In other words, it was likely Tressa coming back to see Ophilia after they had gotten their room at the inn.
Primrose didn't allow herself to relax at that revelation though. She wasn't going to allow herself to hide this any longer than she already had, and that meant that she was going to finally have to tell the rest of the group about everything that she had been hiding beneath the surface. They had a right to know, and even if this was what caused everything to fall apart, Primrose would deal with the consequences when the time was right. She had known this was coming from the start, and she shouldn't have allowed herself to get attached in the first place. Her attachment to Yusufa had felt like an arrow to the chest back in Sunshade, and it had gotten someone killed. The least that Primrose could do was either give them the chance to walk away before they were dragged into something that they wished to avoid or to alert them of the danger that they were in by associating with her.
Primrose could see that Alfyn and Therion had both returned to the hallway as well, though Alfyn was the first one of them to notice that Primrose was present. He perked up as he fumbled with the key that would allow him to enter the room that he was sharing with Therion for the night, one eyebrow raising in Primrose's direction. "What's going on, Prim?" he questioned, and Primrose pretended that his affectionate nickname didn't make her want to be sick at the reminder of Yusufa and the taste of blood on the back of her tongue.
"We need to talk," Primrose told him simply. That was enough to catch Therion's attention as well, and he looked up at her with confusion in his one visible eye. He seemed to shelve it a moment later to make sure that nobody noticed what he was thinking, and with that, he started to walk a bit closer to her, seemingly realizing that she was going to be needing his presence when she started speaking about whatever was on her mind.
"What about?" Alfyn questioned, an anxious smile starting to spread across his face, the last veil of defense between him and the nerves that were starting to take over in the wake of Primrose's sudden struggles.
"I need to speak with all of you," Primrose corrected in the place of a proper response. She was only going to be able to say this once, and she had to get it all out in that single attempt at conversation. That was simply how it was going to have to be if she wanted to find a way to push through this.
Alfyn hesitated before he nodded, seeming to realize just how serious Primrose was about this. He knew better than to protest something that she was clearly searching for so desperately, so he simply turned his attention to the next room over to tell Cyrus and Olberic about what was coming next. Therion, meanwhile, looked up to her with a wary glance, something that seemed almost shaken to the core in a way that Primrose hadn't expected. Anyone who wasn't used to reading others wouldn't have caught it, but Primrose was better at recognizing uncertainty in the eyes of others than she chose to show openly. It was how she had survived over the past ten years, and it would help her to push through the next few legs of her journey as well.
H'aanit came walking in from down the hallway a moment later, Linde and Hägen trailing effortlessly in her path. Hägen seemed to have the aura of a father looking after a child, something that wasn't entirely unexpected given the way that Linde had been behaving earlier. Primrose chose to not acknowledge the sensation of the animals though, instead simply focusing her attention on H'aanit a moment later, her eyes narrowing. "We have to talk," she told the huntress intensely.
"Oh? What plagueth thee?" H'aanit questioned, her tone growing strangely heavy when she saw how many lead weights were dragging down Primrose's gaze. She looked over Primrose a moment later, seeking any signs that would tell her what it was that she had to know about the discussion to come.
"I'll tell you soon," Primrose answered simply, once again taking the chance to not offer a true response. She turned to walk into the room that she and H'aanit were sharing for the time being, though it wouldn't surprise her if she wound up being pushed out of it before the night ended. After all, it wouldn't be entirely shocking for the group to abandon her. She was the one who had taken so long to tell them about her issues, and that was going to bite her sooner rather than later as far as she could tell.
Alfyn moved to retrieve Tressa and Ophilia as Olberic and Cyrus glanced to one another in confusion, having arrived out in the hallway after hearing Alfyn's brief yet confused explanation as to the fact that Primrose needed to speak with them. Primrose was distantly aware of the words that Alfyn was speaking the same way that she knew vaguely of the fact that H'aanit had entered the room and sat down on the floor, Linde and Hägen both settling down on either side of her. She stroked gently at the heads of the pair of animals, her eyes not drifting to Primrose despite her clear desire to learn what was bothering the dancer to such a degree.
Primrose knew that there was no way for her to go back from this point. She was the one who had made the choice to tell them, and she had only been able to get away with her silence for so long. This was going to be the conversation that changed everything for better or worse, and Primrose was ready to accept whatever outcome was handed to her by the universe. This was her mistake to take accountability for, and the responses of the other members of the group were unimportant to her.
That was what she told herself, doing her best to shove aside the sense of camaraderie that had risen in her core in the aftermath of meeting the group. She was glad to have them to lean on in the fallout that came after Yusufa's murder, but at the same time, Primrose knew that she couldn't become too reliant. After all, she had dragged Yusufa down, and she refused to do that to anyone else.
But she didn't care how they responded. Right?
Welcome to chapter two, everyone!
I feel like it's pretty clear what I mean when it comes to looser pacing. We're going to actually get into the second chapter for Primrose either next chapter or the one after that with character moments lining the space between since now that the group is together in full, it's time for them to start developing relationships. Primrose is a good place to start since it both makes sense in terms of mapping and also she needs to start opening up as soon as possible. She's dealing with Yusufa's death in a really unhealthy way right now by shutting out her grief with distractions and denying herself any sense of positive emotion, and that's a problem that has to be taken care of. Plus, this lets Therion take the development horse next, so victory all around!
I really did like working on this chapter simply because of how basic it is in terms of plot. The group is just bonding and finding their place, and I think that it's the smaller moments like this that take advantage of the new format of the story as opposed to the game itself. I adore stuff like this, and I had to show it off in full.
Anyways, I'm going to leave you off here. Next time, we'll pick up with Primrose sitting down and being honest for the first time since meeting the group. Until then, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Feedback is appreciated as always. Have a nice day, everyone!
-Digital