The flurry of action had died down, and the denizens of the camp quieted down again. Levina was crouched down beside the fire, feeding it a few sticks of wood. The flame swayed to and fro, protected from the winds by the sheet of metal around it.

It was done; Andrey slowly calmed his Arts again, settling back in to quietly observe the four researchers.

Three, now. Fredrich was… sleeping.

Anne was sitting down beside the tent where Frostnova rested, hugging her legs to her chest. As Andrey watched, Ben sat down beside her, what looked like a thermometer in hand.

The snow stretched out before them, the infinitesimally thin line separating sky and earth obscured by the falling snowflakes. For a moment, the world seemed devoid of anything but them.

"Cold, huh?" Ben turned towards Anne.

"You think it's the girl?" Anne asked.

"Maybe. Fredrich's sleeping. Can't check."

"Through all that?"

"Apparently."

"Huh. Guess we'll wait, then."

Ben set down the thermometer beside him, and the two sat in silence for a while.

"We should go back." Anne said.

"Your tent's taken, if you haven't noticed." Ben gestured to where Frostnova rested.

"Yeah, I know."

"Any plans for tomorrow?"

"What, we have plans now?" Anne giggled, adopting a mock-serious tone. "Do tell."

Ben laughed. "I don't. Go ask Levina."

"Any idea what her signal was about?"

"Seems like she wanted us to run. Something to do with that girl, most likely." Ben picked up the thermometer again, brushing off some loose flecks of snow. "If I recall what she told us correctly."

"Huh. Well, things seem fine now."

"Yeah, or else we'd probably be dead."

"No need to be that pessimistic, Ben." Anne placed a hand on his shoulder. "Come on, let's go."

"Where?"

"To sleep, dummy." Anne stood up, patting off some clumps of snow.

"Bu-"

"I know, tent business and whatnot. We'll just squeeze into your tent."

Ben froze in place for a long moment, then sighed, standing up besides Anne.

From her place beside the fire, Levina watched Anne almost-drag Ben back to his tent. The two soon slipped through the cloth flaps, disappearing from Levina's sight.

She turned back to the stove, feeling the heat constantly radiate off it. She had long since stopped feeding the fire within; it had more than enough fuel to last the night.

She had pulled off her mask some time ago, exposing her face to the elements. The sharp winds kept her awake, providing her ample time to think.

Which she should have been doing, she reminded herself.

The original goal of the mission had been simple. Land rights this far north in Ursus were cheap, particularly with some… manipulation. And in a place wracked by Catastrophes, Originium was plentiful; they only had to find it.

In hindsight, that was quite the naïve belief. Finding a deposit of Originium large enough for the company to devote a full landship to it was difficult to say the least.

Perhaps the other things they had picked up on the way could be an adequate consolation prize. Going back empty-handed was a quick and easy way to get fired.

A form of Arts powerful enough to incapacitate a solider in a blow, however? Maybe it was worth a shot.

But that hinged on coaxing the secrets out of that girl. Not an easy task when first contact had devolved into open conflict.

She supposed she should have felt more. That girl had tried to kill her.

"War is just business." She repeated those words to herself once, then twice. "War is just business."

A stray glint of orange light caught Levina's eye; a long sliver of ice, still stuck in her coat. Ice didn't melt at these temperatures; that piece would be stuck there until she could get it out. She shifted her hand over to to pull it out, only to shrink back at the razor-sharp edges on the ice. Best not to cut her gloves; no spares out here.

Switching tactics, she tried to knock at it with the handle of her knife. The piece stubbornly refused to shatter.

The more she tried to get it out, the more she noticed its infuriating weight pressing her down ever so slightly.

Grumbling in frustration, Levina decided to simply retreat to her tent. No use wasting her time on something trivial. Besides, she could simply pull it out of the fabric once she took the coat off.

Andrey watched in great amusement as Levina used all manner of tools to try and pull out that stray piece of ice from her coat. She had laid it down on the floor of her tent and was currently trying to use a pair of pliers to grip onto the slippery ice.

Those pliers looked ten sizes too small for the job. That couldn't be a fun experience. While Andrey had no such recollections, some part of him emphasized.

Levina let out another grumble as her pliers slipped off the piece yet again, eliciting a light chuckle from Andrey.

"Well, at least it isn't embedded in my shoulder." She said to no one in particular.

After another few minutes of struggling, she gave up, opting instead to pull out her dagger – and outright cut into the tough outer layer of the coat. A quick circular cut around the cloth, and her pliers finally found grip; allowing her to slowly ease the tough piece out.

Levina breathed a sigh of relief as she finally got the piece out. It wasn't that large, really, barely half the size of her hand. Brushing some stray stuffing and fabric off of it, she carefully held it up to the dim lamp illuminating her tent.

It was a translucent, almost-opaque white piece, more like a rock than ice. Well, no use keeping it; while a peculiar color, it was just ice. May as well smash it.

It would be satisfying, at least, after it had tormented her for almost half an hour. Walking out the tent, she walked over to Ben's stash of various tools, unlocking it and picking out her tool of choice.

She lightly spun the hammer in her hands as she walked back. Problem solved; it was finally time to sleep. She would stitch the coat back together tomorrow.

Incredible how such a simple thing seemed to make everything better. Ducking back through the flaps of the tent, she moved the spike to an empty space, and slammed it down.

But instead of the satisfying crunch she was expecting, all she got was a solid thunk.

Looking back down, only the slightest hint of a crack was present in the crystal, the ice seemingly largely unharmed.

For a long moment, Levina stared down in disbelief.

She was definitely having a talk with that girl tomorrow.

Consciousness slowly returned to her. The mattress beneath her felt soft and comfortable, if cold…

"Heh, it's been a while since I've slept this soundly." Frostnova thought, head still foggy from sleep.

"Finally awake?" Andrey's voice pierced the fog.

"Andrey!" Frostnova shot up, unprepared for the wave of pain that shocked her back down. "Nn!"

"Don't – oh, never mind. I was about to tell you to avoid exerting yourself."

A head peeked into the tent – the woman from earlier. "Oh, you're awake."

Underneath the covers, Frostnova drew into her Arts, preparing a blast of Arts–

"Relax! Do not attack." Andrey hastily ordered.

–and the Originium-fueled energy dissipated just as quickly as it had come.

"I understand that we did not start off on the right foot –" she began.

"That's an understatement." Andrey sniped.

"– but I hope that we can avoid hostilities moving forward." The woman stepped into the tent, body tense.

Levina cursed herself as she stepped into the tent. Of all the possible things she could have said, of course she had to go with the most generic, bog-standard choice.

She had noticed the Arts forming around that girl, of course. She was still dangerous… though at least the Arts had dissipated by now. By choice or not, that was a good sign.

And she wasn't dead yet. That counted for something.

She forced a smile onto her face and continued. "…Is there a reason you attacked me yesterday?"

As if it was the most normal thing in the world, and not a life-or-death struggle.

The girl paused for a long moment, and Levina's hand shifted to her dagger, anticipating an attack.

"I… was looking for someone."

"I see. You mentioned a 'he,' right?"

"Yes… can I have some time?"

"Of course." Levina stepped back out of the tent to Ben and Anne, who stood there at the ready.

"Well, you're not dead yet." Ben quipped.

"Well, that wasn't bad. You're not dead yet." Andrey commented.

"I'm not that weak." Frostnova replied.

"Yes, you are. What was this about walking through a blizzard?"

"I'm fine."

Andrey sighed. "Sure… alright, we can deal with that later. What's the story we're going with?"

"We do not need to explain that you are within the crystal. If we tell them that the crystal has value, I can threaten them into giving you up."

"Got it. Go ahead; just don't threaten them. Not as if a bedridden girl can threaten much anyways."

"Again, I'm fine." Frostnova protested.

"Sure you are."

Levina stepped back into the tent, feeling somewhat exposed without her dagger. Anne had coaxed her out of taking it, much to her chagrin. "De-escalation," supposedly.

"Can we continue?"

"Yes." The girl had sat up while she was gone, and now cautiously stared at her.

"Introductions, then? I'm Levina." Levina cautiously moved forward a half-step.

"Codename Frostnova." The girl evenly replied.

"Military, or guerilla group. Most likely the latter, so…" Levina noted.

"Infected?" Levina asked on an impulse.

"…that was a horrible question."

"Yes." Again, that same tone.

Well, Levina wasn't making any progress in convincing this… "Frostnova" to trust her.

"So what exactly are you looking for?"

"You took a crystal from an altar, a few weeks ago. We want it returned."

Oh, that. Levina hadn't thought much of it at the time, simply regarding it as another curiosity this far north. Had she pillaged some temple, or place of worship?

"Why do you need that crystal?" Best to establish intent first.

"It is important to our group." Frostnova fixed her with a stare for a moment, before turning away.

Well, that wasn't helpful. "Is there a way for us to analyze your Arts?"

"Ah, that's it. That's why they haven't killed you." Andrey said.

"…Who are they?" Frostnova asked.

"Research team of some sort. I've spied on them a bit."

"No." Frostnova replied.

"Maybe try negotiating. They currently control me, remember?"

"…Okay, maybe."

There it was – the crack in that façade. Frostnova was still uncertain, as much as she wanted to present a confident face to Levina.

"On what condition?" Levina questioned.

"What do you mean by "analysis?""

"We will transport you to company facilities, so that you can either teach or demonstrate your Arts." Levina inwardly sighed. That was a bit too impersonal.

"I don't have much to teach."

"No matter; our research team has experience with all forms of Arts."

"How long will it take?"

"A year, maybe more." Levina replied, tensing up.

"Then… I have to decide. I may need more time."

"Of course." And again, Levina stepped out of the tent.

"I may have a solution." Andrey spoke the moment Levina exited the tent.

"What?"

"Delay her for another hour or so. I can… control a member of their research team, who currently has my crystal. He's not awake, however."

"Your Arts?" Frostnova asked somewhat accusingly.

"No, of course not. Past loyalties."

"To your past self?"

"Yep."

"Fine…"

AN: Finally back to writing. I had a lot of stuff to do, and after I spent something like 3-5 hours writing and rewriting the first 600 words of this chapter (yay, writer's block!) I sort of just gave up.

That aside, I've set up an AO3 account and will probably post this fic over there as this chapter is posted. An URL should be below (Because FFN filters URLs, replace 'dot' with '.'):

archiveofourown dot org / works / 53888848 / chapters / 136398439

Additionally, I've prepared a few extra chapters so that I don't have issues with suddenly running out of chapters to post. I'll be posting weekly, at about this time every week. Aside from this chapter, I currently have 2 (as of 2024/2/17) chapters ready.