The cold stung. Kylie felt as though her coat did nothing to ward against the endless barrage of ice that she trudged deeper into. It had started snowing last night. Through the day the intensity of the snowfall and freezing wind had only grown. She saw the snow pack itself on her coat. She felt it gather on her tail; she shivered more. Her misty, visible breath passed through her quaking fangs in long, heavy gasps. Whatever was left of the forest had disappeared from sight, vanished by either the fallen or the still-falling snow. Only Naomi, her arms crossed and her pace glacial, stood out in the sea of endless white.

Asalya had also disappeared into the wall of snow a while ago. The cold clearly had bothered her too, but her natural coat helped her survive this kind of weather. She’d run towards the mountains, looking for anywhere they could take shelter. Kylie hoped Naomi would agree to follow Asalya when she returned. Then they could use the wood they’d gathered to build another fire. They could fight back against the oppressive cold. Kylie took another step. The ice swallowed her leg almost up to her knees. 

Ahead, Naomi’s pace slowed even more. She was shivering. And coughing. She doubled over, hacking into her elbow. The momentum of leaning forward carried her down until she was off her feet. She tumbled forward and vanished into a puff of snow.

Kylie kicked snow out of the way as she struggled to sprint forward, but it didn’t take long to get where Naomi had landed. She was only surface-level deep, her arms spread and knees pressed against the snow, preparing to push her back up to her feet. The pose reminded Kylie of when she was younger, when she’d awake to fresh snowfall and run outside to go lie down in it, leaving an outline of herself impressed in the hillside. Only Naomi lay face-down. Her legs kicked slowly. She arched her back, and already snow began to fill in the space underneath. Then, resigned, her arms slipped forward, and she lowered herself back down.

“Please help me.”

That was all Kylie needed to hear. She dug her hands in the snow underneath Naomi’s shoulders and lifted. Naomi pushed herself off the ground as much as she could - her tired limbs struggling against the lack of anything firm to push against. When she finally got back to her feet, Kylie had to dig her heels in further, bracing herself to keep Naomi from falling again and carrying her down too. Soon Naomi stabilized. She couldn’t walk without support, but she could walk. That was enough.

The two leaned on each other as they marched, their heads down to shield against the wind. Kylie turned towards the mountains. Naomi turned with her, either out of understanding the need for shelter or because she was too exhausted to put up a fight. Kylie’s ears drooped. The healer leaning on her shoulder brushed more snow off her face. Her feet were unstable, her whole body shook. She wasn’t someone in a position to choose where to get support. Being the only one around didn’t make them friends. And it shouldn’t.

A howl came from the distance. Kylie’s ears sprang up, a relieved smile pushing against the ice on her face. She howled back.

Asalya came sprinting toward them. The wolf ran a couple excited circles around them before stopping in front. Some of Asalya’s energy passed to Kylie; she stopped needing to struggle to keep Naomi on her feet. Asalya took the lead, slowing her pace so the others didn’t lose sight of her. It didn’t take long to see the foot of a northern mountain. It only took a few more steps to find the cave opening at its base.

Naomi had kept her head down for the last long while. Kylie shook her arm gently as they entered the mouth of the cave. The cave sloped down sharply a few feet from the entrance. Kylie walked gingerly ahead of Naomi, careful not to slip on the icy rocks and send them both tumbling down. The snow thinned out the deeper they went. “Naomi, look, Asalya found us some shelter.”

The cleric rolled her head back. She seemed more dazed than Kylie had realized. It was pitch black inside, but the darkness provided enough contrast for Naomi to recognize she’d entered somewhere new.

“Is this a cave?” Her words slurred through her chattering teeth.

“Yeah.” Kylie dragged her deeper into the entrance, as far away from the freezing wind as she could get and still have light to see by. When she found a relatively flat stretch of floor, she sat down slowly, guiding Naomi to do the same. Asalya laid down next to the cleric, scooching closer until eventually Naomi’s head rested on her stomach.

“Do you think there are any bats in this cave?” Naomi asked, her head barely making the motions to scan the roof.

Kylie shook her head as she slid off her pack. “You don’t have to worry about that. If there are any they’re definitely hibernating by now.”

“A shame.” She rolled her head over and fell asleep.

Kylie quickly set to making a fire. It took some doing; the ice had melted and soaked through the pack, getting many of the twigs and logs too wet to ignite. But some in the middle of the bag stayed dry, and that was enough to get started. Soon, the fire grew large enough that she could throw in a damp log, and the water would steam out until the log caught alight. The gentle slope of the cave roof guided the smoke upward and out of the cave’s mouth. Once she was satisfied that she had a stable fire going, Kylie’s exhaustion rushed to meet her. As soon as she paused to feel the warmth on her face, she joined Naomi and Asalya in sleep.

She awoke to warmth, and light, and a stinging pain on her chin. Naomi sat on the other side of the flames, tending to the fire with one hand and petting Asalya with the other. 

“Hey,” Naomi gave a little half-smile.

“‘Morning,” Kylie groaned as she looked around. The firelight pushed back the pitch darkness deeper into the cave, revealing a tunnel of dark rocks lined with veins of sparkling whitestone. Despite the distance, Kylie remembered, this cave was cut into the same range of mountains that people had carved into to get the stones used to build Rodehills and Nighthills. The whole cave sparkled with the sheen of her village in moonlight. Behind her the snowstorm raged on. Snow kept pouring into the cave entrance, a good distance from them but creeping closer. But the cave itself was a sparkling structure, with warmth, wolves, and people. All the comforts of home.

“Is it morning?” Naomi asked, peering toward the snowstorm at the entrance.

Kylie followed her gaze. “I don’t actually have a clue.”

“Ah. Are you doing alright?” Naomi spoke slowly, seeming to search for each word.

“My chin hurts?” Kylie rubbed it but pulled back her hand when it stung worse. “But I’m okay. You?”

“I’m fine. I’ve been up for a while. Had a chance to heal myself.” Naomi gently moved Asalya from her lap and walked to Kylie. “Mind if I have a look?”

Kylie froze. “Um, yeah, go ahead.”

“Do you not want me to?” Naomi’s saw the worry in Kylie’s eyes. A sad recognition spread across her face. “Oh. I, um, I promise I’m not going to try and remove your curses. You don’t even have to worry about it happening accidentally, it’s an entirely different spell. But if you don’t want me to do anything, I won’t.”

Kylie shook her head. “No, go ahead with the healing. It’s alright. If you do anything to me, I’ll just get the curses redone. You know, after I spit in your face and abandon you in this frozen cave.”

She’d intended for that threat to be taken in jest, but there was enough truth in her words and snarl in her voice for Naomi to know she meant it.

“Right.” Naomi’s gaze turned solemnly toward the snow. She walked over to Kylie and slowly lifted her head up, looking at the wolf girl’s chin. “I suppose that’s a good thing, that you can redo them. For you. I mean, if something does happen.”

The hair on Kylie’s ears stood on end. Naomi probably hadn’t meant that to sound as ominous as it did.

“Under your chin is a little bit frostbitten. Frankly, we’re lucky it wasn’t worse. I should be able to take care of it in a couple minutes.” Naomi waited for Kylie’s approval. Kylie nodded, and Naomi began chanting under her breath once again. Her hands were wrapped in the familiar trails of light.

Kylie’s stomach twisted. She closed her eyes and let Naomi place her hand on her chin. It stung for only a moment before a soothing warmth set in. She stayed with her head resting in Naomi’s hand for a while. Kylie had intended to keep her eyes shut tight the whole time, but soon the muscles in her face relaxed and let the pain in them drift away.

“Healing magic feels warm.” Kylie mumbled, gently brushing her head against Naomi’s palm. “It’s a lot different from when I drank those potions. They make you feel sort of heavy for a while.”

“That’s how my hand feels now. And generally how I’ve felt around you.”

“Oh.” Kylie glanced up at Naomi. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it. It was a little uncomfortable at first, but I’ve gotten used to it. Plus, curse detection is a very useful skill for a cleric. Thank you for giving me the chance to practice.” Naomi slowly pulled her hand away. “There. All better.”

Sure enough, the pain was gone.

“Kylie? I should let you know that dark magic is, I think, more dangerous than you realize.” Naomi didn’t face Kylie as she spoke, but her eyes slowly widened. Her words sounded practiced, recited. She held the wrist of her healing hand, which was still wrapped in light. “Some people say it corrupts the desires of its caster or recipient, but that’s not entirely accurate. It tries to respond to the emotions of its caster and the recipient, and usually those aren’t in sync and desires get lost in the shuffle. Mages have died from casting spells as simple as slow-fall using darkness as a catalyst. No one actually knows exactly what any curse is going to do, but they know it’ll make itself worse. And the results will be permanent. It’s not something to play with without serious consideration.”

 “I heard this same speech before, Naomi.” Kylie crossed her legs and sat patiently. “From a teacher who wanted to make sure I was ready and a dad who wanted to make sure I wasn’t. I know what I’ve done, and I’m happy. You don’t have to worry about it.”

“I’ve studied curse removal at the Order for years. Never once did I read anything about someone who was cursed and happy about it.” Her hand opened and shut rhythmically. She looked pleadingly at Kylie. “Do you know what the standard procedure for someone who doesn’t want to get rid of a curse is? You remove it anyway. Or you run. Nobody who knows how they work should want one - nobody but dark witches who use their magic to hurt people. Kylie, I’m supposed to take them from you.” 

Kylie backed away. Asalya perked her head up, ready to move if needed.

The light faded from Naomi’s hand. She wiped away the tears that began to well in her eyes. “But I’m doing a lot of things I shouldn’t be.”

Naomi backed away and sat down at the other end of the fire. Tentatively, she raised her hand toward Asalya’s head. Asalya graciously lowered her head and let Naomi pet her.

Kylie carefully got up and walked toward her, making sure to scan for any sign Naomi would instead want her to back off. “Naomi, are you doing okay?”

She rested her head on her knees and shook it no.

“Is there anything you want to talk about?”

“I got so far,” Naomi stuttered, wiping tears away again. “I studied my whole life, I passed all my tests, I prepared for months for this journey. A monster attacks, but I manage to escape. Over and over. Only to get stopped by the weather. I break the rules of the journey. And because I’m not curing you I’m breaking my vows - all I’ve ever wanted to do is help people. If anyone finds out about you, I won’t be allowed to.”

Kylie sat down next to her, making sure to leave as comfortable a distance as she could. “You just healed me. I’m sorry for all the trouble I’ve caused, but don’t think for a second you’re not an amazing healer.”

“The trouble you caused? What are you talking about? Without you I’d have collapsed and died of exposure.” Naomi rubbed her forehead with her hands. “And that’s not what I mean. If by some chance we even make it out of this cave before the giant shadow beast chasing us gets us, I’ll be exiled. I can’t practice healing magic outside of an overseeing order - I’ll be branded as a witch. No one will trust me to heal them then.”

“I did,” offered Kylie.

“You’re apparently in the habit of trusting witches,” Naomi shot back. Then she winced, shook her head, and sighed. “Sorry. You’re right. You did. Thank you.”

“Thank you for healing me.” Kylie gently smiled. “Naomi, you’ve done more than could ever be expected of you. This has been incredibly hard, harder than anyone could have known. You’re incredibly strong.”

Naomi rolled her head back and let a tired chuckle escape. “You’ve known me like three weeks and have seen me fall over at least three times.”

“But I’ve also seen you get back up.”

“Yeah, well...” Naomi mumbled, “It’d be nice to be caught sometime.” 

“You said your Order didn’t want you to get help because your helper might take the Light? That has to be hard, not being allowed to trust anyone.”

“Yes. It is.” Naomi dropped back down to sitting by the fire. “Kylie, can I ask you a personal question? About all this?”

Kylie shook her head as she raised one quizzical ear. She replied, “Only if I get to ask you one.”

A nervous surprise appeared in Naomi’s eyes, but she still nodded and said, “Okay.”

“Alright, you go first.” Kylie leaned forward in anticipation.

“You said you had multiple curses. It’s rude to ask, but would you mind telling me what they do? I don’t really know of any reason you would need to seek dark magic.” Naomi looked genuinely curious, even if the judgement in her tone couldn’t help but leak out.

Kylie leaned back again. “Well, first, I didn’t go looking for dark magic. It’s the only kind of magic we can get at home, as far as I know. And I didn’t even go to it, my teacher Madeline brings potions back to the village sometimes when they’re needed.”

“I’m a bit confused, what exactly does your teacher teach? Is she the witch?”

“No, she taught me how to help take care of the wolves. I basically look after them and their village whenever she or her partner can’t. I don’t think she can do any magic. She just knows a witch.”

“Shouldn’t she have-”

Kylie cut her off. “If you’re going to use this conversation as an excuse to preach to me why I or anyone should have used one kind of magic over another, we’re done talking.”

Naomi momentarily raised an arm in protest, then let it fall. “You’re right. I didn’t realize that’s what I was doing or how rude it would be, and I’m sorry.”

“Thank you. To answer your question, one of the curses is my wolf traits. The ears, the fangs, the tail, the heightened sense of smell. All of that stuff.” The next part felt harder to say. A heavy unease sat in Kylie’s chest. The rules Naomi followed didn’t make much sense, and her very existence had already violated one. She dreaded the possibility of that happening again. 

“My other spell was for my gender dysphoria. It let me physically transition.”

Naomi’s eyes widened. Kylie’s tail trembled. This shouldn’t be a problem. Internally, she begged for it not to be.

“Dark magic can help people like that?” Naomi asked, the question breathy and aimless, not expecting an answer.

Kylie’s arms wrapped around each other. She was still shaking. She’d hoped to be past this point. “Help people? You do view it as helping, right? You and your Order aren’t, like, mad at me?”

  “No, oh my goodness, no.” Naomi snapped her head to face Kylie, her eyes wide and worried. She crawled rapidly toward Kylie, fell against the wolf girl, and wrapped her in a hug. “I would never, ever have a problem with that, and I’m so so so sorry if I did anything to make you think otherwise.”

Although relief started to spread through her, the shaking didn’t stop. Slowly, Kylie returned Naomi’s hug.

“It’s not just me either, you know?” Kylie pulled away from the hug so she could look at Naomi’s face. “My teacher transitioned when she transformed into a wolf girl, too. I’m not sure if her partner did any gender stuff but they’re a fox person now and they might have. There’s a kid a couple years younger than me in the village and he did his without any animal traits. We’ve all used dark magic to help us out.”

“That’s-” Naomi seemed to search the cave ceiling for the right word. “Unbelievable. Not that I don’t believe you. It’s just like, everyone I’ve ever talked to, every text I’ve studied, everything has told me dark magic will corrupt the wishes of its user. That hasn’t happened to you? Or anyone you know?”

“I mean, the transformation turned out different than I thought? I was worried my hair would turn grey like my teacher’s. But it stuck with the red, just like I wanted it to.”

Naomi clasped Kylie’s head in her hands and scanned her hair. “It didn’t do something that worried you? It might have even customized itself to your preference? That’s incredible! Do you know what the light magic procedure is?”

Before Kylie could even open her mouth to say “no,” Naomi continued, her hand held against her cheek as she scanned the cave floor, lost in thought. “Even with concentrated light, light magic can only gradually make changes. It’s still preferred over quicker elemental magics because, unlike those, it has permanent effects, but total treatment can take months, sometimes years. A single treatment session alone lasts a few hours. If dark magic can do that with consistently positive results, it could reduce total treatment time to only a couple hours, with permanent effects that would be resilient to removal from basically every other magic type except-”

She stopped. Her gaze turned to Kylie, then to the fire, then to the floor. She moved back slowly, retreating to the darkness of the cave. “You should hate me.”

“Maybe,” Kylie acknowledged. “But I don’t.”

“I’m sorry, I- I didn’t know.”

That excuse wore out Kylie’s remaining patience. She snapped, “No, you just assumed you knew more about the choices I’ve made for my body than I do.”

Naomi winced. “You’re right. That’s inexcusable. I’m sorry.”

A moment passed. Kylie stared at the young cleric shrinking into the darkness, away from the warmth of the fire. Her frustration wasn’t strong enough to overpower a genuine apology from someone she could see was struggling. She took a breath, and let the anger pass.

She reached out for Naomi’s hand. To her surprise, Naomi let her grab it. She said, “You’re okay.”

Naomi nodded and let herself be walked back to the fire. She muttered, “I don’t know what I’d do if someone did that to me.” 

Kylie raised an ear and gently tilted her head. Something about Naomi’s words struck her. She asked, “Are you trans, too?”

“No, I’ve merely done some research into conducting transition spells. For others, not, you know, for my own benefit. It wouldn’t have mattered anyway. I know it’s very archaic, but since the pathways for moving up in the Order are separated by gender, we have to graduate to being clerics before we’re allowed to consider transition.”

This time Kylie pulled Naomi in for a hug. “That’s awful.”

“It is.” Naomi hugged her back. “Being a girl is actually the reason I’m here. Every hundred years the top girl of the class is chosen as the Lightbringer. The top boy stays and helps the Order prepare the rituals. The remaining girls begin field training at small town order branches, while the boys intern directly under clerics at the city sanctuaries.”

“And I’m guessing trans and nonbinary kids kinda mess with that system?” Everything Kylie heard of this order made her sick. She couldn’t help but bare her fangs.

“I can see those teeth. And you’re right, I get it.” Naomi pointed toward the dark floor of the cave. “Everything about this is awful. I shouldn’t have been sent here alone. But if we survive, I’m going to keep working my way up the ranks until I have the power to make sure no one else ever has to go through this again.”

“You said there were other clerical orders, right? If you want, couldn’t you just leave this one and join a kinder one?”

“There are, though I don’t know of any in Laryth. I’d have to move cities. And changing orders is exceedingly rare, and difficult to do without being cast out and having the label of witch follow you the rest of your life. Besides, the Order of Rejuvenance does so much to help Laryth. They provide healing, food, shelter, and orphanages and ask nothing in return. I didn’t have to join them just because they raised me; becoming a cleric isn’t mandatory, I could have just lived with them until I became an adult. But I chose to study with them because I believe in what they do. They help people. They’ve helped me.” 

“Naomi...” Kylie gestured toward the snow. She felt the memory of carrying Naomi’s snow-covered, weakened body in her hands. “They hurt you.”

A sad smile formed in the corners of Naomi’s mouth. She held up her limp hand and gently wiggled her fingers. “I can heal.”

They stared at their fire a moment. The flames were beginning to die down. Naomi reached into her bag and pulled out a log. Kylie placed it on the fire. 

“That’s nearly the last of the firewood,” Naomi said flatly.

“Yeah.” Kylie’s ears and tail drooped. She continued, “Hey, Naomi? I’m sorry.”

“About what?” 

“I don’t think I should have come without you wanting me to, I guess?” The feeling in Kylie’s gut hadn’t quite become a thought but it still felt important to express. “I don’t know if it was actually helpful.”

“I just mentioned that you literally saved my life.” Naomi draped her arm over Asalya’s neck.

“I don’t know about that. You’re really tough.” Kylie curled her tail around herself. “And maybe helping you is the decent thing to do, but anyone could have done it. And it could have been someone that doesn’t make you risk so much.”

Naomi reached over and put a hand on Kylie’s shoulder. “But you’re the girl who decided to help. Thank you.”

“I was the only one who was there. And that’s the other thing - you don’t owe me any thanks.” Kylie twisted to face Naomi, her shoulder tugging out from under the healer’s hand. “There was a part of me that was being selfish. I haven’t met a lot of people, and you seemed like a nice person, so I wanted to be friends. I think I thought that by coming with you that a friendship between us would form? But it was wrong of me to force that on you if you didn’t want it. And you certainly don’t owe it to me now because I did something decent for you. I’ve been on the other end of that, of the offer of basic kindness being used as a kind of social tool. It sucks. I don’t even want to accidentally do that to you.”

Naomi looked toward the glistening whitestone of the cave ceiling. Her left hand tugged anxiously on the index finger of her right. “I’m glad we’re talking about that. But I’m confused. Are we not friends? It feels like we are. It’s felt that way to me for a while. I think.”

Kylie pushed through the warmth growing in her heart. “I’m not saying we’re not friends, but if you don’t want us to be or if it’s something you think is going to hurt you, I’ll be okay. If you want, Asalya and I can leave once it’s safe to. Or, once we’ve made it to Crescentia, we can turn back before anyone’s even seen us two.”

Asalya nuzzled Naomi’s arm with her snout.

Kylie nodded sadly. “Or Asalya could go with you and I could turn back. What kind of monsters would punish you for making an animal friend?”

Naomi looked between the wolves. “You’d miss each other, though, right?”

Asalya whined at Kylie. Kylie said, “Yeah. She’s never been apart from me for more than a night before.”

Naomi hugged Asalya’s neck. “Then that’s certainly not going to happen now.”

The young cleric slowly stood up. She circled around the fire; Kylie scooted closer to it to give her more room to walk. When she got where she could see them both, she looked down to Kylie. “Let me be clear, I’ve wanted to be friends with you since the moment we met. There’s enormous pressure to not be, but I’ve always wanted to. And maybe you’re right, maybe we should split up at Crescentia. But Crescentia is only the first stop. If I could make an unreasonable request, I’d love it if we could meet up again to go all the way to Laryth.”

“Then let’s plan on that.” Kylie agreed before she truly decided. But now that she had said the words out loud, it became a commitment. One she planned on keeping to.

The fire in front of them slowly dwindled. Naomi pulled the last of their large logs from her bag. “We’ll need to move soon. I did some walking around earlier, while you were asleep. It seems to get warmer the further into the cave we go. Of course if we run out of fire we won’t be able to see anything normally. But I know some basic light spells.”

“Good, those may be useful.” Kylie said, looking toward the cave mouth. More snow crept down the slope. “The storm hasn’t calmed at all.”

“Any idea how long we could be stuck down here?”

“Not a clue.”

As the fire dwindled away, the kids moved closer to it and closer together. In time, only a small flame stood between them and the cold and darkness . Each waited for the other to start the process of packing up and moving. But neither could summon the energy yet. So they sat and waited until the fire died out, and they were again alone, together, in the cold.