“Damn! I thought you were all dead in here!” Storm happily declared with a bright smile on her face, and unceremoniously stepped inside, carrying a tray of food in her hands. “You were all so quiet! Hey, Zen!” she winked at him, placed the tray on the table, and turned to stare at the only person she still didn’t know.

“Oh! I see! A noble one,” she openly mocked, and VinWei immediately closed her mouth, adopting that same untouchable expression she had worn while crossing the village. “Blond hair and all,” Storm went on, walking around her, studying her from up close, almost sticking her nose in VinWei¹Literally vin (hard) + wei (crystal)’s hair. “Which rich Clan did you from? Is it true you’re a priestess? You don’t look like one at all. Aren’t they supposed to dress all in white and look all sanctimonious and stuff?”

“Storm,” ZaiWin² Literally zai (blade) + win (chaos). gently chided her, and Storm immediately turned to him.

“Since she’s a priestess that means she’s not your woman, right? Priestess can’t do that, right? Or can they? In any case, she’s too old for you!”

VinWei’s purple eyes, which up till then had looked as calm and serene as a pair of cold gemstones, immediately came alight at the sound of those words, burning with a red, dangerous glow.

“You little shit!” she spat, slamming both hands on the table and rising to her feet, making everyone stare up at her in disbelief. “Who did you just called old?! Want me to rip that dirty tongue out of your mouth??”

“Hey, Vin, what are …” ZenTar³Literally zen (silent) + tar (wind) begun, clearly trying to calm her down, but she immediately glared at him, the fury in her eyes making him swallow his words.

“Ah! The richly princess actually has a foul mouth on her!” Storm declared, fearlessly getting right in her face. “Why don’t you try it! You old hag!!”

“What did you say??!”

“What? The filthy rich noble-born doesn’t have mirrors back at home?” Storm mocked, crossing her arms, scrutinizing the other woman from head to toe with an expression of contempt on her face, and ended up snorting dismissively. “And here I was, worrying about what mom said, that some beauty had come to steal my Win away!”

Completely ignoring VinWei’s deadly glare, she happily skipped her way to ZaiWin’s side and wrapped her arms around his neck, rubbing her cheek against his.

“In the end, she’s nothing but an old hag! I’m way better than her, right?” she purred into ZaiWin’s ear and he sighed, feeling the air crackle in response to VinWei’s anger. How grown-up, powerful beings like her and ZenTar could be so easily swayed and angered by a mischievous and yet normal girl like Storm was beyond his comprehension. And yet, the sudden drop in the air temperature left him immediately stiff and tense. He had completely forgotten. There was another powerful being in that room, who deeply disliked the mischievous girl.

Snow was already on edge, feeling as if he’d been locked inside an invisible box just by having to obediently remain inside ZenTar’s array. And then VinWei had gotten angry, her daitai⁴Literally dai (light) + tai (mark), or holy Markings, considered Heavenly Blessings. They’re the source of power. making the already heavy air vibrate, the land beneath his feet grumbling in discontentment, echoing her foul mood and transmitting it directly into his brain. VinWei wanted to bury the other girl alive, if only she'd be allowed to. And to make things even worse, that annoying girl had actually gone and wrapped herself around ZaiWin again!

Glaring at them, all Snow could see were those arms around ZaiWin’s neck. Squinting, his heart hammering hard against his chest, his head filled with angry, silent complaints, he just wanted her to …

Let go of him!

Storm screamed, jumping back, her arms covered in ice.

“Holy shit!” ZenTar blurted out, jumping from his seat to help the scared girl.

VinWei blinked, her fury quickly cooling down. Still she didn’t look half as sorry for the girl’s sudden affliction as she ought to be. Well, she had been wishing to bury her alive, after all. But, like most noble-borns, she had still been raised to know that it was bad to use one’s daitai against someone who didn’t have any.

And Snow widened his eyes in alarm, also jumping from the table and stepping as far away from all of them as possible. He hadn’t meant … he hadn’t … well … he had, he slowly came to terms with his own thoughts as he watched Storm sob, her arms still half-frozen, while ZenTar carefully melted the ice away so he wouldn’t burn her instead. He didn’t like the idea that he had hurt her, that he had made her cry, Snow thought, feeling kind of sorry for her. But he liked the way she always happily clung to ZaiWin even less, he realized, and the sorrow he had just felt immediately froze in his heart, and he couldn’t feel sorry at all.

“Snow?”

He looked up with a startle, and immediately lowered his head again. Now he was feeling sorry again, he clenched his hands in tight fists. Not because he had hurt her. She was lucky his thought had only been ‘let him go’, and not ‘bury her alive’, like VinWei had wished. But hehe h felt bad, knowing that he had probably made ZaiWin angry.

“I’m sorry …”

A low chuckle surprised him, and the heavy, warm hand that landed on his head surprised him even more so. ZaiWin didn’t say anything. But the way he ruffled his hair was almost as if he were telling him ‘Well done!’.

“You think this is funny?” ZenTar immediately criticized and they both looked back. Storm had stopped crying and was now glaring hatefully at Snow, her dark eyes still filled with tears.

“Oh, come on. She’s fine. Right, Storm?” ZaiWin asked in a light tone and the girl sniffled and proudly raised her head, obviously unwilling to lose face any more than she already had, by crying like that.

“He could have seriously hurt her!” ZenTar insisted and ZaiWin instinctively stepped in front of Snow, as if to better defend him.

“As if. Besides, she’s been pestering him ever since she came back, yesterday morning. Right?” ZaiWin winked at her and Storm snorted, averting her gaze, tilting her nose up.

Swatting ZenTar’s caring hands away, she rubbed her cold arms and frowned at the pair of pale eyes peering at her from behind ZaiWin’s back.

“So what if you can freeze a few things! You’re still just a little boy, cowering behind someone else’s back!” she spat and Snow frowned, straightening his back and taking a clear step to one side.

Apparently, he hadn’t frozen her enough!, he thought bleakly. Maybe he should have frozen her mouth instead!

Averting her gaze, she made a point of ignoring him and crossed the small space, halting by ZaiWin’s side.

“I will see you later,” she purred in the sweetest, most enticing of voices, sliding a hand down his arm, and turned to VinWei with a venomous glare. “Welcome to the End of the World, old hag!” she declared and haughtily left the cave, followed by VinWei’s outraged expression, Snow’s hateful glare, ZenTar’s hopeless sigh and ZaiWin’s amused smile.

Silvareiel

Eh, dear Snow is getting bolder and bolder. And our baka ZaiWin still finds it funny. He really likes to see the world catch on fire. ?