During the days following that dinner, the weather seemed determined to oppose us. For about a week a snowstorm swept over the village, forcing us to stay indoors and stop any work that wasn’t strictly necessary. Fortunately, everyone had enough food and chopped firewood stored at home, so we spent those days resting.

  At dawn on the ninth day, the sun’s rays warmed the village a little, and I immediately took the chance to go visit Liz.

  I knocked on the door and heard Cole call, “Coming!” A few seconds later he opened it.

  “Oh, hi Arya. Did you survive the snowy week? Looking for Liz?”

  “Uh, yes. She’s not here?”

  It seemed strange that she hadn’t opened the door herself. I had thought Cole would also be out with Preon catching up on work that had been delayed by the storm.

  “She is here, actually. But she got sick and she’s in bed sleeping now.”

  His voice sounded a little worried, and I decided it would be better not to disturb her.

  “Oh, I see… Then I’ll leave you in peace. I’ll come back another day. If you need any help, just let me know.”

  I smiled, said goodbye, and turned toward home.

  Back in my room, I picked up the sheet with the text from the cave again. I would have loved to return there as soon as possible, but without Liz I would surely get lost in the forest. And even if I did go back now, it probably wouldn’t help much. First I needed to understand the meaning of the text and why it had been placed there.

  There were so many mysteries that a thrill ran down my spine.

  It had been a long time since I felt both troubled and excited at the same time, probably not since the days when I studied magic.

  I lay down on my bed, staring out the window, rolling from one side to the other.

  During those snowy days, Preon and I had taken advantage of the unexpected pause to clean and tidy the house from top to bottom. Now there was nothing left to do.

  I looked outside again, suddenly bored. I would have liked to go back to the library and start searching for information or anything that might help me, but the thought of staying closed inside a room again, especially alone, depressed me.

  I got up and went downstairs. Maybe I could make myself useful somehow.

  I stepped outside, optimistic, looking for someone. First I would check the stable to see how the animals were doing. Usually it was the women who took care of them, but instead I found Tristan there holding a bundle of straw.

  “Arya, good morning. Do you need something?”

  “Hi. Nothing in particular. Actually… do you need help?”

  I looked around, but all the feeding troughs were already full and the stable was clean.

  “Maybe Tao and Preon could give you something to do. As you can see, I’ve already finished here. We were also thinking about having lunch at the inn later. Want to join us?”

  I gladly accepted and, after saying goodbye, walked back through the white streets looking for the others.

  I found them shortly afterward, chatting lively. Behind them was a large pile of firewood covered by a thick layer of snow. A few chopped logs lay beside them, and they both held axes.

  “How are you? Feeling better?” Tao asked, placing his tool on the ground and approaching me.

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  “Uh… yes, thank you.”

  Thinking about how I had run away from dinner made me embarrassed, so I quickly tried to change the subject.

  “I didn’t have anything to do. Do you need help with something? I could help with the wood.”

  The two of them looked at each other, then at the wood behind them, and finally back at me.

  “I don’t think this is the kind of job for you,” Preon said, declining my offer.

  “I agree,” Tao echoed.

  I felt offended and stayed silent for a few seconds.

  “Why? Because I don’t have the strength to chop wood?”

  My tone must have sounded annoyed, because they immediately tried to come up with a better excuse than "you’re a girl".

  “That’s not what we meant. It’s just… well… maybe it’s better if you stay inside where it’s warm, right? You might get sick like Liz.”

  Preon looked a little desperate and turned to Tao for help.

  I ignored both of them and walked toward the large snow-covered logs.

  With a gesture of my hand, I created a large blue flame above the woodpile. In an instant the fire grew and all the snow evaporated, surrounded by flames. With another sharp motion the fire vanished as suddenly as it had appeared.

  Then I turned toward the two men, who were staring at me with their mouths open.

  With my pride restored, I sat down on one of the now-dry logs.

  “So… can I help?”

  Neither of them answered, but they both nodded with a mixture of resignation and amazement.

  Soon we found our rhythm. With the help of my magic I easily moved the tree trunks and held them in place in front of Preon. After splitting them roughly, he passed the pieces to Tao, who cut them into even smaller logs.

  Within a few hours we had finished everything, far earlier than usual, according to them.

  Around lunchtime the three of us headed to the inn, where Tristan was waiting for us alone.

  “There you are. Lunch is ready, I just need to heat it up. I’ve already taken food to my sister, don’t worry.”

  Tristan anticipated Tao’s question, and Tao thanked him silently.

  During the afternoon the four of us distributed the firewood to the various houses.

  “Incredible. With your magic we finished everything in just one day. Usually it takes us three. It would be very useful to know how to do that.”

  Tristan kept complimenting me, and inside my head my thoughts split in two. On one hand I still felt the same fear I had the week before. On the other, I felt useful and satisfied.

  If I were the one teaching them… maybe it wouldn’t be a problem.

  “Well then, see you tomorrow!”

  “Bye everyone.”

  “See you.”

  We said goodbye and returned to our homes.

  “I’ll go prepare the bath. Do you want to go first?”

  “If you don’t mind.”

  I wasn’t physically exhausted, but using magic all day had drained me. A hot bath would certainly help.

  Immersed in the warm water, I started thinking about the possibility of teaching magic to the villagers.

  It had been about three months since I had started living in Agene, and none of them seemed like someone eager to kill me.

  Maybe I could read their thoughts… just to be completely sure.

  I knew the magic that allowed one to listen to the flow of thoughts of living beings, but I had never liked using it. Months earlier I had wanted to do it out of caution, but since I didn’t know their language back then, it would have been pointless.

  Now, however…

  No.

  I couldn’t.

  I had always considered that magic wrong. Unfair. No one can control their own thoughts, and the last thing I wanted was to discover uncomfortable truths by invading someone’s mind.

  And maybe they didn’t even know what had happened years ago. If they had always lived here… No one had ever mentioned it, and no one had ever asked me about my past. And it certainly wasn’t as if a book describing someone’s entire life would magically appear in front of me.

  I tormented myself with those thoughts until I heard a light knock at the door.

  “Arya, are you alright?”

  “Yes, sorry. I got distracted. I’ll be out in a moment.”

  Thanks to the mana stones the water always stayed warm, I had definitely lost track of time.

  We had been sitting on the sofa for a while after dinner, the crackling fire as our background, when Preon broke the silence.

  “Lately you seem lost in your thoughts quite often. Are you alright?”

  He looked at me with concern.

  I still didn’t know what to do. I kept thinking about magic, the village, my slaughtered people. My head felt like it might explode at any moment.

  “I’m fine, really. You don’t need to worry so much about me.”

  Of course I wasn’t fine at all, but the idea of being a burden, or confiding the things that troubled me, made me uncomfortable. The more time passed, the more I felt that something inside me was about to break.

  I must not have sounded convincing.

  Preon stood up and knelt in front of me. He reached out and placed his hand on my cheek, sending a pleasant shiver down my spine.

  “You’re a terrible liar, you know?”

  I felt my face and ears grow suddenly warm. I looked away, and between embarrassment and guilt I slipped out of his grasp and stood up.

  “Um… I’m going to… get ready for bed.”

  I hurried away, my stomach in turmoil. Whenever he got that close to me, I couldn’t think straight anymore.

  And yet we had been sleeping in the same bed for three months.

  We didn’t talk much at night in our room, but to avoid awkward questions I slipped under the covers as quickly as possible, trying to calm the pounding of my heart.