Frosted Dreams (NaNoWriMo2020)

Iwakālua kūmākahi

Flowers unfurl, their feathery red petals practically glowing. Jaak frowns at the flowers. "These are fascinating. They shouldn't even be able to grow here. Did the flame cause their growth?"

"Yes, but it gets stranger."

Jaak's interest looks to be piqued, his gaze flickering between the flowers and Hika. "What can be stranger about these when they grew from a drop of liquid fire in the middle of the Russian winter?"

Hika plucks the flower from the ground and holds it flat in her palm. It crumples after a moment into a pile of black dust, ash. Jaak blinks, staring at the flower. He picks one of his own and it too crumbles.

"What are these?"

"I don't know. But I was told that I might find answers here."

"This isn't a Russian flower."

Hika sighs. "It isn't an anywhere flower. No culture holds any mention of its existence. It isn't what the flower itself is that I might learn here, there is a story I was told that had similarities. The flower makes me think of fire and it turns into ash. Is there any Russian story that holds similar concepts?"

Jaak's eyes widen in realization. "Zhar-ptitsa. The firebird. Phoenixes. When they die they turn into ash and are reborn from those same ashes."

"What, you think this is some kind of a phoenix flower?"

"Or something similar. I don't know what it might mean though."

Hika sighs. "So we have a riddle to solve now."

"Yes, now let's head back. And please don't use that stick of yours, I would prefer to not have to rescue you from angry snow again."

She laughs. "All right, all right. Let's go get warm."

Jaak grins at her. "How quickly would you like to get there?"

Hika can feel her eyes widen. "If I have a choice, instantaneously."

"As you wish, lady of flame."

Jaak makes a motion with his hands and the snow swirls up into the air. He reaches out a hand to her and she stares at it, frowning. He motions again.

"If you don't take my hand, you'll have to walk."

Hika grabs his hand as quick as a flash of her mother's lightning, gripping it tightly. Jaak laughs and steps forward into the snow, Hika following. Smothering white swirls around them and Hika has to choke back a cry of alarm, almost letting out a breath of relief when the snow clears to reveal the small clearing in front of the hill.

Jaak reaches behind him and pulls the staff from his back, knocking it against one of the trees beside the hill. It yawns open, a space forming in the exact shape of the door. Jaak steps through the opening and Hika quickly follows, biting back a moan at the feeling of a warm environment.

The cold can be nice when you aren't afraid of it but heat? Oh, it's wonderful. Hika sits on the couch where she woke up and shucks her overclothing, letting the warmth touch as much of her skin as it can. She closes her eyes, leaning her head against the cool wall. There is a soft sound from elsewhere in the room and Hika opens her eyes to see Jaak stifling a laugh.

"What?"

"You look far too at home with the warmth in here. Do I look like that with the snow?"

Hika shrugs. "I wouldn't know. I haven't seen you manipulating it just for pure enjoyment." She sighs again. "This heat is wonderful though, it feels like something I had been missing without even knowing it." A sound breaks through the silence and Jaak bends over in laughter, the sound reverberating around the room. Hika flushes. "Stop laughing!"

"It's not my fault your stomach is a hungry bear!"

She gapes at Jaak in astonishment. "Where did you even pick up that line?"

Jaak's cheeks bloom pink and he glances away, muttering under her breath. "I made it." He shakes her head. "Would you like some food to satisfy that stomach of yours?"

"I have some from my home if you want to share foods."

"Where would you be storing food in that small bag of yours?"

Hika grins. "Would you happen to have a large room in this place that is relatively empty?"

Jaak smiles in turn. "If I don't, there will be one soon. Come."

Hika follows Jack through a series of hallways. She had thought Jaak's house in the hill was small, but it seems to be endless now. Jaak ducks through a door into an empty room, perfect in size for what she needs.

"How did you know what size of a room I needed?"

Jaak shrugs. "I didn't. The house did. I can create things here but the house conforms to whatever is needed by the occupants. You needed this room and so it was created. I just led you to it."

Hika smiles and slips one hand into her bag, pulling out her canoe. She sets it on the floor and it quickly grows. Hika quickly opens the compartment and pulls her basket of food out before shrinking the boat again, tucking it back inside her bag before she bends over to lift the basket. Jaak lead Hika back to the main room and she sets the basket down on the table, lifting the lid. Jaak reaches in after a moment and pulls a coconut from within the basket, turning it over in his hands.

"This basket is bottomless, isn't it?"

"Yes, Lono gave it to me."

"Agriculture?"

Hika nods, grinning.

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Iwakālua kūmākahi = twenty-one, when counting

What do you think of their interactions? What do the flowers mean? What's going to happen next? Tell me your thoughts!

Happy reading and I'll see you next chapter!

~ Goddess of Fate, signing out