Chapter Forty-Four: Snow Fight
The next morning, Xaphile was unexpectedly jerked awake by the feeling of his blanket flying off his body. Instantly, he bolted upright, muscles tense with fright: his eyes flashed around in a bleary manner, but after a few moments of shivering from the chilliness that assaulted him, he looked up to find Vrael standing over him with a grin, holding the blanket with both hands.
"Good morning, Phil!" he cheerfully yodeled. "If you don't get up and start moving around, you'll wilt! Let's go eat breakfast!"
Xaphile simply stared at him for several moments with a deadened expression.
"Why?" he asked in a slightly detached voice. "Why are you doing this?"
"Because I can't pretend you're not feeling bad," Vrael said, giving him a blink. "I'm not the kind of person who will look the other way. Deal with it."
"Like I have a choice."
Vrael frowned at him.
"Look," he sighed, shaking his head in exasperation, "my mother knows what happened."
He was instantly wide awake, but he waited for his suddenly madly thumping heart to calm down before he tried to speak.
"How?" he eventually asked. "Did you tell her?"
"No," Vrael chuckled, "Tuck and my Pap explained everything that happened last night. She said she wants to talk to you."
Dread coursed through him. Ninira reminded him of Ella in a lot of ways, and he had to admit he was a bit scared of her.
"All right," he said thickly, "but if she attacks me, its on your head."
"Fair enough," Vrael muttered, then dropped the blanket and snatched his shoulder, "but Pap wants us to keep the fact that we were bonded with blood magic a secret. She wouldn't take well to it."
"Are you sure keeping it a secret is a smart idea?" Xaphile asked, lifting his eyes. "Your mother seems like the type of person who would be more upset about having something hidden from her than being told about said thing upfront right away."
"Ma has had unpleasant experiences with blood magic, so we're keeping it a secret," Vrael retorted, shaking his head, "and that's final! Now, prepare yourself. Everyone's waiting for us out in the kitchen. We wanted to let you sleep in after what you went through last night."
Xaphile shivered when the halfling gently pulled him to his feet and led him out into the kitchen, where his family was eating breakfast. He would have sat down on the chair, but before he could, the blonde woman bolted upright.
"YOU!" she screeched, running towards him with outstretched arms. "YOU!"
Xaphile flinched and his shoulders tensed at her crazed expression, but instead of being strangled like he was expecting, her body collided with his and he felt her arms flying around his upper torso. He blinked when she buried her face in his chest.
"I-is it true?" she asked, speaking in a shaken tone that was muffled by his hoodie. "Is what they're saying happened yesterday night really true?!"
Xaphile blinked again.
"What are you referring to?" he carefully inquired. "Please be specific."
"My son!" she cried, looking up at him with a trembling mouth. "Is it true that my eldest boy tried to kill you last night because he thought you were a demon?! Because Bruno and Tuck both say that you saved his life even after he tried to cut your throat with a dagger! Is this the truth?!"
He looked away.
Then, closing his eyes, he nodded.
He waited to be judged... for her to get angry and condemn him... but instead, two soft hands slowly clasped his hood and pushed it off. She gasped when her eyes fell across his horns, and he tensed, refusing to look at her.
His ears pulled back, muscles quivering involuntarily, when she stood up on the tips of her toes and touched them in awe.
"WOW!" Windal exclaimed, pointing at him with a slack jaw. "HE'S GOT HORNS! LOOK, PAP! LOOK!"
"I saw them last night, kiddo," Bruno chortled, giving his son a tender smile. "Don't point. It's rude."
"Aww, Pap," the little blonde boy mumbled, sinking down into his chair with a pout. "I can't help it."
Ninira tilted her head, looking at him with a stunned expression.
"So, it's true," she breathed in a shivering voice, finally pulling her hands back. "You really aren't human..."
"Like we all said, Nini," Bruno said quietly. "Yet despite that, he saved Vrael's life."
"You took an arrow for my boy?" she demanded, eyes instantly watering. "My son? Even though he's a halfling? Really?"
Xaphile sighed, muscles going limp.
"Don't glorify it," he muttered. "I reacted before I had time to realize what I was doing."
Her eyes flashed with tears.
Mouth trembling, she buried her face in his shirt again and her arms crushed him with such a powerful hug that he wheezed, ribs popping from the pressure of it.
Xaphile clenched his fists when she pulled away and wiped her eyes, regarding him with a stern look.
"You are more than welcome to stay in this household for as long as you need," she told him fiercely, lowering her head with her hands clasped together. "I am very, VERY sorry for what my son tried to do to you last night... and I am also very grateful that you saved him from injury."
"Seriously, it wasn't a big deal," Xaphile protested, eyes widening in shock. "Stop bowing!"
"No, it was a very big deal," Nini told him, lifting her eyes. "My children and my husband are everything to me. There are people out there who would hurt my children for simply existing, so I thank you for keeping Vrael out of harm's way."
Xaphile's shoulders sagged in defeat, then he tugged his long hair out of his shirt with a sigh. The woman blinked once it was free, but when she realized just how long it was, her eyes widened a little in shock.
"You're welcome, I guess," he muttered, shaking his hair out and letting his scruffy bangs hide his eyes. "So... I take it this means you're... not bothered by the fact that I'm... like this?"
By way of answer, she righted herself and gestured towards the table.
"Human, Elf, Orc, Fae... that sort of thing doesn't matter anymore," Ninira said, sternly shaking her head. "Breakfast is ready if you want some. Please, by all means, eat with us."
Vrael instantly laughed and slapped Xaphile on the back.
"Great!" he exclaimed with a wink. "I guess this means you don't have to hide your tail anymore!"
Windal gasped, mouth dropping open and bolting upright in shock.
"HE HAS A TAIL, TOO?!" the little boy screeched. "I WANNA SEE! I WANNA SEE! SHOW ME!"
Xaphile blinked, then looked at Ninira, who merely stood there and watched him with an expectant eyebrow raised.
Hesitantly, he unhooked his tail from around his neck and let it slide down through his shirt, finally dipping out into the open. Eyes widened all over the place, even the blonde woman's.
Not that he blamed a reaction like that since even now, his tail was literally the one thing that he found to be the most bizarre.
The fur on it was sleek and glossy, and just as dark as his hair... but the damn thing was quite literally two feet longer than his body. It was as thick as his wrist where it jutted out of his spine, but near the end of the lion-like tuft of fur, it was thinner.
It slid behind him in a fluid manner whenever he moved... and even when he didn't.
"Wow..." Windal breathed, staring at it in awe. "A tail... a real tail!"
Bruno looked surprised when Faeble's thumb fell out of his mouth. He gaped at Xaphile's furry limb, watching how the long black appendage waved through the air with eye-entrancing movements.
His large blue eyes followed it when it gave a sharp twitch behind him, and after a moment, he got off his chair to toddle over with his little hands outstretched.
"Kitty!" he squeaked, groping the catlike limb and making Xaphile jump with a violent shiver. "Kitty!"
Bruno's mouth twitched when his youngest son started to tug on it, and he laughed at Xaphile's flabbergasted expression.
"Well, that's unexpected," he cackled. "Faeble, leave the poor lad alone!"
"Yes, my littlest darling, let's eat," Ninira added, sitting down herself. "The food will get cold."
When everyone sat down, including Vrael, Xaphile hesitantly did so as well.
Much to his surprise, the family was actually full of boisterous conversation today.
Bruno happily chatted with his wife about a flock of deer that he suspected would be moving into the area soon, and in turn, Ninira gushed about it with delight on her face.
Their talk consisted mostly of the land around them, but he couldn't deny it.
Sitting here, at this table, watching the warmth of everyone around him... it was nice.
So, he silently murmured, observing the family with a small smile, this is what a family is like.
Turning his eyes to his plate, he ate everything he'd been given in silence, listening to the buzz of conversation.
The happy tones were somewhat pleasant... but they also made him feel a little sad.
Once he'd finished his breakfast like everyone else, they began their chores, but he, on the other hand, walked down the hallway to the guest room without seeing much of the world around him.
When he got to the door, he went inside, sat down on the mattress, and buried his face in his hands.
He sat like that for a good two minutes before taking a deep breath that shuddered in his lungs.
Then, someone spoke.
"What's wrong?"
He jumped, startled, and turned to find Ninira standing in the open doorway. She had one hand resting on the frame and one foot posed as if to step forward, but for some reason she was hesitating.
He gave her a weak smile.
"Just tired," he rasped. "I'm a little overwhelmed."
She frowned slightly, then sighed and moved into the room, coming to sit beside him.
"I want you to know that I am truly very grateful to you for saving Vrael from harm," she murmured, shaking her head with a solemn sigh. "I am also... sorry for my short temper with you thus far. You will never know how much the fact that you do not judge us means to me."
Xaphile swallowed.
"It... could have been avoided," he admitted, refusing to look at her. "I really didn't stop to think."
"Regardless, thank you," she murmured. "I can never say it enough."
He sighed, giving up... and for a long moment, they sat there in silence, but then, after a moment, she slowly turned to face him with a darker expression.
"However," she murmured, making him look up, "there are several things I want you to tell me about yourself... I want nothing but the truth."
"What do you want to know?"
"I want to know why you were in the mountains, and how you got there," she replied, folding her arms with a sigh. "According to my husband, you're supposedly some sort of faery... but this situation is very odd since Fae have NEVER lived in these mountains. Not even in the Syl woods."
Xaphile tilted his head, ear flicking as he thought of what to tell her.
If Bruno was adamant about not letting him leave, then he could be stuck here for a long time.
He had two options.
The first was to make up some bullshit story, but there were many, many drawbacks to that plan. He could mix up the details later if he wasn't careful, which could poke holes in his story that might prove irreparable.
The second option was simple: faking amnesia. He could probably do it with some success, but... oh, god, Vrael!
He had already seen snippets of memories that were definitely intact, making both amnesia and a fake story impossible.
Dammit, he silently groused.
"Are you well?" Ninira asked when he said nothing. "I understand it might be difficult, but..."
He finally nodded at her.
"I'm not sure how I got here," he tentatively muttered, and then a third, hidden option—an option so devious and unexpected, an option so incredibly simple that it would have put the devil himself to shame—suddenly popped into his head.
In that moment, he knew exactly what he was going to do.
He was going to tell the truth.
Xaphile took a deep breath and looked at Nini.
"I'm going to sound stupid," he muttered, "but I honestly have no idea how I got here. You see, my companions and I were packing up in Ordin, and I... I ate meat."
Her brows raised.
"Are you not allergic?" she inquired. "Or was that a lie?"
He hesitated.
"Well, I guess in a way you could say I'm allergic, since I definitely can't eat it," he muttered, shaking his head. "I'm not human, okay? When I eat meat, weird stuff happens to my body, and I... I lose control of myself. That's... kind of what happened back in Ordin. I... I hurt someone."
When she stiffened, he lowered his head and told her about everything that had happened, from the tense relationship between him and Ella... to the act of forcing himself on her as a result of the strange power that had been flowing through him.
Then, the teleportation...
And waking up in the snow.
"I wandered for a bit," he said, finishing his story, "and then I met Bruno, and you know the rest."
Ninira rubbed her head for a moment, looking up at the ceiling as if it could tell her how to react to such an off-the-wall tale.
"I don't know what to make of that," she said at last, "but it sounds like you're telling me the truth. Still, I feel like you're leaving something out. Something important."
He gave her a look.
"Well, aside from the fact that one of my other companions can probably track me," he muttered, making her eyes widen, "there's really nothing else to tell. Knowing them, they're probably already on their way here."
"They're coming to fetch you, then?" she asked, furrowing her brows. "You'll leave?"
He shrugged, since he honestly didn't know anymore.
"Maybe. Depends on what happens if they actually do. After all, I hurt Ella... and that's like asking for a death sentence."
She frowned, then stood up.
"I'll talk to Bruno about what you've told me," she murmured. "Until we're sure whether your friends are actually coming, make yourself at home. I have to get back to the dishes now, but feel free to help Vrael with his chores if you'd be so kind."
"You don't believe me, do you?" he asked; her eyebrows knit together at the baldness of his question, but he refused to lower his eyes. "The story sounds strange even to me."
"Yes, it does indeed sound strange," she said, though not unkindly. "Try not to worry about it, though, Phil. With magic, odd things happen every day. Your story is no exception. Now, once again, make yourself at home."
He looked up at her and tried to smile.
"Thank you," he murmured. "I appreciate what you're doing for me."
Right around that moment, Vrael poked his head inside, peering around her shoulder and giving her a kiss on the cheek.
"Hi, Ma! Your coat's ready," he greeted, then waved with a grin. "Hey, Phil, I could use a bit of help outside!"
The woman rolled her eyes and primly walked out of the room, flicking his ear on the way.
Xaphile stood up, following the boy down the hall towards the coat rack, where his father and the other two boys were already adjusting their parkas.
"All right," he murmured, "so, what are we doing?"
"You'll see," Vrael chuckled, giving him a playful grin. "Come on, let's go."
After shrugging on the jacket Bruno handed him, he pulled the furry hood up and followed the boys and their father outside.
The air was actually back down to a normal coldness, much to his surprise: it felt like normal winter instead of like sixty below zero, or whatever the temperature had been.
He took a moment to bask in the early morning sunlight, even going as far as pulling the hood back down. His tail flicked around and he sighed in relief.
"It's not as cold today," he said, glancing at the mountains with curious eyes.
The moment he busied himself with tying one of his black leather boots, Vrael secretly made a snow ball and threw it at him, and he looked up just in time for it to hit him right in the face.
Xaphile yelped before ducking out of the way of another one.
"SNOW FIGHT!" Windal screeched, thrusting two snowballs towards the sky. "RAAAAWR!"
"PAP!" Faeble squealed, running over to Bruno and clinging to his leg; however, the adult merely let out a whoop and dug some snow of his own up. "PAP!"
"Hurry, Faeble!" the dark elf exclaimed, grinning at his son with bright red eyes. "Build us a fort!"
Xaphile stiffened when Vrael laughed and bent down, rapidly making another snowball.
"Dude!" he squawked, turning to run when the halfling threw it at him. "What are you doing?!"
"You'll see soon enough, Phil!" Vrael laughed. "Don't even think about running!"
"Fat chance! I hate being cold!"
Unfortunately, the boy aimed right for his running butt and his snowball hit the mark.
Xaphile yowled and clamped both hands against the base of his tail when it was suffused with cold powder, and Windal, who had been chucking snow at his dad, immediately thumped down on his backside and curled up, laughing hysterically.
"He got snow on the butt!" the blonde cackled. "Ha ha! Butt snow! Butt snow!"
"All right, that's it," Xaphile muttered, bending down and getting two handfuls of snow in his hands. "My turn!"
Vrael yelped and stumbled upright in an attempt to get away when he flashed forward, chucking snowball after snowball, ears flattened out to the sides with a grim scowl on his face. The silver-haired boy ducked under the frigid projectiles with howls of mirth and joy until Xaphile slipped and landed on his back, getting a ton of snow up his shirt.
"GWAAAHAHAAA!!" he wailed, rolling around on his back in a futile attempt to get it out. "FUCK!"
Vrael merely stood there laughing his ass off, face turning beet red with flush-faced mirth.
Xaphile eventually managed to stand up and get the cold powder out of his jacket and shirt, but just as he turned with a grumble, a snowball unexpectedly hit him in the back of the head.
Shaking his dark hair out, he whirled around to see Bruno with a smug look on his face.
"Let's go!" he commanded, slyly leaning down and picking up a bit more snow before packing it into a huge snowball. "Me, Windal, and Faeble against you and Vrael!"
"Sounds good to me, Pa!" Vrael cried. "Let's go, Phil!"
Xaphile watched as he crouched down and grabbed some snow before chucking a snowball: much to his surprise, the well-aimed throw hit Bruno clean in the face.
"Yowch," he groaned, "that couldn't have felt good."
"Out of the way!" Vrael cheerfully burbled, grabbing his hand and tugging him aside; the two of them ducked to avoid a barrage of snowballs. Xaphile glanced at him, but Vrael simply grinned and wiggled his long ears only a split second before he was hit in the head by another snowball.
Then the impossible happened.
Xaphile laughed a little.
It was a tiny little snicker, but it was still a laugh.
"Let's get 'em!" he growled.
After that, they broke apart and quickly got up, grabbing fistfuls of snow in their hands. With steady precision, they both threw the snowballs at Bruno, causing him to duck out of the way.
"Whoa!" Xaphile squawked, ducking as a snowball went sailing past his head. "Dude!"
"Phil, make a fort!" Vrael called as he scooped up some more snow and tossed it in his little brother's direction. "Hurry!"
Nodding, Xaphile quickly started working on building a fort for the two of them, since they really did need some sort of shelter from the reign of frozen terror.
He continued to make the fort, hoping to finish it before he got hit again, but unfortunately a huge snowball—no, more like snow-boulder— smashed into his back and literally sent him sprawling face-first onto the ground. The moment he was able to unglue his face from the drift he'd gotten stuck in, he took a breath and howled.
"COLD! COLD!" he wailed, turning to assault his attacker with large fists of snow in both of his hands; however, his pale face went beet red when he saw Ninira herself standing there with a smug look on her face. "That was you?!"
"Wasn't too rough, was I?" the blonde woman questioned with mock curiosity, slowly cracking a motherly grin. "Are you okay?"
"Um...I-I..." Xaphile stuttered, not really knowing what to say.
"Need some help?" she asked, gesturing toward the fort he was making; he nodded sheepishly and went back to the building the fort, but then her hands unexpectedly clamped down on his horns. "Hmm... how about this?"
Blinking a few times and momentarily wondering what she was doing, Xaphile tried to look up at her only to have his face pushed deep into the snow.
Flailing around and batting at the icy powder, he clawed at the coldness, tail lashing.
A light, high-pitched cackle vibrated his entire body.
"Shtop!" he finally cried, flopping around until she let him go. "Its COOOOOOOOLD!"
Once he pulled his face free, he began rubbing it incessantly, trying to warm his skin up.
"Head's up, Ma!"
Ninira looked up and squealed when snow came flying at her, laughing and running with her hands covering her head.
"Vrael, stop!" she shrieked as she ran from the assault. "Oh, oh, I'm gonna get you back!"
Ten seconds later, Xaphile heard the sound of Vrael's footsteps approaching: he ducked down when the happy teen jumped over the fort and slid over to him on his back once he hit the ground. A barrage of about seven snowballs flew over the top of the fort immediately afterwards.
"Hullo, Phil," he greeted with a smile. "Good job on the fort!"
"Mind explaining what we're doing?" he whined, patting his frozen cheeks. "I'm confused!"
"Family tradition!" Vrael exclaimed, slapping his shoulder. "After every big snowfall, we all have a snowfight, even Ma!"
"Seriously?" Xaphile asked, tail thumping against the snow; as he spoke, more snowballs flew over the edge. "So, what's our plan?"
"Plan?" Vrael asked in surprise, taking a peek over the edge of the fort; Nini, Bruno, Faeble, and Windal were all standing together with mischievous grins and large handfuls of snow. "You mean, you're fine with this?"
"Well, kinda got pulled into it already," Xaphile admitted. "Not like I have a choice now."
He joined the boy in peering over the edge for a moment, but since his black hair wasn't nearly as unnoticeable as Vrael's silver tresses in such stark white surroundings, he was unexpectedly pulled back down by the back of his borrowed coat.
Three well-aimed snowballs immediately smacked into the spot he'd just withdrawn his head from.
"Thanks," Xaphile mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck. "Close call."
"All right, gather up as much snow as you can," Vrael gleefully whispered, "then we'll take them on. We can do it if we work together."
Both boys instantly started gathering up snow, and on the count of three, they dove out of hiding. Instantaneously, all hell broke loose: snowballs went flying all over the place.
It was an all out war, either hit or be hit.
Xaphile soon found himself taking refuge behind a tree stump, gathering more snow.
Everywhere he looked, balls of cold powder were being thrown.
He hissed, ducking down as one nearly hit him in the face, and as much as he wanted to deny it, he couldn't: he was having fun.
His dark hair gleamed in the cold sunlight as he ducked and dodged: it was so quick... there was no time to think.
To worry.
He was lost in the moment, so wondrously close to letting go of the shackles that had been weighing him down.
It had been a long time since he'd felt like this... so light, so free, so giddy even, but there was no time to think about that, because more snow was flying, and he had to move.
He couldn't stop.
It was almost as though a strange veil were falling across his mind, blocking out his worries, and all he could do was play in the snow.
The laughter was bright, the surrounding mountains were gorgeous, and he was so strangely happy that the hole in his heart almost seemed to be filling in with something.
Something pleasant, bittersweet, but light, he dodged yet another snowball from Vrael, laughing.
"There he is!" a familiar voice cried. "We found him! Thank the Gods, we've finally found him!"
His laughter died in his throat and he froze as a flash of something very dark registered in the corner of his eye, but when he turned, everything around him dissolved and the slowly brightening world was plunged back into its usual darkness.
Eyes going blank, his hands numbly unraveled and the snow dropped to the ground.
There was no more sound... no more sensation... no more laughter... nothing but the shock of reality descending upon him like a crack of thunder.
They were right there.
Ella and Amelia were literally walking up the path to the Daael family home, looking at him.
Noticing his gaze, the brunette started waving.
"PHIL!" she cried. "PHIL, ARE YOU OKAY?! WE'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR YOU!"
He instinctively backed away, since something deep within the core of his being began to ache profusely as they approached.
The closer Ella came to him, the more that piece of him hurt.
A snowball smacked into the side of his head, but he didn't notice or care.
The desire to flee ensnared him.
A flood of power engulfed his body and he began glowing bright blue as a frantic desire to get away from them surfaced up from the center of his being.
Seeing it, however, Ella's pink eyes flashed and she tore at him, arms flapping like a penguin's wings as she scuttled through the snow.
The Daael family halted what they were doing and stared when she lowered her head and tackled him to the ground, but he didn't care, choosing to struggle.
"You..." Ella hissed, making his hair crackle with power. "You are in serious trouble."
His mouth trembled and he swallowed, closing his eyes as he waited for her to do whatever torturous thing she had planned.
Instead of hurting him, she set her forehead against his.
"Idiot..." she hissed, angrily closing her eyes. "Intentional or not, you've done something that Amelia says can't be taken back."
"I'm sorry," he croaked, swallowing when Bruno and the others approached. "I'm..."
He couldn't finish it.
Vrael took the opportunity to step forward.
"Um... hello," he tentatively greeted. "I... presume you're Phil's companions from Ordin?"
Ella looked up with a flash, warily glancing at his ears before taking note of the dark-skinned elf behind him and going still.
Noticing her hostility, Bruno carefully wrapped his arm around Ninira's shoulder.
"What of it?" she demanded, narrowing her eyes. "Who... are you people?"
"We're the ones who saved him from the blizzard," Ninira explained. "My husband found him wandering up in the mountains alone."
As she spoke, her hand slid behind her back, and Ella's brows furrowed, eyes hard.
"You do realize that your relationship with each other could spell the death of you, right?" she demanded, watching as Ninira tensed. "Your children... they're all elven halflings."
"If you're smart," Nini said in a pleasant tone, "you'll keep your mouth shut. If you're not, I'll make sure you never speak again."
Ella snorted and stood up, getting off of Xaphile's prone form before dusting herself off.
"Frankly, your gall impresses me," she growled, flapping her arms, "but you would do well to keep that hidden blade of yours sheathed, since you are currently in the presence of the Countess of Nimika, the Southern Provinces."
Ninira's face went bone white and Vrael fearfully snatched his little brothers' hands.
"No," Bruno whispered, ears pulling down in fright. "This can't be happening..."
"What will you do?" Ninira demanded, mouth trembling. "Will you have us executed and murder my children? My babies?"
Ella stiffened.
"Of course not!" she vehemently spat, making everyone present stare at her. "Even a blind idiot could see that you've come to this Godsforsaken mountain range to escape from the king's wrath. My family has always been against the laws concerning interracial matrimony and the execution of halflings. I'm not about to become what I hate, thank you."
"So... yer not going to harm us?" Bruno asked. "Really?"
"Not at all," Ella grumpily explained. "If anything, I'm likely the only ruler in Aerika who wants to free families like you."
"I... I see."
"Thank you for taking care of my companion as you have, but we really do need to be going soon," Ella haughtily sniffed. "There are others waiting for us at the foot of the mountain, and the trek will be long and hard. Plus, there is much we need to discuss with him."
"That wouldn't be a smart idea," Bruno chimed. "There's another blizzard on its way here. Should arrive by the lunch hour."
Her brows rose.
"And how do you know this?" she demanded, worriedly flapping her arms. "Pray, tell."
He gestured towards the sun, which had a strangely bright ring around it.
"The sun forms a halo around itself before a big snow storm, and judging by the size of that ring, I'd say its another whopper, too."
"Ella," Amelia whispered, stepping forward with worried blue eyes, "we won't be able to make it down the mountain in a blizzard. What will we do?"
"You may stay with us until tomorrow," Ninira abruptly intervened. "If you still desire to leave after that, we will not hold it against you."
Xaphile lay in the snow, power long-since fizzled out.
All he could do now was wonder what sort of hell he would have to pay for his actions.