you do not know who is your friend

or who is your enemy

until the   ICE breaks.

She didn't understand. She didn't acknowledge his question, didn't respond, didn't clarify, and he felt disappointment settle across him. It was heavy, bone-crushing, but he bore it anyway and looked aside from her. Their vehemence had bled out like a large wound, and left them nothing but dry husks. The warmth and life of her eyes had frozen, hardened, just like his had, but he wrapped himself in something soft and stupid. It took the edge off the pain, padded his heart from the incessant sharp stabs against his heart. He whined softly, not sure of what to do. They were two blocks of ice, growing colder by the second instead of warming and thawing. Suddenly she was trying to comfort him, and he felt a dull throb of suspicion, but it faltered, faded. He didn't know what was wrong with the situation anymore, just that all of it was wrong, so very wrong. Even the wind was wrong.


She made his decision for him in that bleak sunrise, padding across to the rock where the flowers swayed gently. "It will be okay," he repeated dumbly as she took them in her mouth, holding them so gently as he had even when he had ripped them from their home. Those flowers were the cause of all this misery in a way, but he hadn't the spirit to hate them for it. They hadn't decided on this. They'd just been caught in the crossfire too, as all mortals were when stars toyed with their lives. Ice's fur bristled, but the moment she looked at him again it fell flat, like last night's snow over the sharp crust. It took him several seconds to realize what she was saying, and then his chin dipped down in defeat. He had to go. He'd always known but now he had to. She'd told him to go. Then he couldn't stay. A sigh slipped out of his mouth and he took half a step backwards, before pausing. His head tilted, and his voice was soft.


"Take care... stranger girl."


And then he was gone, blown away like smoke in the wind, running so hard that his heart ached and it felt as if he was breathing fire, but he couldn't see where he was going. Tears blurred his eyes over, and he wasn't sure for whom he cried.


[Ice out.]

.ice aesir