Page 20 of Crown of Flame
“Well, it’s the body’s way of trying to warm us up. I don’t know the details around it. I’ve had others explain it to me better,” I say, rubbing my hands together as I speak. “But movement creates warmth inside of us, so we shiver.”
“Interesting,” he says, looking away. There’s a brief silence between us before he comes back for more questions.
“So your kind needs heat?”
“Yes, exactly. We need a lot of things, really. Food, water, shelter…”
I trail off, wondering if he’s following my train of thought. For a creature ripped from his own world and brought somewhere completely alien, he sure is precocious.
I think I admire that a little bit.
“But in the absence of one or more of these things, we can be really versatile,” I continue. “We can survive with very little for impressive amounts of time.”
“But it hurts you,” he remarks. “To deprive yourself of your needs causes suffering, I’m sure.”
I look at him suspiciously.
“As my guide, if you’re not operating at efficiency, then you’re less able to offer insight,” he adds. “And that endangers us both.”
The cold bites into my skin, causing me to stutter my words. I’m not sure I can keep walking.
“We should find shelter soon. For warmth.”
“I think I understand.”
My eyebrows furrow together. We’ve come to a small circular valley between the cliffs, with trees dotted around. It’s a relief not to be straining my legs. A lot of this walk has felt very uphill.
Before I can speak, Cinis turns his back towards me. I peek around him, realizing that the snow has begun moving on its own.
Stones emerge from beneath us, and I duck out of the way just as one flies past me, crashing onto the snow-covered ground.
But then it dawns upon me that Cinis must be the one controlling the stones. He must be moving them with his mind the same way he moved those dark elves.
I’m not sure how I reach the leap in logic. It feels like understanding Cinis means suspending my disbelief at times, willing myself to believe in alien concepts.
The stones glide across the clearing as he scoops them out of the snow and packs them together, clinks and crashes accompanying their movement.
I watch in awe as a small stone hut materializes, seemingly from nothing. Cinis even makes sure to include small windows and an uneven doorway. As I watch him work, I all but forget about the cold seeping its way into my bones.
Amazing, I think.
A deep hum resonates from him just as he tilts his head. Then he steps back and turns towards me. I let out a deep exhale, the air revealing my stunned wonder for the creature who has stuck by my side.
“That’s incredible,” I whisper.
“Why are you sitting?” he asks.
“I fell when I saw the stones flying around,” I explain, rising to my feet unsteadily and brushing off the snow that clings to my clothes. “I didn’t know you could do that.”
“I did it for you.”
I swallow down the knot forming in my throat. Why would a monster like Cinis care about my needs and wants? That doesn’t make sense to me at first, but the cold eats away at my rational thinking. Now, my ears burn with a heat that I didn’t even know I had.
“You know, peak efficiency and all that,” he elaborates.
“Thank you,” I say. “But don’t you think a cavern would be better for us? It would be warmer, more spacious…” He makes an expression that gives me pause. “That doesn’t mean I’m ungrateful for what you’ve done here. It’s amazing, it really is.”
“I can always make it better,” he replies simply, gazing at his handiwork once more. “Is it because of these holes in the wall? I was only trying to mimic what I saw back there. These holes are for entrances, are they not?”