The harsh wind slaps me in the face as we trudge up the snow-covered incline. I shiver and glance up at the sun poking out from behind the icy, jagged peaks of the Barren Mountains. For a moment, a smug grin appears on its face, as if to mock me for my lack of warmth. Annoyed by the sun’s attitude, I connect my mind to Flandre’s and use his power to do the sun’s job. A warmth radiates from my body, heating up myself and a small area around me.

A few pirates huddle closer to me, but Vio pushes them away. 

As the sun sets, we enter our destination: the village frozen in time, Illis. The wooden houses covered in snow look like a relic of the past, proof that the villagers live a life secluded from the rest of the world. Overwhelming silence and a lack of people makes me wonder if the villagers have been frozen as well. The snow crunches underfoot as we separate into groups to look for information on the so-called, ‘Master of the Mountains.’ 

Joshua grabs my hand and drags me towards a large house with a slanted roof at the top of a hill. A row of icicles dangle from the rafters of the porch. A particularly long one nearly blocks our path up the stairs, so we maneuver around it and climb the steps. At a closer look, the house is in a better condition than expected for such an old building. It’s as if the house had never seen any hardships, despite the harsh conditions of the village. 

Joshua knocks on the door.

Only the howling wind responds. 

After a minute, he sighs, releasing his misty breath. “When they called it the Barren Mountains, I thought they were exaggerating, but I get it now. I can’t believe anyone willingly lives in this icy hell.” He shakes his head. “Actually, I can’t even tell if anyone does live here.”

“I don’t think it’s that bad,” I say from the comfort of my warm aer-powered aura.

“I wonder why…” he says sarcastically. 

We walk down the stairs, around the abnormally large icicle and begin back down the hill. In the distance, some of the pirates talk with villagers dressed in heavy wool clothes. 

Joshua stops abruptly and whirls around to face me. “While we’re still alone, I’ve been meaning to ask how you managed to read that weird language.”

“I didn’t read it, Flandre did.”

He raises his eyebrow, as if to ask, “Who?”

My gaze finds its way to the red crystal on my belt. “That’s the name of my fire aer.”

For a moment, we stare at each other in silence.

“Oh, sorry. Your joke was so funny I forgot to laugh,” he says followed by a horribly fake laughter.

His condescending tone strikes a nerve with me. “I’m being serious,” I say, getting near his face.

He takes a step back and somehow raises his eyebrow further than I thought possible. “You’re telling me that you talk to your aer?”

Accepting his challenge, I raise my eyebrow as well. “Isn’t that what aethers do? We ask to borrow their power.”

His face shifts into one of genuine concern. “Aer can’t talk.”

His serious tone shocks me. “But my aer have talked to me ever since I got them.”

“Isn’t that right, Flandre?”

Flandre remains quiet and my heart rate begins to soar.

Joshua’s gaze fills with pity as he tries to avoid eye contact with me.

“I-I’m telling the truth. Please, believe me.”

He scratches his head. “I want to, but what you’re saying goes against everything I know. You may be a Krehn, but I’ve never heard of aer speaking to anyone.”

 A moment passes in silence as my brain processes his words. Everything I know points to him being wrong, but I know Joshua well enough to say that he isn’t lying. The implications of what that might mean rush through my mind and break the connection to Flandre. 

The chilly winds nip at my skin as the aura of warmth dissipates. “But,” I say, at a loss for words. “How else could I have translated that letter?”

“That’s… what I’m stuck on,” Joshua says, confusion almost visible in his frosty breaths.

“I—”

A heavy force slams into me from behind. I fall face first and sink into the frosty embrace of the snow. As I pick my shivering self out of the snow, papers flutter to the ground around me.

“Watch where you’re going, idiot!” a blonde boy in thick wool clothes shouts at me.

“What right do you have to say that? You’re the one that ran into her,” Joshua says, helping me to my feet.

“That’s…” The boy’s green eyes shift around frantically. “You’re right.” He hangs his head. “Sorry. It’s just that I’m already way behind schedule and this doesn’t help.”

“Sorry,” I say, glancing around at the papers scattered on the snowy hill. “I’ll help gather them up.”

The boy and I begin collecting the sheets from the ground. Joshua reluctantly joins in, and we pick them all up rather quickly. 

“Thank you so much,” he says, bowing his head. “Sorry for the trouble.” He lifts his head and walks past me down the hill towards the rest of the village.

“Wait,” Joshua grabs the boy’s shoulder. “You thought we would help you for free?”

The boy’s eyes widen. “Y-yes?”

“Joshua, I know we’re kind of pirates now, but we can’t rob this poor guy,” I say, hoping to strike some sense into him.

Joshua releases the boy. “I don’t want his money, just his information.” He slicks his hair back. “Do you know where we can find the Master of the Mountains?”

Color drains from the boy’s face. “Oh.” He turns his back to us. “Get out of Illis. This village doesn’t welcome people like you.”

Before Joshua or I can respond, he runs down the hill and disappears into one of the houses.

The strangeness of the boy’s sudden change in behavior distracts me from what I talked about with Joshua. “Wh-what happened?” I ask, hoping Joshua has more answers than me.

He strokes his chin. “I’m not entirely sure, but I get the feeling we aren’t going to get any more information from this village.” He motions for me to follow. “Let’s go back to the ship. I think that’s where we’ll all end up.”

As he says that, a group of pirates led by Captain Swift exit the village and head back towards where we came from. 

We follow in an attempt to catch up, but we lose sight of them. The harsh temperatures and freezing winds only get worse as the moons rise to take the sun’s place. My teeth chatter and my body shakes so much I can barely see straight. Eventually, I give in and connect my mind to Flandre’s once more, but afraid of his silence from earlier, I refrain from speaking to him. Joshua huddles near me and we descend the mountain back to the ship.

As we approach, numerous torches sway in the wind on the deck to heat up the ship. Groups of pirates gather around the torches to stay warm.

Vio brings a torch to us, and the moment she does, I sever my connection to Flandre. She asks if we figured anything out, and we share what happened with the boy and his sudden mood change.

“Sounds like the same thing happened to you as well.” She scratches her head. “Something's off about that village.”

“Maybe they don’t like pirates?” I say.

Vio cocks her brow. “Most people don’t. But the villagers seemed to be welcoming until someone asked about the Master of the Mountain. It’s almost like…” Her voice trails off.

“Almost like they’re being blackmailed into staying silent?” Joshua offers.

“I thought that sounded too crazy, but it’s the only thing I can come up with.” 

Joshua nods. “Even if it turns out to be something else, I don’t think we’ll get anywhere by asking the villagers for anything. We’ll probably have to find the Master of the Mountain on our own.”

“I’m going to talk to the captain about this.” She hands the torch to me. “Tomorrow is shaping up to be a long day. Make sure you guys get enough rest.” 

*

Creak. 

I peel my eyes open and squint at the bed across the room. The creaky door has woken me up in the past, and it’s usually a sign that Vio has come back. However, unless my eyes are playing tricks on me, her bed is empty. 

A ray of light shines in from the slightly ajar door. It seems that Vio failed to fully close the door on her way out. 

The allure of sleep calls for me to shut my eyes again, but my curiosity gets the better of me. I force myself to sit up and groggily rub the sand from my eyes. The chilly wooden floor shocks me awake as I walk to the door. Like usual, the door creaks as I open and close it behind me. My heavy legs carry me down the hallway and up the stairs onto the deck. 

My eyes scan the deck in search of Vio. She crouches near a crate beside the cabin, her brilliant orange hair glowing in the moonlight. Without thinking, I walk towards her.

“You sure eat a lot, Buggle,” she says with her back turned to me. “You’re going to be so big one day.”

Quietly, I peek over her shoulder. 

A blue beetle with curved horns scuttles around in Vio’s hand, eating small bits of torn up meat. 

“Vio?” I say, unable to suppress my surprise at the sight.

Her head whirls around and her eye widens. “Aliyah?” She covers the beetle with her other hand. “This isn’t what it looks like. I was just… trying to get rid of this bug I found in our room,” she says in an awkwardly monotone voice.

I can’t help but snicker at her awful attempt at lying. “You called it Buggle, and you’re feeding it.”

She turns her head away in silence.

“I know you’re lying, Vio.”

The beetle slips out between her fingers and runs in circles excitedly on the deck in front of her.

Her gaze slowly moves from the beetle to me. We stare at each other for a moment, and she hangs her head. “Alright, fine, you win. Buggle is a beetle I found injured in our room a while ago. I thought it would be too cruel to kill him, so I nursed him back to health. It seems he grew attached to me, since he won’t leave me now. Although, I guess I grew attached to him too, or I wouldn’t still feed him.”

I smile at her.

She jumps to her feet and gets very close to me. “Promise me you won’t tell anyone.”

“Why not?”

“Because I have this image as a cool and dependable quartermaster. If anyone found out I was taking care of a cute little bug, they’d never take me seriously again.”

“Really?” I tilt my head. “A Goddess getting attached to a tiny creature like a beetle is super cool and dependable to me.” 

Vio takes a step back, careful not to step on Buggle on the ground. “Do you really still think I’m a Goddess?”

Ever since we escaped from The Third, I’ve had a strong suspicion that she isn’t a Goddess. However, she always turns into tomato Vio when I call her that, and it would be a waste to get rid of such easy teasing material, so I won’t tell her.

“Lately, I’ve been thinking that maybe you weren’t.” I cross my arms and pretend to think. “But, then I get mesmerized by your deep blue eye, your blinding smile, and perfect figure, and I realize that it’s impossible for a human to be so beautiful.”

Even in the little light of the moon, her face nearly glows red. “Are you ever going to get tired of spouting those crazy lies?”

“I won’t, since they aren’t lies. I truly believe them from the bottom of my heart.”

“You’re so—” She shakes her head. “Never mind.” She kneels, picks up Buggle, and puts him in her pocket. “Anyway, how are you feeling now?”

The wound I got from protecting her stings for a moment. “It doesn’t hurt most of the time, so I forget it’s there sometimes.”

“Glad to hear it, but that’s not what I was asking.” Vio walks to the railing and leans on it, glancing over her shoulder at me. “I meant, how do you feel about being a pirate? I know we kind of forced you into it, so I wanted to know what you think.”

“It’s not as bad as I thought it would be. Everyone’s surprisingly nice, and I’m free to do almost anything I want without being punished. It’s weird to say it, but I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed life as much as I have these past few weeks.”

“Even with The Third chasing after us?”

I walk up to the railing next to her and lean on it. “Why should I worry about those guys when I have a Goddess to protect me?”

Out of the corner of my eye, she shakes her head. “I don’t understand how you can say embarrassing stuff like that with a straight face.” She chuckles. “But it’s good to hear that at least one of us is enjoying it.”

I turn to look at her, but her eyes remain focused on the horizon. “Do you not like being a pirate?”

“It’s not that I dislike it, but if I were given the chance to live a normal life, I’d take it without question. Who knows if that’ll ever happen, though, me being a criminal and all?”

I put my hand on hers. “I’m sure you’ll get to do it one day. You’re an incredible person and I know you can do anything you put your mind to.”

The chilly wind ruffles her hair as she turns to me. “Thanks, Aliyah. That means a lot.” She smiles more brilliantly than the moonlight reflecting off the water and my heart skips a beat.

Expecting a return from tomato Vio, I’m surprised that my face heats up instead of hers. 

“So, you can get embarrassed,” she says with a snicker. She cranes her neck up to look at the clear night sky. A moment passes as she stares up in silence. “The moons are beautiful tonight.”

The image of her smile still in mind, I shake my head to break the trance. “You know what else is beautiful?” I ask, looking at her instead of the moons.

She glances at me and narrows her eye. “If you say me, you’re sleeping on the floor tonight.”

“Your threat won’t work. I’m used to sleeping on the floor, so I’m going to say it.”

She puts her hand on my lips. “Nope, it’s too late. You already missed your chance.” She pushes herself off the railing and walks towards the stairs. “Now, let’s go to bed, it’s cold out here.” 

I watch her walk across the deck and it dawns on me. 

I really like her.