Trouble in the Eye

Aurora was indeed excited. When Gandr had connected to her emotions years before, she had not noticed the difference because he had entranced her. 

But just now when Gandr had tried to use his wind magic, something inside her clicked. She felt part of her feelings leave her, but it wasn't an unpleasant sensation. It took a moment for the Empress to understand what was occurring. 

The magic was working! 

"If you can feel my emotions, does that mean you can feel Devrim's as well?" Aurora pressed her hands together in anticipation of his answer. 

The halfling frowned. He closed his eyes, focused, only to have his frown deepen. "I...cannot sense him," Gandr said at last. "But distance has always made a difference in how much I feel from any of you. Nurlan is only a little farther away and I can barely sense him at all. The magic is there but not strong. At least not strong enough to reach beyond our little circle. I am sorry." 

"No need to be sorry," Aurora tried to make her voice sound light. 

She was disappointed, but as Gandr said, his range seemed very limited. Anyway, they still had something to celebrate. If the magic could be reignited in the halfling, then it wasn't fully dead! 

Isbora finally spoke up in the Ancient Tongue. "Whatever you all are fussing about should wait until morning. We bears need our rest after what we went through, and you are disturbing it. Don't make us grumpy or I might still ask for a human—or elven—sacrifice." 

All the beings in the circle except Nurlan winced. "My sincere apologies. We will not make another sound." 

The group scattered back to their respective bears. The storm had not come any closer, but wisps of the wind occasionally whipped through the stillness.

Having a bear for a furnace was crucial to not freezing to death. In the tightly packed groups, bears and people were almost indiscernible.

At first, the people had worried that the bears would crush them while they slept, but it turned out that the furry creatures were very gentle with their frail riders.

If they were anything like Aurora, the humans were getting attached to their furry friends. But maybe that was only a problem for the Empress. None of the other humans could talk to their bears. 

On cue, Isbora pulled Aurora close and forced her to lie down. The strangeness of the situation was not lost on the Empress. Little children often had toy animals that they slept with at night. Her own Colvyr had a stuffed bear that looked down on him in his crib. 

Here, the roles were reversed. She was the tiny toy being held by a massive bear. 

'I wonder if Devrim would find that thought as comical as I do? Devrim...' Aurora's mood suddenly shifted. 'Where are you?'

There was no answer to her thought. Only the soft breathing of the bears around her. Except for the odd gust, things were eerily quiet in the eye of the storm. How Aurora wished she could hear the voice of her husband say that everything would be alright! 

Instead, Isbora shifted and growled softly. "Your constant movement is worse than a flipping fish. Is your leg bothering you?"

The two had spoken of Aurora's injury many times during their travel. The Empress had been reluctant to take off her brace without the doctor present in case she could not get it back on properly. 

"My leg? No," Aurora whispered. "I am worried for my husband." 

"No use worrying about what we cannot control, but I understand." Isbora curved her neck and nuzzled her nose against Aurora's hood. "Things will likely look different in the morning."

"You mean better?" Aurora wondered if there was something magical in the bear's muzzle, for she did feel comforted. 

"No, I meant different. I can't say it will be better or worse, but it won't be the same. But you have to sleep to find out what that will be." Isbora sniffed and the hot breath ran pleasantly across the Empress's face. It stank of fish, but the benefit outweighed the cost. 

Aurora hummed quietly. "I suppose you are right." She curled up in the bear's arm as tightly as she could and attempted to sleep. But dreams were not there for her to grasp, and so she fell into a restless semi-consciousness. 

At times Aurora could hear rustling and breathing, but mostly the time passed slowly and emptily. Despite being surrounded by people and animals, the Empress was consumed with loneliness and longing. 

When morning dawned, the fiery-haired woman was not sure that she had slept at all. She stretched, wondering if it was later than it should be now that the sun was in the air. The sun was strange down here just like it was in the Land of Magic, and the Empress could not dispel a sense of uneasiness seeing it now. 

"Wake! Wake!" Someone called suddenly. Aurora guessed it was the sentry on watch duty. Something had him distressed. 

Pushing off of Isbora, the Empress managed to stand with her brace. But it was not enough to see over the bears and find the source of the trouble. 

The she-bear must have understood her problem, for Isbora shifted for the Empress to climb on her back. 

"Thank you," Aurora dipped her head graciously as she tried not to pull too hard on the bear's fur. It was not easy to climb with her leg brace, and the soldier continued to yell. 

Others were rallying to the cry and murmuring either curses or concerns. The fatigue mixed with cold made the usually diligent soldiers react slowly to the warning--especially because it had not been terribly specific. 

"Uh, Your Majesty, we have a problem," Brinn called, standing lightly on the bear next to Isbora. 

"I am aware," Aurora grunted. Isbora lifted one of her back legs to help the woman make the final distance. "What is the problem?" 

Brinn, for once, seemed stunned speechless. The elven princess stared out at the ice. Some who were complaining before now had panic in their voices. 

The guard continued to call a warning. Aurora wondered why Nurlan had not silenced him. She looked over to see him staring out the same as Brinn but in a different direction. 

Were they entranced?

They had already established that the magic was still active in the South. Had something gotten a hold of them and rendered them speechless? 

'Be careful,' Aurora warned herself as she finally stood. 'Something is very wrong.' 

On her perch, the Empress looked out at the vast expanse of white. The morning sun made the icy world glow with a blinding light. It took a moment for Aurora to see anything at all. She squinted, afraid of being thrown into a trance like her friend and the general. 

And she saw...nothing. Why was everyone concerned about ice? 

But then she noticed irregularities in the ice. The change in the coloration was so subtle that Aurora has missed it at first. Once she saw it, there was no way to unsee it. 

The Empress gasped. "Oh, oh no!" How had this happened without her knowing? 

Now she understood the elf and General's vacant stares. Brinn and Nurlan were not entranced. 

Like everyone else in the group...they were surrounded.