Chapter 3 First Quarter

I spilled my guys and confessed like a rat. Elizabeth immediately knew what I was up to once she realized I got out of bed, I was doomed from the start. Her disappointment was written on her face. There was no denying it, it would be better if accepted my fate and plead for mercy.

"So the church burned down then huh?" She probed her arms crossed.

I was afraid to look her in the eye like at any moment I'd get stabbed in the heart. I'd only known Elizabeth for barely a day and I wouldn't be surprised if she had a knife or two hidden in her garments. The anticipation was killing me.

"To the ground, nothing left of it."

She looked around before responding like whatever was coming next was taboo. She leaned closer and whispered, "So how'd it look." Figured that's what you were curious about.

"It was…" How could I describe it? A part of me thought it was pretty cool, I mean who doesn't like seeing a building burn down but that was a small part of my impression when I remembered the smell, Rebecca and Marie. Those fleeting moments of her extending her hands in the fire, completely unaffected by what all regards was the hottest fire I'd ever felt. I couldn't tell her that though, she seemed too excited for me to burst her bubble.

"Hmmmm."

"Well come on don't leave me hanging."

"I'm thinking, I'm thinking, It's not all the time you get to see something like that. Still processing it."

She sighed, leaning back in her chair, "Now you're just rubbing it in."

"We could always go check it out now. Maybe we can get there before the eye falls."

"Nah, that's only part of the fun, I'll just see how it looks after everything is settled."

From inside I couldn't tell the condition of the church. The smoke had cleared so I was guessing the worst was over but then again who knew?

Enough hours passed for me to tell that the sun really wasn't going to come up for three months. It was jarring, as far as I could tell everyone was out of their houses, carriages lined the road leading into the forest and the children continued their usual antics of messing with the horses. My internal clock would take a while to adjust, I was already sluggish so early in the day.

Ashton's Venue is what I would call an icy hell. Just in the few hours we sat inside warming up, snow had piled up against the door and the windows were practically impossible to see through. Elizabeth was more than ready to head outside but my body wasn't as accustomed to this extreme climate and the small fireplace just barely kept my hands from the brink of numbness.

Being as she was sort of my caretaker she couldn't take her eyes off me for even a second. I felt bad for being such a hindrance but I couldn't help it. The winter back home didn't compare to this, I'd try to get used to it as fast as possible. I'm sure she had better things to do than taking care of me. 

Elizabeth explained to me what was happening in the coming hours, the people were pretty proactive when it came to catering to Visitors, and in this case, it was me. She called it the Night Festival. Under normal circumstances whatever that meant at this point, the Night Festival would be held three months before the arrival of a Visitor, and on its last day, they'd arrive to end the celebration. I arrived much later than intended, now including the church burning and their long-running tradition might be postponed. I couldn't see it in any way besides a resounding positive.

I noticed Elizabeth wore a lot less clothing than I thought was necessary. While I was struggling with three layers, she practically only wore one, a white long-sleeve with an unzipped jacket. Strangely the part of her that was covered the most was her head simply because of the sheer quantity of beanies she used to cover it. Not an inch of her hair showed and as long as they stayed on it wasn't going anywhere. 

"You ready to head out," Elizabeth asked waiting at the door, her patience had waned thin.

The alluring heat from the fireplace pulled me in, telling me to stay where I was and continue to get warm but I couldn't listen. She was on the brink of dragging me outside.

"Doesn't sound like I have a choice."

"No, you don't, we've spent enough time here."

I sneered, getting up at a purposeful slow speed, dragging my feet on the floor, my teeth jittering. 

"If I get sick it's your fault."

"If you get sick it's no one's fault besides your own. The faster you get used to the cold, the faster things will go."

"Yeah sure, whatever you say." 

It took the combined strength of Elizabeth and I to force open the door, an instant gust of freezing wind striking my face, like needles against my flesh. How could I ever get used to this?

Dim lanterns lined the road connecting each house just enough to light the path ahead and just slightly see the ground away from it. The empty sky paved the way for a generous amount of moonlight, a blueish hue covering most of Ashton's Venue.

"What do we need to do first?" I asked as we entered a part of town, an abundance of vendors selling an assortment of goods, lining from fish, knives, wood, and differently colored balls inside a grau wood chest along with wording on top of it that I couldn't read. There were others but that in particular caught my attention. 

"We need to get you a cloak." She said, "Everyone here knows how you look at this point but you never know when someone might come looking for you, better to blend in."

"I'm not blending in now?" I asked confused what was so striking about my appearance.

"Not one bit." I didn't know how to take that but either way, she led me to a semi-large open clothing shop. A man with a broom stood at the entrance seemingly expecting our arrival, a clear path waiting ahead. 

He peered up specifically at me, mumbling something under his breath that just translated into a deep grumble.

"Mmmmm"

"Cut it out, he doesn't even know why you're doing it," Elizabeth snapped scolding him.

"Which is exactly why I'm doing it. Teach him before someone less tempered than me has to deal with him."

I didn't know where this anger towards me came from, obviously, it had nothing to do with me but perhaps my title. A Visitor, this must have been what Rùm was referring to, the man was the same skin color as her, a pale white with short silver hair.

"It's nice to meet you, my name is Gryce Harlington." I held out my hand hoping for at least a half-hearted handshake and after a few moments of silence I reluctantly received one. 

"Yeah and I'm Luka, it's nice to meet you. Make sure you buy something expensive, it gets cold at night, need to stay warm too." He snickered as he walked inside his shop, shoving his hands in his pocket.

"Don't listen to him, the Schnee aren't affected by the cold like you and I are."

"They aren't?"

What were the Schnee I wondered. In my head, it sounded like a sneeze put into words but of course, I didn't say that. Something told me that might've been offensive.

It didn't take me long to realize the Schnee were the people with white skin. I was more surprised than anything about why Rùm didn't mention that before, guess it was my fault for not asking.

We entered inside and Luka waited at the front staring at me while Elizabeth picked through the array of cloaks that lined the wall. The spectrum of colors was limited to three, black, gray, and white, a very limited selection. Some were shorter and others would've dragged along the floor if I wore them. I preferred not to choose the latter.

Drawings of different people lined the top of the wall, resting on a long plank of wood stretching across each corner. Even with my amateur eye, It was evident that whoever drew them had impeccable detail in their work. And although they were old, the paper had a distinct brownish tone engulfing what I assumed was once a bright white. But it was clear that they were taken care of thoroughly. Even with the limited light their frame glistened, not a speck of dust, not one blemish as far as I could tell struck any corner. They must have been special.

"You interested in those drawings aren't you?" Luka asked.

I jumped as if I was caught doing something wrong, whipping my head towards Luka." Oh… yeah did you draw these?"

"At one point," He moved away from the counter grabbing a frame that rested on top of a shelf in the corner, handing it to me. The paper was torn barely holding on to its structure, on it was a figure shadowed by the same veil that made the Eye of Rendition impossible to discern.

"Who's this supposed to be."

Luka laughed taking back the frame, "Who knows, was hoping the eyes of Visitor could see who it was." He set it back on the shelf. " A long time ago a man came inside my shop, traded me that drawing, never seen anything like it. So curious in fact that when he asked me if he could trade the drawing for one of the expensive cloaks I did it without a second thought. Don't regret it, made a lot of money selling some of the drawings, kept the ones I thought looked halfway decent but…" He scanned the top of the shelves, shaking his head. "Could never get it right."

Elizabeth butted in and said, "That's because it isn't anything in the first place. It's just a messed up drawing." while she handed me a gray cloak. "Try it on."

"Eh, you don't know what you're talking about."

"And neither do you." He brushed her off gesturing as if saying whatever, walking back behind the counter. 

"Well anyways, if you happen to find some stranger out on the road bring them here, you never know."

"Yeah, I'll keep an eye open." I was starting to get curious myself.

I threw the cloak on, snapping the small metal piece into the hole, fixing the hood. "How's it look?" I asked

Elizabeth responded immediately, brushing my question with a simple, "It looks fine." I felt disheartened.

"How much is it" Elizabeth asked.

"50 chips." Her eyes widened, the look of disbelief written on her face.

"50?" 

"That's right, 50 chips."

"Why is it so expensive."

"Cause I said so, now come on are you buying or not."

She sighed, and reached into her jacket pocket, grabbing a hold of a small brown sack with what looked like coins jutting out of it.

"What are chips supposed to be?" I asked.

"Huh? Oh yeah, you don't have the same currency." She drew open the strings of the bag, handing me a wooden coin with the words, "In the white ash we are one." It smelled of maple and its surface was smooth with ridged edges.

 "On Toblitche our currency is made of wood distributed by Solomon Grimmer. Look at the back."

I turned the coin and engraved in the center was a bald man, that was the only distinguishing feature, if I had seen the guy I don't think I would have even batted an eye. 

"That's him, at some point at least."

"At some point?" I handed her back the coin.

"No one's seen him, as far as anyone's concerned he might as well be dead."

"Watch what you say, Liz!" Luka shouted

"What? it's only us here."

"You never know." She rolled her eyes and continued,

"Some chips hold different values, with white chips paying off a 50-chip price tag!" She said the last part louder making sure Luka heard her but he didn't react. "Means you have to give them 50 white chips while giving them this." She grabbed a bright red coin but didn't hand it to me. "Could buy you several."

"Cheap ass," Luka mumbled.

She cleared her throat and took out another coin but this time it was gray seemingly made from Grau wood. "Five of these would pay it off." She took out 5 grau wood coins and handed them to Luka.

"Pleasure doing business with you." She grinned, her eye twitching. "Hopefully the last one for a while."

"It's not good to wish ill on people. I have a family to feed you know."

"How's your daughter doing?"

"Get out of my shop." And just like that I had obtained a new piece of clothing and was kicked out in just a few minutes. A great way to start the day.