“So, you made it back…” Helmaic greeted us, as we climbed the hill we had made our camp on, some ten days earlier. The cottage I had built was still there, standing solidly, if a little thawed, making me want to take a closer look. In comparison, the dwarven camp looked a little more build-out and I was reasonably sure that a few of the faces had changed. A quick head-count confirmed that idea, there were simply more dwarves than there had been when we had left, milling around and maintaining both their equipment and the camp itself. I was quite impressed that, other than a slight raised eyebrow on Helmaic’s part, there was no reaction to my changed appearance.

“Indeed, it is good to see you again, Helmaic. I hope your wait wasn’t too unpleasant?” I asked, trying to keep up a professional and calm facade.

“Nothing much happened here, we rotated people back to the hold, making sure that there were some here at all times. We also made sure that none of those shambling crawlers started to make their way towards the hold. What about you, did you have success?” he asked in return.

“We did but I think I will relate the details to the Thane himself. Suffice to say, the swamp was crawling with undead. The problem is solved, at least for now. The implications of our findings will be something you, as a people, will have to deal with.” I explained, trying to make it sound both reasonable but suitably impressive. Judging by the grave expression on his face, I thought that I had been successful.

“Now, you said that you’d guide us back to the Hold. But there are quite a few more dwarves here, what are your plans there?” I asked, looking around.

“We’ll leave in the morning. That way, we can easily make it to the Hold in the afternoon and you can report to the Thane. Is that acceptable for you?” he asked, causing me to nod.

“Good. I’m afraid I’ll have to lead one last patrol during the evening but you can talk to Darin, my second in command if you need anything.” he explained and pointed out one of the dwarves.

We returned to the cottage, the others discussing what chores we’d have to do for the evening and who would do them, while I placed a hand on the cottage, slowly regaining my connection to the Ice that I had created days earlier. I was quite impressed that it was still in as good a shape as it was, despite the few sunny and overall warm days we had. There was some thawing, but nothing I couldn't get rid of. I felt Lenore perk up in the back of my mind, watching as I used my Ice-Magic to repair the imperfections, reinforcing the structure to make sure it would easily serve us another day.

At the same time, the others spread out, Adra and Ylva going out to hunt, hopefully getting some dinner, while Rai and Sigmir were gathering some firewood. Once I had the cottage in a serviceable shape, I followed Sigmir, helping them with the wood.

Later, while I was cooking, Sigmir sat nearby, eyes closed and Ylva resting nearby. As I watched, her Aura flared around her and I could see the tension on her face, a snarl twisting her lips as her brows furrowed. For almost five minutes, she sat there with her aura burning around her, as sweat poured down her face and into her clothes. Suddenly, a trickle of blood was running out of her nose and with a loud gasp, her aura flared once again before vanishing.

I could see her pale, the pained expression making me rush over and as soon as I was next to her, her eyes flickered open and I found myself engulfed in a crushing hug, strong enough that I worried about my ribcage.

Held like that, I could feel Sigmir shake and managed to get my arms around her, to return the hug, as I stroked her back, muttering with what little breath I had that everything was alright. After a moment of the clinging hug, she pulled back and gave me a kiss almost painfully intense, bruising my lips a little. As we kissed, I felt her arms relax and the shaking fade and the kiss changed, it became no less intense but instead of needy and desperate it was pleasurable and passionate, hot enough that I was worried the nearby cottage might melt.

Finally, her arms fully relaxed and I could get a little distance, so I was able to look at her.

“Are you alright, love?” I asked, the intensity of her emotions worrying me, just a little.

There was a strange smile on her face, some of it was sadness and exhaustion but there was more to it. Before i could even try to puzzle out what it meant, she spoke.

“I will be. While I didn’t challenge the second Divide, I tried to put myself into the same state of mind as I was during the battle earlier. I tried to imagine what it would be like if I failed to protect you, if Rai hadn’t managed to break you out of that strange spell. If I lost you.” she explained and her behaviour made sense to me.

Not knowing what to say, I gave her a gentle kiss on the lips before standing up and adding one to her forehead. “Remember, you need to relax as well.” I reminded her, before moving back to the cook-fire, making sure that nothing had burned in the meantime. She followed after me, simply sitting next to me, as I continued to cook.

As the evening continued, her need to be close to me remained, with her sticking as close to me as my shadow, constantly reaching out to touch me, as if to remind herself that I was there and real.

Later, after the moon had risen, I decided that I wanted to do some thinking on my own, the question how I would be able to challenge the second divide at the forefront of my mind. Knowing that Sigmir would want me nearby, I decided to simply plop myself down on her lap, snuggle in with her arms wrapped around me and let my mind drift.

“Lenore, could you share your experience of crossing the second divide?” I asked, using our mental connection to invite her into my mind.

“I could share, but I don’t think it will help you. We are fundamentally different beings and our paths are vastly different.” she reminded me. For a moment, I considered if it would be a good idea before deciding to try on my own for now. But how?

Before breaking through the first divide, I had felt a connection to the moon and the strange potion from Kallista had helped me to fully establish it. If I understood the laws governing magic correctly, I’d need to strengthen that connection, to draw upon its power to strengthen myself. There was also the crystallisation of that connection, sitting in my chest and letting my Astral Power flow through it, I had been fully unable to do anything with that crystal, but it was there. Maybe now that I had reached level 100, I would be able to interact with it, using it to grow stronger.

Or maybe I was running entirely into the wrong direction, that was also a possibility.

For now, there were two avenues of experimentation, the first was the connection to the moon, the other the crystal sitting in my chest. As the moon was still small, slowly waxing over the next few days, I decided to focus on the crystal for now.

Remembering how I had joined my mind with the Astral River to visit the Grandmother, just two weeks ago, I decided to try it the other way around. Maybe, if I sent my mind into my own Astral Power, following its flow, I would be able to interface with that crystal, the silvery tear sitting next to my heart.

It was an interesting experience, letting my mind follow the Astral Power flowing through my body, so similar to the feeling of vastness when I delved into the Astral River. There was a confusing mess of power around my mind, not the neat and tidy streams of the Astral River, where each element was separated into its own stream. The only distinct strand within me was a single strand of silvery, cold power, the element of Ice. Maybe, there was a way to filter the Astral Power within me, so I only had the elements I had an affinity for within me, that way, my power would rise.

It was a thought for another day, for now, I wanted to follow the Astral Power until I found the tear-shaped crystal, near my heart. But how to get there? I tried to get a feeling for the flow of power, trying to correlate what I was feeling around me to the body my mind normally inhabited.

Suddenly, I felt a mental pull from Lenore and slowly the awareness of my body returned. And with the awareness of my body came a blinding headache and the feeling of being physically shaken.

“Stop, love, please.” I muttered, feeling Sigmir’s arms around me, shaking me.

An explosive sigh came from somewhere near my head and I heard Sigmir’s frantic voice, “I couldn’t wake you. When you started bleeding, I tried but I couldn’t, you wouldn’t wake.”

Raising my hand to my face, I felt a trickle of blood dripping from my nose, reminding me of the state she had been in, just a bit earlier.

“I guess I need some rest as well. Why don’t we get some shut-eye, love?” I asked, keeping my eyes closed, letting Sigmir carry me into our cottage and take me to bed. Thinking was unpleasant.