It had been a while since Chris had eaten something besides cheese, crackers and bread, so dinner seemed to him a whole feast and he allowed himself fourth helpings. Meanwhile, after a few different topics had been discussed, the subject that Osburt and Winter had landed on was (unavoidably, Chris thought) the situation in Northland. They compared dates and names that Chris could barely recognize, and so he tried listening in attempts to pick up some of the local history; he thought it probably wouldn’t hurt to know most of this later.

“—I’ve always wondered why hadn’t Lednite claimed the Crown in the past? Surely they had the power, and, as the Legend says, they had as much right over the throne as Mrazborns.”

Arnold threw in, “I—I had always thought, most… most of them didn’t have any interest in the Throne, did they? Believing the L-Le-Legend…”

“The Legend reads that Ice Carved will have ‘a born right’ over the Throne only until Witches ‘settle in their kingdom’. When that happened, the Ice Carved could only rule if a Firstborn blood gave them that power in some way. In any case, we can’t know what they might have wanted,” Winter answered with a shrug and a rather unpleasant expression. “That being said, I do not think it would have been good for Northland if an Ice Carved had taken over.”

“What are Ice Carved?” asked Daniel curiously, swallowing a baked potato.

“The Witches’ ancestors who were created by Zimebog - that is, Jak Mraz,” Ian replied with a frown, halting a low conversation he’d had with Arnold in Aurorian. “Everyone vi Norðland*--”

“Christian, English.”

Ian flinched and threw a glance at his brother. “Everyone in Northland knows this.”

“Please excuse me for not being born here.”

“Their power over Ice Magic is said to be greater and more controlled than any Witch alive,” added Osburt, helping himself to the salad. “And they were said to be immortal… or at least to live longer than any Witch would.”

“I’ve-I’ve heard that they aren’t alive to-to begin with,” squeaked Arnold. “Bec-because they were… um, carved from ice blocks.”

Osburt nodded. “That’s what the Legend says. But there hasn’t been proof of their existence in over six thousand years.”

“Imagine what happens when the sun comes out,” Daniel snickered under his breath.

“Exactly,” laughed Osburt.

Winter only seemed fierce.

“And it’s just as I said,” she cut in, “it wouldn’t be good for Northland if an Ice Carved took over.”

“Maybe.” Osburt pointed in her direction with his knife and nodded, then pinned a steak on his fork. “They probably have a very different way of seeing things than mortals. Our Creator did say ‘one cannot rule lives if one does not know how to be alive’ when he gave up rule to the Firstborns. But in this day and age, who knows? If they still existed, maybe it’d be better with them.”

Chris watched Winter’s expression grow angrier. His attention was momentarily pulled away by Daniel’s enthusiastic pointing at a brand of crossbow that they had seen in a magazine the week before, that now seemed to be hung up on the wall above the fireplace. When Chris looked back around at Winter, she had gone.