, Cale prompted as he stood beside the swordsman and buried his head in the cloak. The two Anuxers were standing on the snowy roof of an old library, looking down at the events before them as darkness fell over them. Hundreds of thousands of people had arrived in the last two weeks they had spent here, some carrying serious battle wounds or missing entire limbs.

, the swordsman gruffly admitted, clasping his hands together as snow accumulated on his jacket.

, William interjected sharply, causing Cale to feel hurt for a moment.

, Cale countered, rolling his eyes before putting his hands in his jacket pocket and watching his breath move. Their relationship with Aletta allowed them to be housed in the Chiefs' house itself, while new shelters for the refugees were erected in piecework. Many volunteers and dozens of mages were helping the residents of Frignez to cope with the current situation and Cale and Philippa had also helped to feed all the people this morning. It was an oppressive feeling to be confronted with so much anger and grief, that it took Cale a few minutes to compose himself and not become disrespectful. With patience, he brought food and drink to people, some of whom were not even really responsive.

, Cale raised quietly and closed his eyes.

, William replied with a deep regret in his voice.

, he shouted and slapped his hands apart, causing Cale to open his eyes and look at, his friend. His face was red and so were his hands, he must have been standing out here for quite a while, mired in doubt and fear.

Cale felt pretty much the same, but he was still pulling himself together. Apart from Philippa, he was probably the calmest of the five, and probably the only reason why the Chiefs Merensen had allowed them to mingle with the people. They were just as panicked about what might soon befall them, but they managed not to choke on it. Every day they saw a light, however small it might seem.

With a gentle smile on his face, Cale pulled his hands out again and touched both palms to the ice-cold face of the swordsman, who was visibly irritated at his gesture.

, he stated calmly, allowing mana to be channelled into his palms. Aletta had taught him a few days ago how the inhabitants of the north used mana to be able to defy the cold so easily. The same principle applied to a heat crystal, Cale was currently using to heat his hands to warm up William.

The swordsman placed his hands on Cale's and used the warmth to thaw them as well before closing his eyes and letting out an exasperated, almost whimpering sigh.

, Cale replied without pause.

, the swordsman admitted dejectedly.

William opened his eyes and pulled Cale's hands from his body, looked at his friend in silence for a moment, and then turned to the refugees. With one hand on the living warmth crystal, he stopped and watched as a large number of people gathered at the entrance to the ice city. A new wave of inhabitants had arrived in Frignez and even at a distance one could see that their clothes were soaked with blood. They had nothing on them, no jackets, no bags, most seemed to have had little food for weeks. The more injured people arrived, the more the memories of Groka came back.

As Cale stood next to William as he remembered exactly how his mother had died back then. Immediately he felt sick and held his free hand against his mouth to suppress a gag reflex. Her blurry, blood-red form haunted him to this day.

, Cale finally raised, trying to get his mind off things. With a nod, William followed him back into the interior of the city. About 90% of Aletta's home had been built underground and only the rooftops still rose out of the eternal ice. One could walk completely from one end of the city to the other without having to surface once. So the houses were well protected from the freezing weather to the north and didn't have much heat loss either. Impressive, as Cale thought.

Cale headed almost blindly back to the Merensens' house before spotting the rest of his group in the hallway, who turned back in surprise.

, Philippa explained quickly.

, Cale replied and with an acknowledgement from the archer they separated from the rest of the group and hurried to the post where they had been assigned this morning. The closer they got to the entrance, the more crowded the corridors became and the two had to squeeze through the masses to get to their station. Cale had to literally pull Philippa's arm, so they could squeeze through the wall of people and come to a stop in front of their usher.

, shouted Lance, the man who had given them instructions this morning.

, another woman shouted almost simultaneously.

, Lance added. The chaos of this morning repeated itself and both Cale and Philippa looked around in irritation.

, a man at the entrance spoke up, so Cale and Philippa immediately followed the instruction. A dozen others also started to move and follow the stranger to the supply center, where there was a similar confusion.

.

, the speaker instructed, so Philippa and Cale both grabbed two large crates and followed the crowd in that direction.

According to the statement Cale heard as he left the room, the newest blocks were filled with quite a few injured people who had just arrived. Cale could only roughly imagine what it was like in these rooms.

Elegantly, the volunteers pushed past like a river and spread out over the two assigned blocks. With a dull bang, the porters dropped the boxes on the floor, causing people to look up instantly. They were then given food and drink and blankets. They left one box full of provisions and went with the remaining three boxes to Block 27, which gratefully received and distributed the rest. With a spark of relief, the volunteers hurried back to their first post, where they were usually picked up and distributed.

But when Cale and Philippa re-entered after 20 minutes, the room was jammed to the ceiling.

, one of the supervisors, Lance, scolded, who with a slap ensured that silence returned.

.

, Lance retorted and glanced at his colleague, who just shrugged his shoulders and was thinking about it himself. Therefore, Lance turned back to the staff member in charge.

The staff member, who had lost track, gave no answer, so Lance began to curse loudly.

Cale spoke up loudly, causing the supervisor to look at Lance in surprise.

, Cale replied immediately.

the man repeated.

, Cale asked in shock.

Wordlessly, Cale stood in the room for a moment, he could feel the stares burning at him. If he hadn't already helped out for several hours this morning and seen all sorts of areas briefly, he would almost certainly be lost now.

, Cale directed before turning around without hesitation and followed by a flood of people back to the supply center, which seemed almost empty compared to the command center. His heart began to pound rapidly, after all, Cale was well aware of how important his task had abruptly become.

, Cale explained, pointing to a tall, blond-haired man who must be from Frignez.

, the muscular man replied, prompting Cale to nod in confirmation.

, Cale commanded, pointing at a new face he was seeing for the first time today.

With that confirmation, a slew of people disappeared as Cale stood with the other supervisors who were watching the action next to him.

The three other men gave each other brief irritated looks before one summed up the situation.

, the other confirmed, causing Cale to sigh in relief. He knew instinctively that this was going to be a long evening. But he was glad that people were helping without complaining.