We landed in the clearing, and a few blasts of minor spells was enough to guarantee us some freedom from curious creatures. Honestly it was more for their protection than ours, as the gateway was likely to let in a blast of air hovering at around negative 75 Celcius. Elendria and I would weather it just fine with my magical protection and her innate resistance, but I doubt many jungle creatures would be able to. Elendria had also given me a decent shock as we left the city walls, revealing that she had her own wings to fly with. Hers were nearly translucent and similar to dragonfly wings, with just a hint of light reflected from them. When she flew, there was a slight buzz and it looked like snow trailing behind her.

“Still shocked I got wings? You aren’t the only evolution that can fly ya’know.” She smirked.

“I can see that.” I chuckled, rearranging the tribute I was carrying. “I was just wondering why I had to shoulder this entire load of live fish for your otter friends.”

“Simple. You have gravity magic.” She said with a grin, pointing to the middle of the clearing. “Now, will you be a good boy and open a portal for me?”

“Say the magic word.”

“Pleeeease?” She fake whined, and I couldn’t keep the grin off my face as I stepped forward. I didn’t know if it was just us together again or if it was because we had decided to leave the twins behind, but I was feeling a lot lighter than just the previous week. And with both of us being able to fly, we would make incredible time. I handed her the pack of fish, and turned to concentrate. Certain spells will always be able to be cast on the fly, but unless there was a dire need, ripping a hole through space to another place would never be one in my book. It took about a minute to get everything right, but soon we were stepping forward into a much colder zone.

The scenery was breathtaking. Gently rolling hills covered the area, all covered with snow. There were a few trees growing, and they had odd blue leaves. Between several hills, a river gushed forward in a fairly rapid pace, while in other areas it had been harnessed and slowed down almost to the point where it froze. In these slower areas, our farsight spell let us see otter children play as parents watched. We were nearly a quarter mile away, having come through on one of the tallest hills in the area. To the east of the otter village was a large, frozen lake. I gave a nod of respect to the otters in terms of defense. Instead of a wooden palisade, they used their ice magic to create frozen walls and battlements, concentrated around the gate that was facing us.

“Halt! Who goes there!” We both froze and stared at each other when the gate guards challenged us. “Come on then, who goes there?”

“Uh, Summoner Elendria and my assistant Sean. I’ve come to recreate our summoning contract, and bring the village some gifts.” Elendria said, I guess she was still shocked that we could hear them speaking instead of the chittering we were used to.

“Elendria? ELENDRIA?! BY THE WINDS, I DIDN’T RECOGNIZE YOU!” The guard shouted, leaping off the rampart and using a hastily conjured ice slide to let him land safely by our feet. He immediately got up and smiled at us, though I could see his nose was working overtime. “You smell a bit different, but I do recognize Sean here. May I be the first of us to congratulate you on your successful evolution!” He said, giving her a bow. Slapping his head, he turned to his friend at the gate and shouted, “Open the gate and send a runner to the chief!” He turned back and gave us a toothy grin, “Sorry. You caught me off guard and my manners slipped a bit.”

Elendria smiled and said, “No worries. It’s a bit of a shock to us too. I could never understand you guys before, but now there’s no issue whatsoever.”

“Ah, it must be your first time to our plane then! The joy of being part of a magical plane, any visitors are automatically blessed with two things. You’ll find you both know the common Lesser Ice Plane tongue, as well as Icy Otter tongue. The common one everyone will get, while the second one will always be the language of the first sentients you come across. But enough of the blathering, come on in! We have to get a celebration going, especially if you brought gifts!” He chuckled, turning and leading the way. “By the way, you can call me Suzaku. Our chief is Korii, and our shaman is Gekko.”

We quickly fell in line behind the chattering otter as he proudly pointed out the high points of the village as we headed toward the square. Most families lived within the hills, and used ice magic to decorate their dwellings in swirls of crystals reminiscent of rivers. Occasionally there would be unique houses full of fish or other animals.

“and on the far side we have some of the more nasally offensive professions. Your tanners and alchemists, things of that nature.”

“Oh? Why put them at the south?” Elendria asked, having been paying far more attention. I was enthralled with the beauty and peacefulness of the village, especially how they took every chance to make things elaborate with their ice magic.

“Good thing to know if you are ever on our plane and manage to get lost. The wind always blows out of the North. Gekko always said that if you traveled far enough, you would see the land taper to a point. Hovering just off that point is a shard of the Primordial Ice Crystal, and is the anchor for our entire plane. But you’ll have to take her word for it, only the shaman are required to make that journey. Even then, they only do it in astral form. It’d be far too cold otherwise.”

“Interesting. So this crystal is the source of all the winds?” I asked, getting a look that could only mean “duh” in return. Shrugging my shoulders, I started to go back to watching the otter children play as we passed, only to realize we were entering the village center.

Dominating the central plaza was an absolutely gorgeous ice sculpture. In the center, and rising to the highest point was an elongated tetragonal crystal made of ice so pure it looked like blue glass. A flower of white ice bloomed from the top. Emerging from this bloom was a pair of otters embracing, while four streams erupted and flowed clockwise around them to the ground. One was water held in place by a thin sheet of ice, opposite it was a slide of solid ice. A third spiral was a clear blue like the central crystal, shot through with streaks of white while the fourth looked like a blizzard. Waiting for us at the base of the statue was a pair of otters, living ones this time instead of a crystal recreation. The male was the most massive warrior otter I had seen, while the female barely came to his navel. The male was a deep brown with frosted blue ends to his hair, while the female was a true albino, red eyes and all.

“Greetings Summoner Elendria and Guest Sean. I am Chief Korii, and this is my lifemate and village Shaman, Gekko. It is a pleasure to finally meet you.” He introduced himself and his companion, giving us both a bow, roughly ending at a 45 degree angle.

“Chief Korii, Shaman Gekko, it is truly my pleasure to finally come to the village with which I created my first summoning contract so very many years ago.” Elendria said, and we both gave a slightly deeper bow to the ruling otters. “And though Sean here has only recently become my companion in my life’s journey, he has had the pleasure of working with your own people in perfecting one of his own spells.”

“While I wasn’t personally there, he does match the description several of our citizens gave while over there. And I must say, the magical aura he is suppressing is potent indeed.” Gekko said, smiling at me. “Fear not young man, you haven’t slipped. Just remember, there is very little that can hide from a shaman’s eyes in her place of power. While the adults will have no problems withstanding such an aura, it may damage the children. For your restraint, our village thanks you.”

“Where I come from, no thanks are necessary for acting politely ma’am.” I said, smiling in return. “Though I do thank you for the tip about seeing through restrained power. I am still fairly new to using magic, and every bit of knowledge is helpful.”

“What’s in the box? I smell fishies!” Before we could continue, a child streaked out of the arms of an exasperated mother and shot across the open area, chittering in laughter as it easily dodged the gentle snow magics that tried to restrain it. I could see an aura of blue concentrated in its eyes, and wondered idly if it was some sort of magic detection skill. In seconds, it had crossed the area and was staring into the bottom of the large bucket we had brought. “FISHIES! But, these don’t look like normal fishies.” It accused, staring between Elendria and me.

“That’s because they are a new gift for your village little one.” Elendria chuckled, dropping down to the child’s level.

“I’m so sorry! Yuki, how many times have I told you not to go inspecting other people’s things?” The mother admonished as she finally caught her wayward child.

“No need to apologize.” Elendria waved her off. “I’ve yet to meet a child who wasn’t curious about new things.”

“Yes, well. We’ve had discussions of this before, and I guess I’ll have to do it one more time.” She said, turning to look at the sheepish child.

“You know.” I interrupted, smiling at the child. “You might wish to challenge Yuki instead of punish her, and see if she can channel her amazing perception into a way to help the village. Or was I wrong in assuming that you could see the magic your mother was trying to catch you with?” I said, laughing as Yuki’s eyes got huge.

“You? You could tell?”

“Indeed. You concentrate your mana around your eyes and at the very tips of your whiskers. I bet very few things can hide from you even with no training. But what could possibly hide from you if you had training to control it?”

“A fine suggestion indeed.” Gekko said from incredibly close. She and her husband had silently approached while we were talking, and while she was inspecting the child, her husband had eyes only for the bucket. “Korii, stop thinking with your stomach. I can hear it growling.”

“Chief, Shaman. While I know your village thrives on fishing, I had no idea if you had managed to cultivate a fish species into something you can successfully farm yet. To that end, I present to you a special breed of fish, the Ice Carp. They have been bred for their oily flesh, and reach maturity within two years of birth. They possess minimal ice magic, allowing them to swim through ice as though it were water. Should their lake freeze completely, they will not be impacted at all.”

“And how many did you bring?” The chief asked as his wife shook her head.

“There are enough here to start a self-sustaining colony. Each female can lay 100 eggs per year, and they will eat nearly anything. We have several fish already prepared for eating tonight, and should you like them we will gift the living fish to you along with this book on raising and caring for a self-sustaining population. According to the adventurers who sold them to me, a two acre lake can support a thriving population with no interference, but if you were to feed them regularly then you could harvest nearly 1,000 fish per year once it is up and running. There are also some minor potions that can be made with the eyes and scales.”

“A thousand fish per year?” Korii said, eyes lighting up. “Dear heart?”

“Before we give this gift, Sean has word of warning.” Elendria said, touching my arm.

“Indeed.” I said, stepping forward. “In my world, we have transplanted species before, not always aware of the possible outcomes. Care must be taken, as the new species might not have any natural predators to keep the population in check. Without that, it might starve out and cause the natural fish you are used to eating to die out entirely.”

“I thank you for your warning, Sean and Elendria. Let’s at least try the fish at the celebration tonight before we agree, though I do believe it to be a most worthy gift for the village even if the flesh isn’t to our taste. Now, we do need to be a bit serious for one moment.”

“Aye, I suppose.” Korii agreed, stepping back a half step to let Gekko take the lead.

“Elendria. Summoner from Vitae. It has been long since a summoner dared to use the Old Ways, traveling to the plane of their summoned and beseeching their aid in the form of a contract. In keeping with the Old Ways, we may form a bond of Conquest or Charity. As charity demands, you brought us a gift to show how you valued our potential bond. Let us now examine the gift in the light of day, that none may claim it insufficient later. Cooked and raw samples of a fish unknown in our lands, that we might discern whether the taste suits us. Enough live fish to guarantee our village a steady supply of food, with techniques to increase the yield in years to come. Alchemical recipes to use portions of the fish we would not normally consume, further increasing the value of your gift. You have warned us of hidden dangers, ones that even I had not foreseen. All this, and your previous interaction with our warriors you have summoned, weighs heavily in your favor. To that end, I cast my vote aye, we shall forge a new contract with you. Village Chief?”

“You come with open arms and honest hearts. In the past, you have always demonstrated a care toward your summoned allies, never causing undue harm. For that, I cast my vote aye, we shall forge a new contract with you. The heads are in agreement, but two people do not a village make. To any with reservations about Summoner Elendria, call forth now, knowing that none here shall lift a paw or spell in reprisal. Speak, or forever hold your peace.” Silence descended on the gathered crowd, and the chief let it go on for an uncomfortable amount.

“It is decided then. The Cold Claw village will allow Elendria to summon the spirits of our mages and warriors to her defense! Let us celebrate!” Gekko shouted, and the village erupted in cheers. Everyone nearby sprang into action, and we were flooded with a massive crowd of happy otters. Tables and benches of ice started appearing, and our gifts were swept away. Gekko led me to a table to remove the things from my inventory ring, and the party truly began. Games of agility, precision, spellcraft, and simple foolery kept us all busy long into the night while an amazing wine made of ice berries flowed.

“Heh, shorry we didn’t get to the wolfies t’day.” Elendria slurred as we snuggled into the fur blankets provided to us hours later. We had to crouch a bit in the underground homes, but they were as cozy as any inn back home.

“S’no worries.” I slurred right back. “Sss a celebrashun. Wolfies can wait.” I giggled. “Now, get shome sleep. Itssss gonna be a long day tomorrow.”

“But I’m not quite tired yet.” She pouted, sliding a hand down my chest.

“Oh? What can I do to helps out?” I asked as her hand slid lower. She leaned in and whispered in my ear a few suggestions I was more than happy to try. Luckily one of us remembered to put up a sound barrier.