To Warmer Plains

Chapter 1

Kit feared she'd done too good of a job concealing her distaste for travelling company. After tolerating a few weeks of her previous company's insistence, she realized her protest would change nothing at that silent acceptance, at the least, made for a smoother ride. She'd even begun to acknowledge a legitimate need for the extra protection after the recent series of attacks.

That did not change the fact, however, that Kit Magnar did not particularly enjoy the company of or trust Black Ice Shadow. He was cold, distant, and unfamiliar. Travelling with Saros had put in her such a mindset that she'd come to expect a certain emotional detachment from those of Sidereal stock, but at least Saros had seemed like an identifiable, if a bit uncouth authority figure. Black Ice Shadow was a creature bizzare even by the Maidens' standards, an exotic and disturbing breed of heaven and hell. The pair moved quickly through the plains away from Denandsor on their first night of travel. Black Ice Shadow towered over her, and his long strides made it difficult for Kit to keep up. He walked at least ten feet ahead and rarely looked back, only speaking to her when he felt it necessary to remind her that haste was a necessity. Still, he was not curt, and their was a certain civility Kit found in his quiet darkness.

A few hours had passed into the night when Black Ice Shadow came to a poignant stop, eying his flanks with perhaps unneeded suspicion. He held up a halting finger to Kit, who followed suit. After a few seconds of silence, he turned with a gentle rustling of bracken.

"I think, Madame, that this spot shall be suitable for us to rest for a few hours."

He lowered himself by bending at the knees, keeping his feet close together. He pulled from his backpack a bedroll, deploying it swiftly and offering it to Kit with an open right palm.

Kit looked up to see the offering; she'd been preparing to start a fire. She was soon to set the dry twigs aflame with a mote of essence, but Black Ice Shadow quickly extinguished the heat with a lightning-fast wave from his left hand, keeping his right palm open and facing her. Kit gave him a quizzical, if not slightly disappointed glance.

"I'm sorry, Madame. No fire tonight. Please get some sleep."

Kit nodded; she now appreciated the need for stealth. She began to crawl under the thick deerskin blanket provided with the bedroll as she glanced up to Black Ice Shadow, asking a question she should have known by now, having spent time in the company of these times, was foolish.

"Where... Where will you sleep?" Her hesitance made it apparent that even she'd realized partway through her asking the question what its answer would be.

She was sure that if his black cowl hadn't covered his mouth, she'd see even him grinning.

"I will stand watch. I have forgone sleep for some time in my studies, and certainly, I will be called upon in my future duties to do so again. It is a small matter."

Kit had some trouble getting to sleep that night; it was not a fear of the unknown troubling her, rather, something less palpable. Her mind would not quiet itself whilst her gaze pierced infinitely into the depths of the night sky, littered with constellations and the occasional owl. A wayward, lateral glance every now and then revealed that Black Ice Shadow patrolled the area with stoic conviction, never breaking stride or stare. Though she'd just met him, this assured her -- despite his troubling outward appearance, Kit saw within Black Ice Shadow, despite her inherent resistance of forced company, a certain trustworthiness, almost a... humanity. It was to this thought that she was finally able to drift into sleep.

Morning came with an unpleasant sharpness with which Kit was unfamiliar. When Black Ice Shadow roused with her a quiet, firm utterance of "Madame", the sky was not it usual myriad of pink and yellow hues. Just faintly purple, the Unconquered Sun had yet barely made his presence known to the day. Kit was used to the lifestyle of a prodigal, curious child -- though she'd grown up with a barbarian tribes, her elders had always made special allowances for her, hoping to foster her innate creativity and curiosity. She spent a good deal of her childhood raising at leisurely hours and whimsically exploring the territory. Early mornings were one of many facets of Exalted life Kit was still getting used to.

After groggily getting to her feet, Kit began rolling up the bedroll. In the meantime, Black Ice Shadow stood at the edge of a grassy knoll, contemplating the horizon. Behind himself he'd started a small fire; its heat made warm a pair of rodents the Sidereal had seen fit for breakfast.

The two of them sat down on a pair of tree stumps to eat a few minutes later. The silence grew tense, but Kit, who'd spent the past month with the most awkwardly matched group of people the stars could muster together, and Black Ice Shadow, who'd spent the past year with a living shadow, were both rather accustomed to such silences. Their first breakfast was eaten without a word spoken, and the pair stood in tandem upon finishing, looking onward. Black Ice Shadow, against his custom, broke the silence.

"We will go Southeast, to the range towns of Marukan. There, we will rendezvous with my retinue. Is there anything you require before we depart?"

Kit was a bit taken aback by his staunch politeness, forced as it may have seemed -- Black Ice Shadow had done his best to defeat the image of a brutal killer, though it still unnerved her somewhat to be poignantly aware of the man's primary purpose.

After a moment of startled silence, Kit managed a trailing reply, "No... not really..."

A day of solitude to reconsider her decisions came to mind, though she decided presently against sharing her sarcasm.