Life at Lily’s Lodge
Lily was guiding her trailsdrake across a frozen forest after she picked him up at another traveler lodge. She would find her task quite enjoyable if only she didn’t despise the cold weather brought by the Frostwind Season.
For the past three months, the Woods of Wonders had been stuck in the Frostwind Season, transforming the land into an immense field of ice sprinkled with frost and frozen vegetation.
The landscape was beautiful, no doubt, and Lily couldn’t deny its charms.
However, she’d enjoy its charms a little more if they didn’t come with a weather cold enough to seep through her bones and make her teeth chatter in a constant way.
Lily guided her trailsdrake onto a path made of icerock as a chilly wind blew across the field of blue grass covered in frost. She was returning home after picking up her trailsdrake at another traveler lodge, and as she glanced at the ominous white clouds rolling into view and hiding the sun of Skylight 16, she feared a storm would strike before she had the chance to reach the closest driftbloom.
She spurred her trailsdrake into the forest of blue pines, the coat of white fur covering its bear-shaped body warming Lily’s legs like a cozy blanket, the one in which she enjoyed wrapping herself when curling up on the couch. As she daydreamed about lounging in front of her fireplace, flakes of frost began to fall from the sky and yanked her back into her cold reality.
A sliver of annoyance pricked her spine.
Lily had hoped to have enough time to return home before the froststorm’s arrival, but she’d clearly misread the signs. And if she didn’t make camp now, she’d be facing the onslaught of nature on top of her freezing toes. And fingers. And tip of her nose.
At that point, it’d be best to assume that all of her limbs were suffering from the icy weather.
She jumped off her trailsdrake and gathered the resources needed to cast her camping spell, which included branches, shards of icerock, and tree leaves shining in a white color. After tossing everything into a pile, she cast her spell while the storm intensified all around the forest faster than Agnes losing her temper.
In flickers, the resources merged with the ground, which expanded into a small room made of icerock that included an adjoining stall to shelter her trailsdrake. She secured her trailsdrake into the stall, the wind whistling into her ears as if warning her to take immediate cover, and she rushed inside the camp hut where everything was calm and peaceful.
As if the only storm raging nearby was the one brewing within her blood.
Lily settled her flamestone inside the small flame pit dug inside the wall and activated its flames. An orange glow illuminated the space while warmth spread around Lily like milk poured into a hot cup of coffee. At that thought, she summoned the pop’cup of creamcoff she’d stored inside her NeverSpace and enjoyed the steaming drink while warming up her body.
She took a deep breath, and her muscles finally started to relax.
Lily couldn’t stand the cold as much as she couldn’t stand people giving her unwanted advice about running her own business, and she wouldn’t be in this situation if it weren’t for her dear brother. Andy’s job consisted in taking care of the trailsdrakes, including retrieving them from other locations. Since he exhausted his magic yesterday, though, Lily had to take over his tasks for the day.
As Lily sipped her creamcoff, staring into the flames licking the stone, she decided to punish Andy for forcing her to brave the cold weather.
An entire month of cleaning the lodge should do the trick.
Once the storm lifted two skylights later, Lily cast a dismantling spell at her camp hut and returned home with her trailsdrake. As she stepped inside the dining room, she spotted her brother and friends awaiting her arrival while sitting around a cauldron of simmering stew, the smell lifting her mood and making her forget all about today’s struggles.
And as she collapsed in a chair and shared a meal with her family, telling them all about her misadventures of the day, she realized that she could even find warmth and happiness during the coldest of times. All she had to do was to keep her heart open.
If she did, nothing could ever bring her down. Not even froststorms.