Page 35 of Ties of Frost

He spoke faster and leaned forward, like a child describing his favorite subject. “I love this room because the painting and the colors remind me of winters in Glacori. Décor making me sentimental isn’t strictly useful, but it brings me joy. What is a world without beauty, without reasons to smile, without things that leave you in awe and take your breath away? These things aren’t lesser. Perhaps you can’t eat beauty or use art as a defense against a blade or slay a monster with wonder, but they’re still necessary for life if we want to truly live. These things feed and heal our souls. They are gifts from Iskyr and remind us of divine beauty and awe and goodness as well.”

His words caused my heart to swell. I dug my fingers into my leg beneath the table, refusing to get caught up in Kyrundar’s useless elven philosophizing.

“Anyway. Tea!” For the third time, he poured the liquid from the teapot into the large cup. Setting the lid at a slight angle, he carefully poured tea into first my cup and then his own. After he set down the cup, he gracefully turned his palm up and motioned toward my cup.

“First, smell the tea,” he instructed. “This is the ritual. You like rituals, come on.”

I sighed, half faking my exasperation, and breathed in the tea’s pleasant aroma.

“Now we admire the color. Then sip, savoring the tea. In this way, we acknowledge the tea’s value, and we give ourselves time to properly thank Iskyr for his gift of pleasing tea.”

I obliged. The pale amber tea was far more flavorful and less astringent than any I’d tasted before. Silently, I thanked Iskyr for pleasant tea, even though I had mixed opinions on howvaluableboth tea and this elaborate ritual truly were. Across from me, Kyrundar held his free hand in front of the teacup, as if hiding his imbibing. I’d seen Shuallangians do the same before, so it must have been a practice he’d picked up from Sylathria.

He refilled our teacups. “This tea ceremony reminds me why I fight in the first place. Why I wander the empire.”

“How?” I asked, baffled. “Wait—you aren’t saying you became a rengir to drink tea across the empire, are you?”

Kyrundar laughed. “No, no. Our goal as rengiri is serving Iskyr, specifically protecting his people. Therefore, the whole reason there’s value in protecting Iskyr’s people is because there’s value in those people, right?”

He waited for me to nod, then continued. “Then the way I see it, there must be value in the good things they create. Art. Songs. Stories. Delicious tea. If those things are good, then there’s also—perhaps even more so—value in friends to enjoy those things with. Enjoyment isn’t bad simply because it isn’t productive, right?”

I wasn’t sure I was following, so I sat quietly while Kyrundar squinted at the ceiling.

“Iskyr could have given us a purely utilitarian world,” he continued slowly, as if still piecing his thoughts together. “Wecouldhave been made to exist on our own, like tigers who keep to their own territory. Instead we have a world of beauty and emotions and relationships.” He grinned. “That’s the point!”

I blinked. “The point of what?”

“Of the slow, ritual steps of the tea ceremony. We can miss the blessing of relationships and creativity and emotions if we do not take the time to appreciate them.” Kyrundar held up his teacup. “This is only tea. The highest quality tea, but still only tea. In spending time and care in its preparation and consumption, we acknowledge the value it has, without asking it to be anything more or labeling it as inferior for not being something else.”

I did not move to drink my second cup. Where was he going with this? My skin prickled, and my pulse increased, but there was no threat for me to face. Only this ridiculous ice elf, peering at me over his teacup with a strange glimmer in his eyes.

“Don’t undervalue the tea because it can’t become asword, Zidra,” Kyrundar murmured.

My spine stiffened. There it was.

I’d been fool enough to trust him with my fears about being unable to shift, and this was how he handled my vulnerability?

Fourteen

Kyrundar

Based on the steely expression that slid over Zidra’s face, I’d said the wrong thing again.

“So I’m as useless as tea because I can’t shift,” she said flatly.

My face drained of color. “That’s not what I meant.” I set down my empty teacup with more haste than was appropriate for a tea ceremony. “I wanted to explain why I enjoy the tea parlor and point out the benefit of including things in your life that aren’t only work or worry! I also hate seeing you undervalue yourself. I don’t care if you can’t shift or if your fighting is compromised—”

“Of course you don’t care,” Zidra snapped. Her eyes flickered red.

I didn’t dare remind her to control her dragon firewhen I’d already stupidly bungled my words of affirmation into an offense.

“It gives you more of a chance to be the hero, right? I’m sure you’ll have great stories about how you saved and took care of me after this. Everyone will see more clearly that poor Zidra Eilmaris never would have earned the Emperor’s Merit without Kyrundar Ilifir’s help.”

My mouth went dry. “What?”

She laughed, the sound acidic. “You know, I used to think you always followed me and inserted yourself into my missions because you wanted to leverage my talent for your own victories, but it’s pity. You think I can’t achieve anything without you, so you magnanimously help me and share our stories together so you can be the benevolent ice elf who helped the graceless wyveri. All the better that I can’t shift now, right? In one fell swoop, my reputation can be destroyed and yours exalted even further.”

“That—that’s what you think of me?” I struggled to get the words out. “Zidra, you’re my friend, and I would never—”

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