Page 122 of Grim and Oro
My training. I swallow. This isn’t any ordinary Moonling.
It’s Instructor Cleo. The Moonling ruler’s younger sister, famed for her ruthless training. It’s not just a rumor, I realize, as she turns to leave me outside, without a second glance.
I sit in the snow and think about how I’m going to write this in a letter to Enya. At first, it’s almost amusing. The chill is unfamiliar. It’s curious. I study the ice castle with fascination.
Then the sun goes down, and all that’s left is mind-numbing cold.
I shake against the ground. My feet and hands have long lost sensation. Pain like needles threads through my arms and legs with every shiver.
Frost begins to form on my hair. Ice, I find, burns like fire, in its own biting way.
Fuck this.
The instructor isn’t here. She isn’t looking. She’s probably sleeping, like I should be. I reach toward the fire inside.
And that’s when I realize Instructor Cleo didn’t just force me to be out here as punishment.
She wanted it to be impossible to use my fire.
The flame within has hardened into ice. I can’t use it.
“Fuck,” I curse into the snow.
Somehow, I fall asleep. I wake up, gasping for air. Only a small amount reaches my shaking lungs. I cough. It hurts to breathe. Everything hurts. When I open my eyes, there she is, staring at me.
Instructor Cleo.
“Ready to quit?” she asks, voice emotionless. Her white hair is tied into a long braid, whipping behind her in the frigid wind.
Using every shred of my strength and resolve, I somehow pull myself to my feet. I can’t show weakness. Not this early in my training.I refuse to be sent back to the castle. Especially after I’ve made it through the night.
The only thing worse than this physical torture would be the sight of my father’s face if I return to the Mainland castle too soon.
I straighten my spine, fighting the urge to collapse.
“Never,” I say.
She smiles. “We’ll see about that.”
Then, she raises her hands, and a wave of snow turns to water, soaking me to the bone. It hardens to ice, and I nearly fall to my knees in pain.
I’ve never been so cold in my life. Sunling skin is naturally warm; our fire feeds from within. But that kind of mastery takes decades. This brutal cold eats everything. Even my resolve.
I might have found my fire. Now, I realize, the true test has begun. Finding it even in the most grueling of conditions. This training is a mastery of fire as much as it is water.
“Do you think he’ll die?” a Moonling girl asks from behind me, as Instructor Cleo walks away, smirking. My training class has started to come down the castle steps.
“No,” a boy says, seeming disappointed. Then, his tone brightens. “But he might get killed tonight. Did you see who his roommate is?”
I can’t hear his next whisper, but I definitely catch the girl’s surprised gasp. “You’re kidding! He won’t last the night.”
Roommate?I have no idea who it is, thanks to Cleo’s punishment.
As far as I know, I don’t have any Moonling enemies ...
Cleo’s voice rings even through the biting wind. “At attention!” she says, before lining us up. Dozens of Moonlings are training this year. We all wear white cloaks, not nearly warm enough for the conditions. Through the snow, I can barely make out anyone’s faces. Who could my roommate be?
Laughing echoes around me. I can hear them whispering, as if everyone is in on a joke I don’t understand.
