Rhidian’s boots crunched over the ashen branches of a forgotten fire. She padded around the central square of the Ild’vann ruins and looked at those around her. Every year in remembrance of their fallen her mother’s people would venture to the villages ancestral site before spring and sing their songs. It was a beautiful ceremony that was as long as any festival in Zena, but on a more somber scale. She’d heard someone describe it as ‘intimate’ before; like it wasn’t meant to be seen so much as felt.

With the morning light cast over her, Rhidian moved away from the gathering towards the mountain itself. Soon enough they would begin travel back down to their new home, but for now the adults were content with their lazy morning. Despite the chill, the weather was perfect and Chi herself seemed to smile down on her people.

The teenager waved toward a group of scouts and continued her trek further up. There was a subtle sway to her steps, one after the other, boot crunch step crunch. Memories of the night before ran through her mind; of the elders in their tribe singing in a tongue nearly lost to the ages and then the younger generations picking up the pieces. Her mother described the Ild’vann as the mountain itself; as sturdy, unyielding and unbreakable. They would change, they would grow but never bend. It swelled Rhidian’s chest with pride to think about it.

How many others could say they were part of something this grand? This influential and powerful? Together they could survive nearly anything, but then images of that night were also less grand. One of the hunters had been left outside for too long and even in the warmer, near Spring weather, she’d lost some fingers. It could have been Yngvara. So many of them had thought so when a darker chiavi was found with the hunter, but Chi had blessed her big sister.

For now.

Rhidian stopped her walk to look up the mountain. How far had Yngvara gone on her trips? She knew her eldest sister rarely came down to the village these days and preferred to live a near feral lifestyle, but just how far had she gone? How far had her own mother gone? Sylvirah had been the same, she was told, all those years ago...

But you won’t be.

Rhidian knew that already. She was too scared of the ‘what ifs’ to go that far. The teenager was prideful, cocky at times really, but to leap off a chiavi’s back onto a mammu – she could never. And yet her mother had. Had done it when she was younger than Rhidian herself and that...

An uncharacteristically warm breeze swept around her cheek like a caress. It lingered on her forehead, soothing some of the worry in the teenagers soul before something clicked against her boot. When she looked down her eye caught on a simple, wooden box half buried in snow. Rhidian crouched, brushed away some of the powder and lifted it for inspection.

The box looked new, which didn’t make sense. Anything left behind from the older village would have been worn over time, it’s hinges worn away or broken. Any sort of rope would have frayed, but this...it was nearly pristine. Rhidian cocked her head to the side before gently lifting the lid.

Inside was a lovely little...stone? It was crimson, with a rune etched into it’s surface, but when Rhidian lifted it she found it to be nearly weightless. She rubbed her thumb over the rune, watching with delight as the etchings turned a vibrant gold before warming. Bit by bit the chill in her limbs ebbed away until the teenager was as warm as she’d been snuggled up by the fire at her sister’s side.

How had it survived up here this long? Why wasn’t it buried further in the snow? And more over, who left it? There was nothing up here to attract magic users so where had it come from? Rhidian twisted the stone between her fingers a few times before letting it slip down into her pocket. Maybe her parents would know or her siblings or -

-maybe she was supposed to find it? After all, no one else was here and she didn’t really have to tell them. It could be her little gift. Running her fingers over it once more gave her a jolt of warmth, like that of a hug, and Rhidian nodded.

She wasn’t sure where it came from exactly but she did know that she wasn’t showing anyone else. This was hers.

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