Page 21 of Frostforge: Passage Four
"Better," Ashe noted after Thalia's fifth attempt produced a more stable structure."Rest a moment."
Thalia lowered her hands, flexing her fingers inside the frost gloves.The drain of continuous practice had left her light-headed.She leaned against the stone wall, its cold seeping through her uniform.
Ashe didn't rest.Instead, she moved to stand beside Thalia, her green eyes scanning the room with deliberate attention.When she spoke, her voice was barely above a whisper.
"If you’re worried about that note Luna brought back, you ought to be watching the skies."
Thalia's pulse quickened; Luna must have shared her findings with Ashe, as well."What do you mean?"
"Ravens.From the Reaches.Clan elders are sending them."Ashe's gaze remained fixed on the other pairs practicing across the hall."They've been coming all week.I received one myself."
Thalia studied Ashe's profile, the proud set of her jaw, the tension in her shoulders."What did it say?"
"That Southern leadership is undermining Northern traditions at Frostforge."Ashe's voice hardened."That Instructor Marr's appointment is an insult to Northern instructors who have dedicated their lives to the academy.That Calloway's Command Challenge puts too much authority in Southern hands."
The pieces clicked into place in Thalia's mind — the night she and Luna had overheard Einar and the others whispering in the common area, plotting to "teach the Southerners a lesson."They must have sent word home to their clans, informing them of the changes at Frostforge, complaining.
"The messages urge students from the Reaches to 'reassert the North's dignity,'" Ashe continued."To undermine Marr and the Southern fourth-years leading squads."
Like me, Thalia thought, remembering the hostility from Rasmus and Sigrid.And Roran… Luna… Levi… Brynn.
"And not just students," Ashe added, lowering her voice further."I suspect those same clan elders are appealing directly to Frostforge instructors.Even Wolfe."
"What do they want?"
"Change.Marr banished from the keep.The Command Challenge canceled."Ashe's eyes met Thalia's."Southerners back in their place."
Anger flared in Thalia's chest, hot and sharp against the chill of the room."This is madness.The Command Challenge is designed to prepare us for war against the Isle Wardens.Every one of these distractions weakens us against the real enemy."
Ashe's expression remained impassive, but something flickered in her eyes — doubt, perhaps, or reluctant agreement."Many elders in the Reaches are just as hostile toward the Southern Kingdoms as they are toward the Isles."
"Then they're fools," Thalia said, her voice edged with ice."The continent's unity is the only thing that keeps us safe from the archipelago.If we're divided when the Isle Wardens come in force —"
"I know."Ashe's interruption was soft but firm.She gestured subtly across the room.
Thalia followed her gaze to where Luna and Einar had been paired.The Northern boy stood rigidly apart from Luna, his back half-turned to her, clearly refusing to engage.Luna's usual dreamy expression had hardened into something more calculating as she attempted to practice alone.
"Old habits die hard," Ashe murmured.
"It'll be a harder death on the point of an Isle Warden's blade if we can't learn to cooperate," Thalia replied, frost forming on her words.
Across the room, Roran and Morrigan worked in strained silence, maintaining as much distance between them as the exercise allowed.Roran's movements were fluid and precise — too precise, Thalia thought with a pang of worry.He was deliberately keeping his magic tightly controlled, afraid of letting even a hint of his storm affinity show.The strain of it showed in the tightness around his eyes, the rigid set of his shoulders.
"What about you?"Thalia asked, turning back to Ashe."What do you plan to do?Will you honor your elders' requests?"
The question hung between them, crystallizing in the cold air.Thalia knew that Ashe was fiercely loyal to her heritage — she'd chosen Frostforge over an arranged marriage, but she'd never rejected her Northern roots or the responsibilities they entailed.Yet she'd also been a friend to Luna and Thalia, crossing the cultural divide that separated most Northern and Southern students.
Ashe didn't answer.Her expression remained carefully neutral, but conflict shadowed her eyes.Her loyalty to her bloodline warred visibly with her friendships at Frostforge, with the rational understanding that division served only their common enemy.
"We should continue practicing," Ashe said finally, pushing away from the wall."Virek is watching."
Indeed, the instructor's gaze had settled on them, his thin lips pressed into a disapproving line.Thalia resumed her stance, forcing her attention back to the cryomancy form.Her ice lattice took shape more smoothly this time, the pattern more regular, though still lacking the pristine symmetry of Ashe's creation.
As they worked, Thalia's thoughts drifted again.Could the intercepted note Luna found have been from one of the Reaches?No, she remembered — the message came tied to the leg of a gull, not a raven.Different sender.A different agenda.
Perhaps even more dangerous.
Luna’s intercepted note had not expressed any opinion on Northern superiority, or spoken of undermining Southern leadership.It had only identified a fault line in the academy’s unity and discussed escalating tensions.
