(November '17) Prompt #3 - "Frozen" [Archive]

ArtisticVicu

12-01-2017, 10:09 PM

“Come again?”

Endearment pulled his lips into a smile and he repeated, “If you are free and interested, a few of the castle staff are going beyond the castle grounds for wood. We need a few of the bigger trees and they asked if I was able to go with to help pick the right trees and I was hoping you would tag along.”

“That’s what I thought you had said,” Orion commented and Xavier hid his chuckle poorly. Amusement flickered through the large red pupils. “If it would not be a hindrance, I will gladly join you. It has been quite some time since I’ve left the castle grounds anyways.”

“Excellent. I will go let the staff know you will be joining us, then, and we’ll prep to leave in the hour.”

Orion gave a nod before Xavier turned and walked out of the room.

Not even fifteen minutes later after having just given the staff a heads up, Orion comes wandering into the stable looking for all intents and purposes a little lost. Xavier couldn’t help the smile that graced his features. He ignored how the staff tensed behind him. “What can we do for you, Orion?”

“Actually, I was wondering if there was anything I could help with.” Orion’s gaze flickered over Xavier’s shoulder and he briefly wondered which of the staff members had reacted to that. “I do actually want to help in any way that I can.”

Xavier nodded. He had expected this and was already set to direct things about. He turned to the staff members. “Go ahead and make sure we have what supplies we’ll need. Orion and I will go prep the horse.”

This got the staff members to relax and they each acknowledged his order in their own way before going off to do their task. Xavier then turned to Orion. “Come on. We’re hitching up the mare for this one. She’ll be stronger and better suited for the task than the stallion.”

Together, they got the mare brushed down and harnessed. Orion mostly fed the mare oats out of his palm because the animal was still skittish around him.

The mare gave no struggle being secured to an unfamiliar cart. He was grateful for it and not overly surprised at the same time. She was rather mellow even in their current situation. As much as Orion's form made both horses skittish, at least the mare calmed down after a few short minutes.

He checked the last strap before looking to the staff joining them. "Everything ready?" He received a chorus of affirmatives.

"If you were intending to leave without me, I would have taken great offence, Xavier."

He looked over to the entrance of the stable, finding Adonis standing with three other staff members. He offered a smile, reassuring, "I had no intentions of leaving yet. You had informed me you would need close to the hour's time."

Adonis nodded before turning his attention to Orion. "I am glad you will be joining us, Your Highness. Xavier was worried you would refuse his request."

Xavier looked anywhere except at Orion. He was in blissful denial that the other had even looked his way at that as he fretted with a strap nearest his hands.

Orion hummed but due to his gaze being elsewhere, Xavier didn't know what kind of hum it was exactly. "Are you the last of our party?"

"Yes. And if we have everything and the cart is good to go, we can leave immediately."

"Excellent!" Xavier called out. "Then let's get moving."

He didn't spare Orion a glance and cared not to think of how the other may be interpreting his desperate attempt to act as if everything was fine. Adonis smiled at him and he shot the majordomo a glare.

Xavier was left guiding the horse on foot out of simply wanting to. The movement of walking was soothing in the cold morning air and Orion somehow ended up at his side without a word from anyone. Nearly everyone else was in the cart that was not made for human passengers. Adonis and another were the only exceptions, the pair leading the way through the forest to wherever they were going.

"You were worried about my answer?"

Xavier was certain he turned as red as his nose as he sputtered a response. "I-It wasn't any big deal. Adonis just makes it sound that way. I wanted you to come but would have understood if you had refused."

He was fighting every indication that he was being delusional about his feelings towards Orion but Adonis's words simply illuminated his growing crush on a man that wasn't quite a man.

Ruddy curse.

There was a chuckle from his side and he dared at Orion. The man was smiling, clearly humored by what he had heard. A clawed hand settled around the back of his neck and the weight of it calmed him rather than the claws concerning him. He trusted Orion and the man's control over the claws that could easily pierce his neck at the slightest mistake.

Ok, back to ignoring the claws for the sake of the comforting weight and Orion rubbing his thumb up and down the side of Xavier's neck.

"There is very little you can ask of me that I will refuse," Orion offered, the words almost teasing. They did nothing for how he felt about Orion, though. In fact, it made the small gesture of Orion's thumb rubbing his neck all that more intimate. "Especially when what you are requesting of me is simply my presence in the terms of hanging out. I don't mind the manual labor from time to time either."

"Good to know," he breathlessly replied. He needed to calm down, to pull himself back out of his fantasies and the crush and focus on the present where Orion wasn't his and the other was simply rubbing circles into his neck unconsciously and without realizing what it was doing to him.

He caught sight of the river.

Frozen.

And his feet tried to stop him from continuing on.

Orion's hand around his neck shifted to his shoulder as he tripped over his own feet, the other hand coming to wrap around his side. "Are you alright?" Orion asked, frowning.

"Yeah," Xavier assured him, forcing the smile to his face. He hoped it didn't look as strained as it felt. "I tripped over my own two feet."

"Do you want to ride with us?" came a voice from the cart.

Xavier looked over to see that all the staff in the cart were alert, many standing as close to him and Orion as was possible. Xavier smiled at them and this time it felt more natural. "No, I'm ok. Sometimes my feet just get under eachother."

The staff slowly settled back down and Xavier noticed Adonis and his companion had slowed due to the commotion as well. It touched his heart that all of them were concerned for him.

It was quickly drowned out by fear when he caught sight of the river again.

The party came to a stop at what Xavier presumed to be the edge of the river and, for a moment, he thought they were simply going to travel upstream on the riverbank. That was quickly dashed when Orion stepped out onto the ice and started a ways downstream before digging a claw into the ice. Orion returned with a happy look. "Ice appears thick enough for this time of year so we're clear to cross." Orion's gaze turned to Xavier. "I'll be going ahead being the heaviest and test the ice as we go along. Walk with Adonis. The staff will take care of your mare."

Sure enough, everyone was bailing from the cart, one coming up on either side of the mare. The one that came to him offered their hand for the lead rope and he handed it over automatically. He missed its weight almost instantly.

Orion stepped out first, testing the ice every so often. Adonis offered Xavier a smile, asking, "Is this your first time on ice? You look nervous."

So much for him pretending to be ok. He feigned it for a bit longer, though, offering with a weak smile. "No, I've been on ice before, but it was on more of a lake than a river."

Adonis stepped out on the ice and it was a miracle he even followed suit. "Oh? How so?"

"There is a river that leads from Mjor Sea south of Merdic and it widens out at a point so much that the current is nearly undetectable and people call it Echo Lake. It freezes over in the winter but it's not always thick enough to be on like it happens up here. We have to wait till it's been cold for five days or so before anyone is allowed onto the ice. As soon as there is a warm day, the count starts over."

"Why?"

Xavier was grateful for the partial distraction. They were almost halfway there, too. "We're warmer, even if Merdic is nearly to Asteria's borders, which means that our winters are far more mild. While Echo lake may freeze over, unless its been seriously cold, the ice is generally too thin to support much weight. We hardly get much snow as well. The constant white of an Asterian winter is bizarre to me still."

"I can understand that."

"Did you go out on the ice often?" Orion asked, bringing to light that he had been listening in. Xavier couldn't really blame them. He hadn't tried to make sure the conversation was private.

"It used to be a regular thing for all of Merdic until the incident when I was ten," Xavier responded.

"Incident?" Adonis questioned.

Xavier explained, "One year after a really good amount of cold weather, Echo Lake had frozen over. Experienced markers went out to check the ice and deem it suitable for play and nearly the entire town showed up to play on the ice of the lake. Apparently it had been a rather mild winter up until that point and so it was treated as a sign that things were going to be ok. That was until the ice broke. No one is sure how or why the ice broke but it did sounding like thunder. A number of people - mostly kids - were sucked under the ice and drowned.A few lucky souls were freed from the ice before they could suffocate."

Xavier realized they had come to a stop and anxiety clawed at his chest. Orion's expression was unreadable as he asked, "And where were you when it happened?"

"On the ice," he responded automatically, tightly. It seemed starting the story meant he was going to finish it whether he wanted to or not. "I had been one of the lucky ones sucked under. My dad did what he could to get the others but they had already been swept away by an unusually fast current."

He squawked when he was suddenly picked up but he didn't fight as Orion moved swiftly, Xavier's face pressed into the other's shoulder with Orion's hand on the back of his head. He gripped at whatever he could to keep from falling even though Orion had a tight grip on him.

He was placed on his feet as soon as they were on solid land a few feet from the edge of the river. Xavier realized he was shaking when Orion didn't let him go completely.

"Do you need to sit down or are you fine?" Orion asked, his voice low and full of concern.

"I, ah...I think sitting would probably be a wise idea," he confessed. He watched Orion gesture for the cart. "I'm sorry. I didn't think I would have this much of an issue."

"Nonsense," Orion countered, gently hefting him up onto the edge of the cart by his hip. Two staff members were there, hands on him to help. He smiled appreciatively at them as Orion continued, "Trauma is trauma. It will take time before you are able to be comfortable on the ice."

Xavier nodded from where he settled in the cart. He had chosen an edge near the front, legs hanging off as he leaned on the lower railing. To his surprise, Orion walked next to the cart where Xavier was seated easily within reach. It made his stomach roll oddly and he tried not to think about what the gesture could mean. He rested his chin on his crossed arms, watching the trees pass by and occasionally watching Orion walking beside him.

"Where are we going?" he asked, paying attention for the first time to the fact that he had no idea.

"There's an area of old growth some ways ahead of us.It'll have the largest trees and it'll mean we can cut down fewer," Adonis responded from where he led the mare. "We'll be planting a few seeds around the trunks we leave to help replenish what we take."

Xavier looked to Orion. "Old tradition?"

Orion nodded. "All of Asteria practices it. For every tree cut down, a new one is planted. We try and go for the older trees so that the new growth has time to get stronger and, in turn, allowing the seedlings freshly planted time to grow around a solid stump that has thrived for so long."

"It worked well, then?"

"Very," Adonis confirmed. "The stump left behind helps support the seeds planted around it by offering safety from erosion as well as offering some form of nutrition. We're not certain but we think that the new growth takes over the old growth's root system."

"Cool," Xavier commented.

Orion gained his attention, his red pupils large and belaying his smile. "Very," he agreed. "There's also a surprise at the location we're going to."

"You're familiar with the location?"

Orion nodded. "I used to hunt in these woods for food when I was fed up fighting what I had been turned into. I also know that Adonis is aware of the location and has been leading us to it for the same purpose."

Adonis smiled at them over his shoulder. "I have no idea what he is talking about. I simply know where the old growth grove is located at."

Orion snorted in amusement. Xavier couldn't help his growing curiosity. "What's so special about this area?"

Orion's hand curled around the crown of Xavier's head. "You'll know it when you see it. We're almost there."

Xavier chuckled. He had expected that answer but it hadn't hurt to try. Instead, it had gained him Orion's touch as the other's large hand settled on his back, Orion close enough to the cart now that Xavier could feel the heat coming off the other. He happily curled his hands into the fabric of Orion's shirt under the edge of his coat.

Orion had been right, he did know what made the area so special as soon as they were at the edge of it.

He gasped.

It seemed the entire area was out of some legend. The trees were dusted white from snow as droplets of ice hung from any surface even remotely horizontal. Ice stalagmites dotted the grounds as the brush seemed frozen into place coated in a thick layer of frost. "How does this come about?"

"Specific circumstances," Orion divulged cheekily and Xavier swatted at him, aware of that. "This area gets what's called freezing rain rather regularly but the fauna is hardy enough to withstand it. The rain is still liquid as it falls but once it touches something, it freezes. Sometimes instantly, sometimes as it drips away."

"This is gorgeous."

Orion looked his way but he couldn't pull his gaze from the ice crystals. The sun was cutting through the trees, illuminating the area in a cascade of rainbow colored light. It was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

"Breathtaking."

He blinked and looked over but Orion's gaze was on the scene, eyes belaying something Xavier couldn't make out. Odd, it had sounded almost as if Orion had been commenting on something other than the scene before them. Maybe he was mishearing things.

The cart came to a stop silencing the sound of crunching ice and snow. Xavier clambered off, Orion coming to his side.

"Any trees that draw your attention?" Orion asked.

Xavier looked around, looking past the beauty to take in the trees. "They're all pretty hardy here. Let's see what the staff find and we'll go from there."

Orion nodded, following Xavier to Adonis's side.

The staff found three trees that would work. Xavier looked each one over closely.

"All three?" Adonis asked when he returned, the staff member that had tailed him going to join the others.

Xavier shook his head. "The second is big enough that we won't have to worry about cutting down more than one."

"Which one?" Orion asked, walking over.

Adonis led the way, gesturing to the tree when the arrived. Orion circled it, gaining Xavier's intrigue as Adonis inquired, "Will you need assistance?"

Orion shook his head even as he didn't look away from the tree. "Where do you want it to fall?"

One of the staff came forward, marking the tree with a swing of an ax before scuttling away. Adonis grabbed Xavier's arm and everyone backed away from Orion. Xavier frowned. Orion wasn't about to do that on his own, was he?

It turned out he was and with no tools at that. With a bellow, Orion swiped at the tree once with both sets of claws at one and once with each talon set. The tree tipped and fell right where it had been intended.

Xavier looked wide-eyed at Adonis. "Where did he learn to do that?" He looked to Orion as the other approached him looking smug. "Where did you learn to do that?" he repeated, his awe palpable.

"You tend to learn a few things whether you want to or not," Orion replied. "This was learnt out of frustration. As much as we follow the old traditions, sometimes having at a few trees is far better than having at people."

Xavier could only nod to that.