Kaine nodded, some of his earlier tension falling away."A sufficiently skilled wielder can control the shield without using their hands.The runes amplify the connection between the soldier's will and the metal's response."
"Useful in combat," Luna remarked, peering over Thalia's shoulder."Could be equally useful as a hands-free umbrella.”
That got an amused huff from Kaine, who reached for a long, slender case on a higher shelf."This is...newer," he said, opening the case to reveal a sword unlike any Thalia had seen before.
The blade gleamed with an otherworldly light, its surface a perfect mirror that reflected the forge fires in swirls of gold and crimson.It wasn't just ice-steel—this was ice-titanium, the rarest and most difficult alloy to forge.Few smiths even attempted it; fewer succeeded.
"Kaine," she breathed, unable to hide her admiration."This is exquisite."
He lifted the sword from its case and presented it to her hilt-first."It's designed for a high-ranking officer's hands.The balance is perfect, the edge will never dull, and the core is hollow to reduce weight without sacrificing strength."
Thalia accepted the blade with reverence.It felt alive in her hands, humming with potential energy.The hilt fitted her palm as though made for her, though she knew it had been commissioned for someone else.She made a simple pass with it, testing its weight and balance.
"Perfect," she agreed, running her fingers gently along the flawless blade.The metal sang beneath her touch, resonating with something inside her—the same connection she'd always felt with metals, the whispered conversation between smith and material that most people never heard.
She’d first sensed the currents in the herbs she prepared in her mother’s shop.When she’d arrived at Frostforge, terrified and out of her depth, it had been a relief to feel similar pathways of energy running through the ores; even if cryomancy had always felt impossible, she could rely on her talent for metallurgy.
She looked up to find Kaine watching her, his eyes dark with an emotion she couldn't name.The air between them seemed to thicken, charged with more than just the heat of the forge.For a moment, the rest of the world fell away—the constant hammer of the smiths, the roar of the fires, even Luna's presence at her side.There was only Kaine, and the blade, and the unspoken things that had always stood between them.
Luna cleared her throat loudly and raised both eyebrows when they both turned to look at her."If you two are quite finished having a moment with that sword," she said dryly, "I think there's more to see, isn't there?"
Heat that had nothing to do with the forge crept up Thalia's neck.Kaine took the sword back, his fingers brushing hers in the exchange, sending a jolt through her that she pretended not to feel.Awkwardly, he returned the ice-titanium blade to its case and moved on briskly.
"I have a halberd blade over here that's nearly finished," he said, leading them toward another rack."The shaft will be reinforced with bronze bands to channel—"
The sound of footsteps cut through the roar of the furnaces around them, distinct and purposeful.Kaine looked up, past Thalia, and stiffened.She turned on her heel to see Instructor Marr approaching, his glass-thread cloak shimmering in the forge light.Behind him, a sheepish-looking Brynn followed in his wake.
Thalia's chest tightened in sudden fear.The momentary reprieve, the comfortable discussion of metallurgy and magic, evaporated like morning frost beneath the sun.Reality crashed back, and with it the knowledge of what she had done—what they had all done.
Marr's scarred face was set in stern lines, his eyes hard as he surveyed the three of them.The former admiral carried himself with the same rigid posture he'd maintained during their years as students, his brown skin gleaming with a fine sheen of sweat from the forge's heat.
"Greenspire.Meadows."He nodded to each of them in turn, his voice betraying nothing of his thoughts."I thought I might find you here."
Thalia swallowed, her throat dry as dust.Her mind raced through the possible punishments she had already deemed acceptable: demotion, permanent servitude in the desolate North, even the dreaded frost-brand seared into her flesh.She had thought herself prepared to pay that price.
But as she stood under Instructor Marr’s impassive gaze, a colder, more terrifying realization dawned.The military’s wrath might not stop with her.
Her younger sister’s safety hinged on the money her mother had scraped together to bribe Frostforge’s recruiters.Thalia’s own conscription had been a sacrifice to buy time and add to the family’s meager funds, which would never have been able to cover bribes to spare both Greenspire daughters.Thalia had endured Frostforge so that Mari would never have to.
But a frost-brand on her record would brand her entire family as untrustworthy.The recruiters, to avoid implication, might reject the bribe and take Mari anyway, citing the household’s newly tainted honor.Or the military could revoke the small stipend they paid, leaving her mother and sister destitute and hungry on the eve of war.
The thought of Mari making the treacherous first trek up the mountain pass toward Frostforge made Thalia's heart constrict.Her sister, with her bright eyes and clever hands, deserved better than the brutal training and constant danger that had defined Thalia's years at the academy.She had sacrificed everything to ensure Mari would never face the Selection—and now, her impulsive actions might have undone it all.
Thalia opened her mouth to plead with Marr, to explain that whatever punishment was coming should fall solely on her shoulders, but he held up a hand to silence her.
"You shouldn't have abandoned your posts," he said, his voice stern but not as harsh as she'd expected."All three of you."He glanced at Brynn, who had the grace to look abashed."I understand your concern for your classmate, but desertion is a serious offense."
"What will happen to us?"Thalia asked, forcing the words past the knot in her throat."Sir," she added belatedly.
Marr's expression softened fractionally, then hardened once more."You're lucky," he said."Under normal circumstances, the penalties would be severe, and their exact nature would be left up to your commanding officer’s discretion.However, circumstances are far from normal."
He looked past Thalia, at the full racks of weapons that hung behind her."Frostforge has recently received word of refugees fleeing from the Southern Kingdoms toward the academy.We've been ordered to open our doors to people displaced from coastal cities that have fallen to the Isle Wardens."
A cold dread settled in Thalia's stomach, a chill that had nothing to do with Frostforge’s perpetual freezing temperatures nor her impending punishment.Fallen cities.Refugees.Just as she’d feared, the war had escalated while they were isolated at the Northern fortress, cut off from news of the wider world.
"Instead of being sent back to face disciplinary action," Marr continued, "you'll be reassigned here.Frostforge needs every trained hand it can get to help manage the influx of refugees and maintain security.You're here now, so you'll serve.On probation, it goes without saying, and under watchful eyes.Wolfe is writing the letter now; the raven will arrive at your outpost within the week."
Relief flooded through Thalia, momentarily washing away her darker fears.They would stay at Frostforge.No frost-brand.No revoked stipend.Mari would be safe.
