“Never better,” I reassure her. “Let’s get to that safehouse. I could use some better food.”
While the Everlasting Thermos has hot soup in it, it certainly doesn’t have good soup. I’ve had better broth in Dross. Still, we both take a few drinks of it to help warm us up entirely.
I regret leaving the cave the second we step back out into the cold. This time, the wind is blowing, sweeping the snow on the ground up and around us, spearing right through the fuzzy blanket I have wrapped around me. I’d made sure Vesper was wrapped up thoroughly in the sleeping bag. Svetlana is somewhere in the mass, quiet again. I can’t decide if that worries me or not. We have no other options to keep warm though, so we’re all gonna have to suffer through it.
I follow the map as best as possible despite there being no true markers. We’re moving along the ridge in the direction that appears correct. The shivers wrack my body, but I do my best not to show just how cold I am. I need to be the strong one. I need to be the stone.
After three hours of walking along the base of the ridge with constant stops to take drinks from the Everlasting Thermos and huddling together, we finally stumble upon an opening in the tall ridgeline. It appears more like the ridge collapsed, leaving an entry way into a large crater. The moment we step inside it, Cipher’s sultry voice fills the air.
NEW ZONE UNLOCKED: Welcome to the Broken Caldera
Waddle your way in and find a pebble or two.
“What?” I ask, frowning, but when Cipher doesn’t respond, I shake my head and open the map. “There’s a Minor Boss here and a safehouse,” I say as I look over the map. “We go to the safehouse first. It should be to the left up ahead.”
We only have to walk for another twenty minutes before we find the safehouse. A large building built with tree logs stacked up interrupts the white of the snow and I’ve never been more grateful to see the thing.
We shove our way through the doors and get a good look at the people inside. There’s only a desk when we first walk in, a very familiar man standing behind it.
“Billy?” I ask, frowning. In fact, he’s been at every safehouse. This has to be a joke now. “Are you following us?”
The man laughs. “You must have met my brother over in the Leafcutter Empire. No, I am assigned to the Caldera Spa House, so we have not met before. My name is Eddy.”
“Brothers? You all look exactly alike,” I point out. “Down to the freckle on your nose.
The man smiles, but he doesn’t continue the conversation. “Can I interest you two in a spa package while you’re here?”
“A spa package?” Vesper repeats. “What’s a spa?”
Svetlana pops out of her hair. “Yes, we will take three of the top packages. Tell me, do you have a hot spring here?”
“We do,” the man nods. “Would you like to add that on?”
“I—”
“Of course,” Svetlana declares, cutting me off. “Don’t argue, ladybug. Best to leave this to the expert.” To the man, she says, “Your best and biggest packages. Give us everything.”
I consider arguing just for the sake of it, but ultimately, Vesper seems to be absorbing the warmth and we could use whatever this spa package is. Svetlana seems to know what it is at least.
“Do you happen to have anything for frostbit limbs?” Vesper asks him when he goes to prepare our packages.
“Of course,” he says, reaching for a small bottle under the counter and setting it on top.
“How much?” she asks, opening her inventory. “I have seventeen?—”
“For you, nothing,” the man interrupts.
Vesper frowns. “What? Why?”
The man’s eye twitches, like he wants to say something else. “For you, nothing,” he repeats.
“I can pay, though,” Vesper reasons. But she closes her inventory.
“For you, nothing,” he repeats, as if he’s physically incapable of a different answer. He pauses for three seconds and then seems to remember his role. “Right this way. We have robes for the two humans, and slippers for thetenodera sinensis. You’ll find this place is the lap of luxury.”
That’s how, five minutes later, I find myself in a plushy white robe walking in plastic slippers towards a large, shallow pool in the ground. The water is clear and steam billows off of it from the cold hitting the heat. Vesper is already sitting in the pool with her head tilted back against the edge as she absorbs the heat. Svetlana sits on her shoulder, only her head sticking out of the water as she seems to do the same.
“Hot springs,” she says as I hang my robe on the nearby hook and sink into the water before she opens her eyes.
