Listinia

Summer goes by far too quickly.

The training gets even harder, the workload larger, but somehow, life gets better. Everyone says it's Listinia. They say she brings some kind of happiness to the village, and I have to agree. Most people like her. The only real exception is Naiya. She shares the same idea with me - there's something wrong, something off about Listinia, but no one can figure it out. Maybe being cautious runs in the family, but I still like Listinia much more than Naiya does. She's... gotten to me.

"Naiya, you know we said that we'd meet the others."

She sighs and taps her fingers on our kitchen table. "Are you sure you want to spend our last day of freedom this way?"

"It's not our last day ever, you know," I say. "We still have next summer."

"Next summer, and then we're done."

Near the end of each summer (and there are two summers a year), there are three days off for everyone. In the village of Sylvidian, we have a tradition that goes back to the time that the war started. On the first day of break, we hunt in preparation for winter. All of the monsters and harmless little animals come back to life, and ironically we kill them as they about to return to sleep. There is a lot to be done in the first day, and half of our haul is frozen and stored for the winter.

On the second day, there is a feast in the center of town, right in front of the House of Elders. It's not obligatory, but it may as well be. Almost all of the one thousand inhabitants of Sylvidian show up for it. Rarely does anyone miss it. A few crude games are set up for the children to play, and maybe some adults too. Lowering stress is encouraged during this time, as performance always increases with low stress. If we were richer like the cities and if we weren't a village in the middle of nowhere, perhaps we could afford better entertainment, which would lead to better work and more money. But it's a vicious cycle, and it seems like things will never change.

The third day is when people can do whatever they want. Many people choose to rest and relax. Children play outside instead of learning about monsters at class, but never are they allowed out of their yards. Not in a world like this. Older people rest and some take the time to plan for work, even when that kind of defeats the purpose.

For me and my friends, it means we're going to be walking around and talking, doing fun things on impulse. Like we should be doing, apparently. Everyone else I knew who was in their tenth year did this. We decided to go back to the forest were Dallav and I found Listinia, to see if we could find any clues about who she used to be and why she came to Sylvidian. Maybe there's a clue about where she came from, and how her race even exists at all.

Naiya isn't very happy about it.

"I just don't think this is the right way to spend our time," she says. "I'm pretty sure we'll come up with nothing about her. It will just be time wasted."

"At least we'll be with friends," I say, shrugging. Part of me doesn't think that's a good idea, since getting too attached is something I want to avoid. It makes me feel sick to know that not all of us will survive, and it will only hurt that much more when they were close.

"Yeah, friends. I only have limited time with everyone anyway, so I guess it can't really be that bad."

"Naiya, you don't have to keep saying that. You can accept assignments with other people too, you know," I say. "You don't have to hide from the rest of the world."

She shakes her head. "Do you really think that once people find out the truth about me, they'll want to be with me? It'll be like Hylosikys all over again. I was already shunned from one place. I don't want it to happen again."

"You're not dangerous anymore," I point out.

"But I can be again."

--------

"It's really weird to be back here," Dallav says. "It doesn't even feel like the same place."

It doesn't. Since the elders banned this forest because of the suspicious circumstances, we haven't been back here since winter, when we found Listinia. Without all the snow covering the trees, everything feels so much lighter and happier. The tree dummies Dal and I used are still here, hidden under the tree branches which are now covered in leaves. Soon the trees will retract their leaves and take in all the nutrition they have gathered over the summer, and winter will make this a sad place again.

"I don't remember being here at all," Listinia says. She's walking next to Equia. The two of them have become great friends, which is another reason Naiya doesn't particularly like Listinia. She never really got along well with either of them. At least she adores Dallav.

"You don't remember being in my backyard or threatening to shoot me either," I say.

"And you don't even remember who you are," Naiya mutters.

"It's not my fault," Listinia says. I think she heard Naiya, but she chooses to ignore her. "If I could remember, I would tell the elders. Maybe then they could find out where I came from and how to get me home."

No one else says anything because they have nothing to say. I know what they're thinking. They don't actually want Listinia to go home, even if that is where she truly belongs, no matter how much she wants to. They want to keep her around because they've gotten attached. And I have to admit that I don't want her to go either.

"Come here," I say to her, distracting everyone else from the thought of her leaving us. I lead her to a tree. The tree that Dal and I found her under.

"So this is where you found me," she says. "I figured it'd be somewhere more prominent."

"You're not the center of the universe, Lis," Equia says.

"But I should be." She reaches out and touches the tree, as if she's expecting something to happen. Nothing does. "This is nothing special."

"Did you really expect it to be?" Naiya says.

"A little," Listinia admits. She steps to one side of the tree, inspecting it. She stares down at a part of the trunk, then walks around the tree, stopping at the other side of it. When she comes back around to us, she has a puzzled expression and she's holding something in her hand.

"What's that?" Dal asks.

"A ring," she says, holding it up to us. "I... I think I remember it."

"Is it enchanted?" I ask, my hopes high. Could this really be a key in figuring out who she is?

"I don't think so..." She starts to trail off her sentences again, like she used to months before. She used to do it all the time, since she was uncertain about everything, but since adjusting to her new life, she rarely ever does it. This must have a big impact on her.

"I don't feel anything coming off of it," Equia says. She's the only one of us who really knows magic well, even if we all use a little bit of it.

Listinia puts the golden ring on. "It fits."

"Was it yours?"

"Yes, I think so."

A glint of green on the ring catches my eye. It sparkles twice and fades. "What's that?"

"What?" she says, looking down at her hand.

"This." I take her hand to point out the green light I had seen on it, but when I look again there's nothing. "I swear I saw something."

"What are you talking about?" she asks, but she doesn't take her hand away. I twist the ring on her finger, sure that what I had seen was real.

"Arden, you're crazy," Dal says.

"No I'm not," I say, twisting it again.

"Nothing to see here," Listinia says, starting to pull away.

"Wait." I keep looking for that glimmer of green.

"What are you even looking-"

I never get to hear the last part of her sentence. The worst headache of my life hits me, and I close my eyes to try and block out the pain. A ringing starts in my ears, so loud that it's the only thing I hear. Everything goes cold.

When I open my eyes, I find that the cold isn't just in my mind.

"Listinia, where are we?" I yell over the ringing that soon dies down.

The worst expression of fear is on her face. "I don't know."

There is snow everywhere. It's just like last winter, when Listinia was found. Except there are no trees anywhere and the wind is beating against us in our light summer clothes. No one else is here but us, and the cold will get to us soon. She won't last long in that short, flowy dress.

The worst happens: I begin to panic. "What the hell do we do?"

Unlike me, Listinia can keep her head in situations like this. "Arden! The arrows. Heat them up! We'll die without any source of warmth. Make them hot but not enough to burn and stick one in your clothes!"

I do what she says as quickly as I can, grateful that we always carry our weapons everywhere. I take two of her arrows, since mine are sharper, and heat them up to the best of my ability. My arms are shaking from all the shivering and I can feel myself losing heat fast. Clumsily I use the end of my shirt to tie the arrow close to my body while she just shoves hers down the front of her dress.

"R-right," she says, her teeth chattering. "So we won't die just yet. But keep close."

She wraps her arms around me and I have to pull her in close. We can't afford to lose any more heat. As we assess our surroundings, I can think more clearly.

Something transported us here, and it was definitely the ring. Twisting it must have activated it... but why here? It makes sense that we were the only people taken here, since we were the only ones touching the ring, but why did Listinia have a ring like that?

I brush those questions off to save them for later, when we're in a safe place. We must be very far from Sylvidian if it's cold like this. I look up to the sky and I can see faint traces of smoke. We have to follow that to find town.

"This way," I tell her, and she moves without objection. I find myself losing hope. While the smoke is visible, I can't see the town it's coming from. Will we even make it there?

I look down at Listinia and I can see tears in her eyes. She starts coughing. She'd told me at one point that sudden cold always makes her cough. It was just one of those things she knew about herself but she couldn't remember how she did.

I can feel my feet getting numb and we often falter. The town doesn't seem to get any closer and I wonder if the wind is just playing tricks on us. But we have to continue.

Listinia screams as she trips. My fingers and limbs are stiff but I know I have to reach out and help her up.

"No, don't," she says. As she stays down in the snow, true fear strikes me. We might die here. Is she giving up now?

"We have to go," I manage to say. Giving up would be so easy. The cold would hurt for a while, but falling asleep after that would be no problem.

"We will," she says. She starts digging. "There's something here."

I realize just how strong she is in that moment. I was wrong to think that she would give up now. But digging for something that is probably a block of ice is not one of her smarter decisions. "We have to go," I repeat.

"No!" She uses her bow to scrape away the snow and ice, and then I see it. Something brown is under the snow. She frantically works to uncover the object, and I find myself joining in on instinct.

Finally, we see that it's a boot. Two boots. One leg, then another...

"Listinia... You know what this is..."

Tears stream down her face. She wipes them away before they can freeze there.

"Arden, I know, I know. There's someone here."

"Frozen..." I say, staring and feeling sick.

"Yes. Just like I was."