Igoris Ice

The young woman traced circles around their portal into the water below, her breath painting snowflakes on the ice. She sighed in boredom at the wait... Something should have bitten by now! She idly wondered if the fish had moved to warmer waters to escape the chill, and berated herself again for forgetting her portable lean-to back at Igoris Outpost.   "I never should have let you talk me into this," she wheezed through frozen lips.   Her brother looked up from his current obsession, a small collection of rocks magically attuned to the ocean currents. "Can't take the cold?" he teased, grinning.   She tried to punch him playfully but missed, her stiff joins sending her face first into the ice, its surface fracturing outward from the impact. She growled, brushing off a dusting of frozen ice as she stood.   "I've always been a fire dragon at heart, you know that." She looked longingly back to the shore, and the dying remains of their fire. How she longed to be warming by a fresh fire instead of out here on this miserable ice trying to catch a fish who was probably comfortably hiding in the tangled jungle of the seaweed far below. How had he convinced her to join him with this foolish experiment of his? How had he talked her into signing up to join him on this SSED expedition, for that matter?   She consoled herself with the reminder that tomorrow marked the end of their third year of surviving the inhospitable chill of Ogorid. This would be their last.   Her brother had returned his attention to his baubles, arranging them across the ice. She'd always loved his creativity, even as the other kids made fun of him for his odd projects, but her patience was wearing thin in the cold. She pulled up the line, checking the small fish on the hook was still alive and swimming before unceremoniously dropping the poor creature back in the hole.   She walked over to her brother, carefully sliding her feet along the ice. He was still absorbed in his precious trinkets, cradling each one against his cheek before rubbing them deliberately against the ice.   "Are they talking to you?" she teased, eyes twinkling.   "Laugh if you like," he shook his head, "but this is Ancient Magic. More powerful than anything known to mages today, and I'm going to make it work."   "Do you think you could hurry up your discovering a little? I'm growing weak from hunger!" Her stomach growled in anticipation of their delicious quarry. The sun was setting, and she didn't want to spend the night out on the ice. Instinctively she pulled her cloak tighter around her thin frame.   "You know this is my last chance to try this here. The boat comes tomorrow. I have to make this work."   "It's going to take hours to walk back without the sled. They're going to be upset that we broke it. They'd better not leave without us." She couldn't imagine yet another year on this forsaken continent.   Her concerns evaporated with her brother's cry of victory, followed by their line snapping taught, their quarry dancing on the end. "They're never going to believe this! I knew I could get the old magics to work here! I'll show them!"   As they prepared their trophy for the return to base she couldn't help but admit that of all the places in Fillimet there's no place she would rather be than right here right now with her triumphant brother, even with the cold.   Although she had to admit, tomorrow's boat home was a close second.