Chapter 44

“Snow,” Delta complained. “Fucking snow. Can’t ever have an easy exit realm, can I?”

Progress to the nearest outpost was crawling along, thanks to what Delta had complained about—and had been complaining about for the past hour. Unlike a forest, or even a rocky, hilly terrain, traversing across a snow-covered tundra meant sluggish, impeded advancement.

Even worse, visibility was awful. Though far from a blizzard, a snow storm—snow drizzle?—occluded their sight for more than a few dozen feet in any direction. That would be annoying in the best of cases, trying to reach a destination a person knew by heart. But here? Lost in a foreign pocket-dimension, seeking signs of life to find an outpost? Even worse.

They might be walking for a while.

At least Delta’s complaining broke the monotony.

Not.

“Like, I don’t even care it’s hard to walk in. But it gets fucking everywhere. My eyebrows are frozen. This is so stupid.”

Now, Zoey considered herself a tolerant person. She didn’t mind when people complained. She did a lot of complaining herself in ‘bullshit circumstances’. But Delta had really been going at it. Her lack of filter didn’t, apparently, only apply to saying crass things or making inappropriate observations. When she was uncomfortable, or displeased, she had no problems voicing it.

To anyone in ear shot.

Honestly, Zoey was surprised Rosalie hadn’t said anything. That might’ve been the most damning indicator to how lost in thought she was. Had Delta been this loud and persistently complaining on their trip to the shard, rather than away from it, then Rosalie would’ve been all over her. It would’ve been twice as noisy—three times, even, as they bickered.

Instead, Rosalie trudged along through the snow, setting a pace Zoey found difficult to match. She hadn’t spoken more than a few times, and only practicals: confirming Delta’s questions on what supplies she had available, should they need to stop for the night without fighting a path to an outpost.

At least they were well supplied. Though freezing in this pocket-realm, all three of them were dressed for the weather. Inventories really were an amazing thing.

Zoey had her own boots from her shopping earlier. She’d needed to borrow a coat from Rosalie, though—their preparations for Zoey hadn’t been completely thorough. Next shard, Zoey would need to finish gathering supplies.

If there was a next shard.

Which was the reason for the silent trek in the first place.

“Okay,” Delta said. “I’m fed up with it.”

“We didn’t notice,” Zoey said dryly.

“Not the snow. Though don’t even get me started on that.”

Started? Zoey thought. Delta had a little more than ‘started’ on the topic.

“Then what?”

“You two.”

“Us two?”

“I bit my tongue long enough. You’re both being insufferable.”

Zoey’s irritation spiked—’insufferable’? “Says you?” she shot back. “You haven’t stopped whining once.”

“Look,” Delta said. “I’ll do it myself, if you won’t.”

Zoey didn’t like where this was going.

“Zoey,” Delta started with faux-ceremony. “I’m not sure wayfaring with you is a smart idea. You suck ass at fighting, and you’re way too inexperienced. Either we only tackle lower advancement shards, or we spend some time getting you caught up before we go on our next. I’m not going to get you killed.”

“Now isn’t the time for this,” Rosalie said. There was no bite in her voice, which was honestly concerning.

“Sure it is,” Delta said. “What the fuck else are we doing? We’ve got hours more of kicking our feet through snow, so let’s air this out.”

“I don’t think there’s anything to say,” Zoey muttered.

Zoey couldn’t see it past Delta’s pulled-up snow coat, but she imagined her rolling her eyes. The way she threw her hands into the air and shook her head, too, didn’t leave much for interpretation.

“What, is chilling out for two weeks the end of the world? You have a rune that makes ours evolve faster—I could even argue it’s the logical choice to take it easy. Smart in the long term. Get you comfortable with the basics, then you won’t croak it by accident. Does Princess really need to rush through the ranks that badly?”

“Yes,” Rosalie said shortly.

A pause.

“And why?” Delta asked. “Because Daddy’s got big expectations? Who the fuck are you, anyway?”

No response. Not that Zoey had expected one.

“Like she said, it’s not the time for this,” Zoey said.

“Kay. Well. That shard was closer than I wanted. I’m not—”

“It was aberrant,” Rosalie interrupted. “It cloned us, so it was unusually strong. Because we are unusually strong, relative to who would delve a second advancement. It was a fluke.” It sounded well-rehearsed, like Rosalie had been going over the point in her head.

“And what, you think there won’t be more ‘aberrant’ shards? When it comes to her?” Delta jabbed a thumb at Zoey.

Rosalie’s non-response answered for her.

“So,” Delta said. “I’m not getting her killed. We stick with first-advancement shards, or we train her up. Not even to being competent, just to the point...” Delta waved her hand, not spelling it out.

To the point she’s not dead weight, Zoey finished for her.

“Some defensive spells is the obvious one,” Delta said. “Something passive, so if an attack slips you, she’s not toast. That’s the bare, bare minimum.”

“She has no idea how spellcasting works,” Rosalie said. “And only has an ice aspect. A passive armor skill would take weeks to learn.”

“I learned the ice spike pretty fast,” Zoey said. “It’s that much harder?”