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Reluctantly, Thalia took Ashe's hand.The Northern girl positioned herself behind Thalia, placing her hands on Thalia's shoulders.

"First, your breathing.Cold air burns your lungs because you're gasping it in like you're drowning.Breathe from your belly, not your chest.Slow and deep."Ashe's hand moved to Thalia's abdomen, applying gentle pressure."From here.In through your nose, hold for three counts, then release through barely-parted lips.The air warms before it hits your lungs."

Thalia followed Ashe's instructions, surprised when the burning sensation in her chest began to subside.The room remained freezing, but somehow the cold felt less invasive.

"Good," Ashe continued."Now, movement.Your muscles are tensed against the cold, which actually makes you colder.Relax your shoulders."

"If I relax, I'll shake even more," Thalia protested.

"No, you won't.The shaking comes from fighting."Ashe guided Thalia's shoulders down from where they'd been hunched around her ears."Let your arms hang loose.Don't clench your fists — it restricts blood flow."

Thalia attempted to follow the instructions, feeling awkward and exposed.Yet there was undeniable relief as her cramped muscles released their tension.

"Now walk with me," Ashe instructed, stepping toward the door."Match my pace.Each step deliberate, heel to toe.Don't bounce or hurry."

Together they crossed the small dormitory, Thalia mimicking Ashe's measured stride.By her third pass across the room, she noticed the strangest sensation — she was still cold, but the panic that had accompanied the cold was diminishing.Her body, previously rigid with resistance, began to move more fluidly.

"There's one more technique," Ashe said, guiding Thalia back to her bed."If you're ever caught in a snowstorm, or if your body temperature drops too low, this position can save your life."She sat on the bed, demonstrating by drawing her knees to her chest and crossing her arms over them, tucking her hands into her armpits."This protects your vital organs and major blood vessels.Your body heat circulates instead of escaping.The academy teaches a different method, but this one comes from my clan.It's kept people alive through blizzards that would freeze a standing man solid."

Thalia copied the position, immediately feeling the difference as her own body heat reflected back to her core."This is...much better," she admitted, looking up at Ashe with genuine gratitude."Why are you helping me?"

Ashe stood, her expression returning to its usual stoicism."I'm not heartless.And watching you shiver like a newborn pup was becoming irritating."But there was a softness in her eyes that belied her gruff words.

Luna finally emerged from her blanket cocoon."Breakfast soon," she announced, reaching for her boots."Maybe they'll have porridge again.With honey, if we're lucky."

"Thank you," Thalia said to Ashe as they prepared to leave."Really."

Ashe merely shrugged, but Thalia caught the hint of a smile.It was strange to discover this kindness beneath Ashe's warrior exterior — the same girl who had seemed so intimidating on their first day had just spent half an hour teaching Thalia how to survive the cold.

As they headed to the dining hall, Thalia walked between her roommates, practicing Ashe's measured gait and breathing technique.The corridors of Frostforge remained as frigid as ever, but for the first time since arriving, Thalia didn't feel like the cold would kill her before her training did.She'd found allies among the stone and ice, people who, despite their differences, might help her survive this place.

***

The cryomancy classroom echoed with the soft hissing of frost meeting metal as twenty pairs of students bent over their workstations.Morning light filtered through high, narrow windows, carrying little warmth but illuminating the cloud of crystallized breath that hung above them like a miniature weather system.Thalia and Luna's assigned blade — a simple, unadorned dagger with a leather-wrapped hilt — lay on the stone table, its surface gleaming dully in the weak sunlight.Beside Thalia, Luna hummed tunelessly, her eyes not on their shared blade but scanning the room with deliberate, sweeping movements.

"Today's exercise is elementary," Instructor Varik announced, his voice cutting through the chill air like the blades they were meant to enchant.Unlike the imposing figure of Instructor Maven, Varik was lean and precise, with fingers that reminded Thalia of icicles — long, thin, and potentially lethal."Create a rime over the entirety of your blade.The frost must be even and controlled.Too thick, and the blade becomes brittle.Too thin, and the enchantment fails to take hold."

Thalia flexed her fingers inside her damaged frost gloves, willing warmth into them.The techniques Ashe had taught her that morning had helped her survive the walk to the training hall, but cryomancy required fine control — impossible with numb fingers.

"Begin," Varik commanded, and the room filled with the soft susurration of students calling frost to their blades.

"Should we take turns, or try together?"Thalia asked Luna, who had yet to even glance at their blade.

Luna's fingers twisted one of her beaded dreadlocks, her eyes fixed on something across the room."Hmm?Oh.You start."

Thalia sighed and focused on their assignment.Placing her gloved hands on either side of the blade — not touching it, but hovering just above — she drew a slow breath through her nose, just as she'd been taught.Cryomancy felt counterintuitive to her; in herbalism, her mother had taught her to channel warmth into plants to extract their essences.Here, she needed to do the opposite: pull heat away from the metal, creating cold.

Her first attempt produced only a sad little patch of frost near the blade's tip, which quickly melted.

"Draw from deeper," Luna murmured, though her eyes remained elsewhere."Not from your hands.From your core."

Thalia tried again, closing her eyes to better concentrate.This time, she imagined the cold as a living thing inside her, gathered it from her belly where her breath pooled, and directed it through her arms toward the blade.A thin layer of white appeared along the edge, spreading like lichen across stone.

A small victory, but short-lived.As she attempted to extend the frost toward the hilt, her right glove slipped, the tear widening just enough to break her concentration.The frost retreated, melting back into beads of moisture on the metal.

"Luna," Thalia hissed, frustration mounting."Could you help instead of — what are you even looking at?"

Luna didn't respond.Her usually unfocused expression had sharpened into something intent and calculating.Her eyes were narrowed, darting between different student pairs, lingering in particular on a table to their right where two Southern boys worked.