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Anyone else might have wilted under Maven's cold stare, but Roran merely shrugged, his smile returning even as frost continued to spread across his cloak.

"Lesson learned, Instructor," he said cheerfully."Never turn your back on a storm."

Maven's expression didn't change, but Thalia thought she detected a flicker of something — annoyance?Suspicion?— in her single amber eye.

"Both of you, join the others," Maven commanded before turning away."Next pair!"

As they trudged back to the sidelines, Thalia studied Roran from the corner of her eye.His face showed nothing but good-natured acceptance of their failure, but she couldn't shake the image of him moving through those frost bolts with such unnatural precision.

"Where did you learn to move like that?"she asked quietly, keeping her voice below the howl of the wind.

Roran glanced at her, his expression momentarily guarded before relaxing into an easy smile."You pick things up when you grow up in a port city.Dodging drunk sailors, angry merchants..."He shrugged."Just street smarts, really."

It was a plausible answer, but it didn't quite explain the fluid grace she'd witnessed — a fighting style that seemed too refined, too practiced for someone who claimed to have learned it on the streets.

As they reached the other students, Thalia noticed several watching Roran with expressions ranging from admonition to suspicion.She wasn't the only one who had seen something unusual in his movements.

The frost on her armor was beginning to melt, leaving her clothing damp and even colder than before.She shivered, wrapping her arms around herself as the next pair of students took their place at the starting line.

"Hey," Roran whispered, leaning close enough that his breath warmed her ear."Next time, we'll make it all the way across.Together."

There was such certainty in his voice, such warmth in his dark eyes, that Thalia found herself nodding despite her lingering doubts.She wanted to believe him, to trust in the friendship they'd been building.In a place like Frostforge, steel was worth more than gold, and allies were worth more than either.She couldn’t afford to misplace her suspicions, not if she wanted to survive what was to come.

***

The forge's heat struck Thalia like a physical wall as she stepped through the massive iron doors, the abrupt transition from biting cold to intense warmth making her skin prickle and her ears ring.Sweat immediately began to bead along her hairline, replacing the frost that had melted down her neck during the walk from the Crystalline Training Grounds.The familiar scent of coal, hot metal, and sweat enveloped her, strangely comforting after the sterile cold of the plateau.Around her, other first-years were shaking off their cloaks and gravitating toward the nearest heat sources, their faces still pinched and pale from the ordeal they'd just survived.

Thalia flexed her fingers, wincing as blood rushed back into the tips, bringing with it the sharp sting of returning sensation.The metalworking class wouldn't begin for another half hour, just enough time to properly thaw before having to handle tools and raw materials.She made her way to her usual station near the eastern wall, where a small workbench stood cluttered with her ongoing projects.

Luna and Ashe had already claimed their spots nearby.Luna perched delicately on a stool, rubbing her hands together and blowing on them dramatically, while Ashe methodically laid out her tools with the precision Thalia had come to expect from the Northern clan warrior.

"I think my toes might be permanently frozen," Luna announced, wiggling her feet in their thick leather boots."I can't feel anything below my ankles."

"Southern blood," Ashe remarked without looking up from her tools."Too thin for proper survival."

Thalia smiled at their familiar banter and reached for the steel pot she kept tucked beneath her workbench.She'd learned early on that the forges provided an excellent opportunity for brewing — the heat was constant, and no one questioned an extra pot among the metalworking equipment.

"I'll make us something warm," she offered, filling the pot with water from a nearby barrel.The water, collected from the glacier that towered above Frostforge, was so pure it almost seemed to glow in the pot's dark interior.

She set the pot on the edge of one of the smaller furnaces, where the heat would bring it to a gentle simmer without risking a full boil.While waiting, she reached into the small leather pouch hanging from her belt, fingers sifting through its contents with practiced familiarity.

"Wintermint for the chill," she murmured, selecting a few dried leaves and crushing them between her fingers.The sharp, clean scent cut through the forge's heavier smells."Firethorn berries for circulation."These she added whole, their wrinkled red skins still vibrant despite being dried."And a bit of mountain honey to sweeten."

Thalia stirred the mixture with a metal rod she kept specifically for this purpose, watching as the water gradually took on a deep amber hue.The scent rose with the steam, herbal and sweet, drawing appreciative glances from nearby students.

As she worked, Thalia became aware of an unusual pattern of movement in the forge.Students were clustered in small groups, heads bent together, voices low.But their eyes kept darting toward one specific area where Roran stood talking animatedly with three other first-years, his hands gesturing as he recounted some story that had his audience captivated.

"What's everyone whispering about?"Thalia asked, keeping her voice casual as she poured the steaming tea into three mismatched cups she'd salvaged from the kitchens.

Ashe accepted her cup with a grateful nod."They're talking about your partner's performance on the plateau," she said, blowing gently across the surface of the tea."Not exactly subtle, are they?"

Luna took a sip of her tea and made an appreciative sound before leaning closer to Thalia."People are saying things," she murmured, her normally vacant expression sharpening into something more focused, "about Roran."

"What kind of things?"

Luna glanced around, confirming that no one was within earshot."Some students think he might be an Isle Warden spy."

The tea suddenly tasted bitter on Thalia's tongue."That's ridiculous," she said automatically, though the image of Roran weaving between frost bolts with unnatural grace flashed through her mind."He lost his family to Isle Warden raids.He’s made no secret of it."