On the rim

Words can’t describe the endless, frozen, white emptiness that is Skîbæria. From horizon to horizon, there was nothing but a continuous, undisturbed white flat plate, and I knew it would stretch for many thousands of miles more beyond the horizon.

Behind me the black of the barren basalt gently descended downwards into the caldera and slowly gave way to a steadily strengthening green. In front of me started a thin cover of snow that blanketed the likewise gently descending flanks of the caldera rim, that quickly disappeared under an unbelievably vast plain of undisturbed pure whiteness. Behind me was the unbelievable wonder of an oasis full of life, in front of me was the unbelievable infinity of a freezing, lifeless and hostile desert.

It wasn’t very far, it seemed to me, barely an arms length away, but I knew that was an illusion, because the eye had nothing to compare the endlessness to. Still the bottom of the caldera was much deeper than the ice cover outside, so the descent wouldn’t be as long as the ascend before.

It was chilly on the rim, but not as cold as I thought it would be in the vicinity of such a large body of ice. In Iceland at Jökulsárlón I had a first hand experience of the unbelievable chill effect from the enormous ice masses of Vatnajökull that formed its own cold zone around itself. And here, surrounded by the Skîbæriaen ice sheet (presumably bigger than Antarctica!), the effect must be orders of magnitudes stronger.

Again I stood in awe before the wonder of such a lush oasis that could never exist in my world under these conditions. What forces had to be at work to effectively block all the cold Skîbæriaen air to flood into the basin? Yet nothing seemed to stop anybody from entering or leaving this strange isolated land. Some incredibly powerful magic in this area not only effectively trapped the heat inside, but also prevented the heavy cloud and fog formation that inevitably’d come with such a collision of warm and cold air.

Riddles upon riddles, and I couldn’t solve any of them, but I wondered if there was maybe a connection to my mysterious appearance in this world…

Lily pulled me away from these thoughts by demonstrating a magic trick on her own. She touched one of the boulders from the pile of rocks we had stopped next to and got promptly swallowed by its black, unbroken surface. Immediately she peeked her head outside to assure me she was fine, but it startled me nonetheless. Imagine the surreal picture of a moving and talking bestial head growing out from barren rock!

“Welcome to our hideout!” she greeted me as if nothing’d happened, after I finally forced myself in after her. Believe me, tumbling through the absolute darkness inside the illusion of a big boulder is not the most pleasant experience!

The interior of the meticulously shaped circle of big, up to ten feet high boulders was mostly occupied by the iceboat Al'Reeza was building since yesterday. Its sight was some to behold. It was about forty feet long - more than twice as long as my Munchie - and despite generally following the known shape of an iceboat (as far as I knew at least) it was nothing like anything I have ever seen.

A broad, sturdy, but still aerodynamically shaped platform with an elegantly tapered bow dominated the front half. The back half quickly narrowed to about half the diameter and was occupied with a beautiful, streamlined cabin with absolutely no visible edges that even possessed bullseyes! This deck stood on three unusually thick runners that reminded me of the floats of a seaplane. I suspected, this iceboat could sail on water too, not only on ice.

It was completely built from wood, but without a single nail or screw visible. Its body and the extended bars, which hold the runners, formed a seamless, beautifully sleek, aerodynamic, almost futuristic shape without any visible joints. To me it looked more like moulded, not built in the traditional way. Involuntarily I remembered Illyáras magically created projectiles from simple basalt and wondered if Al’Reeza used a similar technique here. If so, this application was much more to my liking!

In awe (and admittedly with a wide open mouth) I wandered around this beautiful blend of engineering and art and nearly tripped over the central mast that laid next to it on the ground. It was the only part not installed yet.

“Careful!” scolded the proud creator emerging from the cabin. “We wouldn’t want you to break your neck right now!”

Al’Reeza grinned broadly as she observed my awestruck behaviour.

“See anything you like?” she asked with a touch of smugness.

I just nodded and carefully let my hand touch the shining surface. It was as smooth as a lotus leaf.

“Absolutely amazing!” I exclaimed. “How did you do it?”

The grin didn't leave the daimon’s face as she gently rose into the air and descended with perfectly controlled elegance.

“What do you think? Magic!” she stated the obvious.

“Showoff!” huffed the beastess. We both ignored her.

“Well, I’d be interested in the details.” I said politely.

The daimon girl cocked her eyebrow ridge.

“Oh, wouldn’t you? Well, which details interest you most?”

She really enjoyed that!

“What technique did you use to shape the wood?” I asked in earnest. “I can’t find even the slightest seam or any other change in the texture of the wood. It's almost as if it, I don’t know, …grew into the present shape.”

It was difficult to find the right words for the beautiful, almost organic quality of this craft.

Al’Reeza nodded, serious now.

“You are not wrong, albeit also not entirely right.” she answered. “Perhaps I’ll show you directly.”

With that she pulled two small sticks from her satchel and held them together. Under her concentrated gaze the wood came to life, small tendrils intertwining themselves, growing together, solidifying, and in the end showing again nothing but smooth, unblemished surface, albeit in a new shape.

It looked absolutely surreal to me, a real life wonder!

“When the wood was recently alive as here, I can easily encourage it to grow together.” the daimon girl explained. “But I also have to manipulate the dead matter. Both techniques have to work smoothly together to achieve this result.”

I shook my head, still trying to process what I had witnessed.

“So, what’s the next step?” interrupted the beast girl unimpressed.

Al’Reeza smiled apologetically.

“Well, we load your vehicle onto this platform,” she gestured toward the front platform of the iceboat, “and nothing is keeping us from leaving this place as soon as possible.”

Slowly I shook my head.

“Sorry, but first I have to recharge my Munchie. The climb up to the rim had taken quite its toll on the batteries.”

Both girls sighed.

“How long?” asked Al’Reeza somewhat frostily. Yes, I understood we had to leave before the dragons might get reinforcements, but we absolutely had to start with full batteries!

“The sun here is quite weak and low on the horizon.” I answered defensively.

“We’d gain nothing if we run out of juice too early under the watch of the dragons. If you had levitated us from the central peak up to here, we could start immediately.”

Al’Reeza immediately reacted and narrowed her eyes.

“You know very well that stealth is of utmost importance!” she said icily. “Levitating and moving such a large object over this distance means raising the danger of getting detected by the dragons.”

I raised my hands to diffuse the tension.

“I get it. Absolutely! But that also meant to drive here just by muscle and on battery juice. Charge is at about sixty percent, that means the solar panels need about six hours to get ‘em full again.”

Lily’s face was blank, but Al’Reeza seemed to have some understanding of my time units.

“Six candles?” she asked, a little bit shocked.

I raised my shoulders.

“As I said, your sun is quite weak and we are very far in the north. I’m sorry, but I can’t change physics and the laws of nature.”

She nodded slowly.

“And you are absolutely sure I can’t fill your batteries magically with lighting energy?”

A nodded vigorously.

“Absolutely! We can’t risk possible damage!”

She grinned.

“I have another idea: Why don’t we load your ‘Munchie’ on the ‘Ice Wallow’ and I provide some more light for its solar roof?”

She must’ve seen Lily’s budding protest because she quickly added.

“Don’t worry, our cover won’t be compromised. I can cloak the extra magic energy and light easily.”

Lily’s counterarguments were appeased, but mine were not.

“That was my idea in the first place in the lava tube! Why wasn’t it possible there?”

The daimon girl sighed.

“The situation has changed. Illyára is watching the dragons now and I can concentrate my capacities on you and your ‘Munchie’.”

“And why was transporting us here via magic a problem, but charging here by the same means not?”

Al’Reeza slowly lost her countenance.

“Look, we are stationary here and in a cloaked area. Do you really not understand the difference between working magic in a small space or over a larger area?”

“You could’ve cloaked us too in my Munchie during our journey.” I argued, still not convinced.

“For Yurá’s sake, can you finally let it slide!” exploded Lily. “It wasn’t possible then, it is possible now, end of story!!”

“Fine…”

I surrendered.

“So, how long for the charge when I enhance the surrounding light?” Al’Reeza picked up again on our former task.

“Well, all solar panels together are rated slightly below five kilowatt peak. Under earth conditions. If you can make stronger light, they can perform even higher. I think we need just about a candle then.”

Delighted, she rubbed her hands.

“Alright! Let’s get movin’!”