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Chapter Text

“Finnegan’s fungus!” the kingdom’s royal sorcerer screamed as he burst into the ballroom on his flying machine that had gone out of control. Everyone in the room had suddenly turned to look at the madman crashing the party. Including the king himself. Earlier throughout that day various pieces of jewelry had gone missing around the castle, and now none other than the very sorcerer crashing into the ballroom had all the jewelry on him. It was easy to conclude that he was the thief all along, right? Wrong. It was a griffin that was accidentally set free from the griffin chamber, and was now flying around the castle, stealing jewelry, and leaving his feathers on the crime scenes. The sorcerer had only caught him and took all the jewelry from him to save it from any damage. However, he wasn’t believed his story, so the king ordered for him to be seized and possibly taken to the dungeons. It was only after the king’s daughter convinced him that the sorcerer really meant good and was telling the truth, that he was set free.

The whole ordeal had been observed by a woman who had only recently moved into the kingdom and was actually still very confused on how things worked here and who all these people were. She decided to walk up to and strike up a conversation with the man who took all the spotlight tonight.
‘Hello.’ She said in her mind, thinking of ways to start the conversation. ‘Do you need help with that? Are you okay?’ She thought of a few more sentences, trying to find the best one.

“Um, hi. Do you-“ She spoke when she approached the man, but he cut her off before she could say anything.
“Save it.” He got up from the ruins of his machine and turned around to face the woman. He even put his hand out to signal to her not to get any closer as he said it. He was a member of the castle staff, so he had to treat guests with respect, but the most he was willing to do was stay calm while talking to her.
“I just-“ She tried to get her words through, but the sorcerer wasn’t having it.
“You can keep your comments to yourself, miss, because I know what you’re going to do. And I know I’m supposed to ‘represent the castle’s staff’ and ‘be nice to the guests’, but I’m really not in the mood at the moment. So let me guess: you’re either going to tell me how horrible I am at my job, or you’re going to take something off this sad pile and actively make my job harder by refusing to give it back, or you’re-”

“I wanted to ask you if you needed help.” The woman explained as she talked over the sorcerer.
“Oh.” He responded. He looked at her for a moment in disbelief, since he didn’t receive such an offer every day, but after taking a look at his broken machine, he agreed. “Well, I suppose I could use some…” He thought. Even though help carrying the machine was the last thing he needed – he could’ve used magic to carry, or even teleport, everything to his workshop – he wasn’t going to miss out on a chance to spend the evening with a pretty woman of his age whom he’d never seen before. “I’m Cedric. The Royal Sorcerer, at your service.” He introduced himself and bowed.
“My name is Lunta. Pleasure to meet you.” The woman had her hand out for a handshake, but after she saw Cedric bowing to her, she quickly drew it back and curtsied in response. Her curtsy wasn’t the best – it seemed as if she didn’t do that a lot – but it was good enough to pass. It seemed like it was her first time at a ball, or at least her first ball in a very long time. Cedric took a better look at her. Her skin was pale, as was her long hair – it was white as snow, and it seemed to be her natural color, but she did have one black streak on the left side of her face. She was wearing a dress that had a pink long-sleeve top and a blue ankle-length skirt, both colors equally pale, and white boots were sticking out under the dress, with all of it hidden under a long white cape with fur on the edges. All in all, she was too casually dressed for an occasion such as a royal ball.

The two were staring at each other for a few moments, but when they realized it, they both quickly froze when they realized how awkward they were.
“Um… Shall we?” Cedric suggested that they get going.
“Yes, please.” Lunta agreed, and Cedric picked up the mess on the floor with one flick of his wand. “Woah!” The woman exclaimed at the sight. “How did you do that?”
“Magic.” He answered, looking at his wand to draw Lunta’s attention to it. He had to be careful where he waved it now, as it was controlling the broken flying machine.
“Right. Sorcerer.” Lunta realized. It was very quickly clear to Cedric that she had probably never seen any magic before. “That’s incredible.” She commented.
“You… you think so?” Cedric replied, as such a positive reaction to his skills was one he didn’t get often.
“Are you kidding? It’s the most wonderful thing I’ve ever seen in my life!” Lunta cheered.
Cedric turned back at the remains of his machine, and directed them through the door of the ballroom. He had his back turned towards Lunta, so she couldn’t see his blushing face and the shy grin that had appeared on it. He made his way into the hallway, and Lunta followed.

“So, um, I… I haven’t seen you around before.” He started after he finally composed himself. “Are you just passing by? Perhaps visiting someone?”
“No, I just moved here recently. Around three months ago.” Lunta replied.
“Is that so? And what do you think of Enchancia so far?” Cedric continued.
“I’m loving it here.” Lunta said with a big smile on her face. “I don’t usually stay in the same place for this long. The longest I’ve been in one place was around seven months, but I intend to stay here even longer. I’m thinking permanently.”
“Oh, and why is that?” Cedric asked.
“I’ve kind of just been going from place to place until I found one where I could…” she stopped, trying to find the right words. “One I’d be satisfied with.”

By now they had reached Cedric’s part of the castle. All they needed to do now was climb up the flight of stairs leading up to the entrance door.
“Right. Royal Sorcerer.” Lunta repeated again. “You have your own chambers inside the castle.”
“I prefer to call it my lai- workshop.” Cedric said.
“Okay. You have your workshop inside the castle.” Lunta repeated. “You know, I… I usually don’t enjoy talking to important people, but with you it’s… it’s fine.” She spoke.
“Important people?” He laughed. “I wish I was as important around here as I should be.”
“What do you mean?” Lunta asked.
“The king doesn’t think I’m good enough of a sorcerer, so he just uses me as one of the jesters most of the time and why am I telling you all this if I just met you now?”
“Sorry, I didn’t think this was going to go in that direction.” Lunta awkwardly laughed.

“In that case, if you’ll excuse me…” Cedric opened the door of his workshop and directed the destroyed machine inside with magic. He then he took what Lunta was carrying and took it into the workshop with him.
“Can I come in with you?” She asked before he could shut the door.
“I don’t think it’s a good time. I’ve got a lot of work to do with the machine now that it’s all broken up. And the place is a mess. And I think that all the magic you’ve seen tonight was more than enough for your first time.” He excused himself. “It was a pleasure to meet you, though.” He said and closed the door in her face.
“You too.” Lunta talked to the door. Before Cedric had closed the door, she thought that she had seen a faint red color on his face, but she wasn’t sure. What she was sure of, however, was that the same red tint had appeared on her cheeks as well.

Chapter Text

It had been almost a third of a year since Lunta had settled in Enchancia, and a month since she’d first met Cedric. This particular day she had visited the market in the village of Dunwiddie, and specifically now she was in a bakery and was focused on bread.
After she bought what she needed and left the bakery, she saw a little brown-haired girl in a lilac gown outside, jumping around in excitement. It was Princess Sofia, and her siblings Princess Amber and Prince James were right behind her, moving around with a little more dignity. They were followed by their parents King Roland and Queen Miranda, the Castle Steward Baileywick, and Cedric, the Royal Sorcerer. It seemed as if the children went out to the village for a day, and the grown-ups were accompanying them. It was known worldwide, and Lunta knew it very well herself, that a royal must be so protected as not to have a single scratch on their skin, so the security had to be at the highest level, even for little things, like visiting a village. That explained the unnecessary number of adults watching out for the children.

Walking behind everybody else, Cedric noticed Lunta in the distance. Their last - and first - meeting ended on such a strange note, thanks to him, and it’s been a month since then, so Cedric wasn’t planning to miss out on another chance to talk to her.
“Excuse me, Your Highness, I’ll just be a minute.” He announced to the king and left the group. “Lunta!” He called for her when he got closer.
“Cedric?” She turned around to check if it was really him that she heard.
“Uh, h-how have you been?” He struck up a conversation.
“Good, good, I’ve just been… shopping.” She answered with a smile. “And you? Have you fixed your flying machine yet?”
“It’s almost done, it just needs a few final touches until it’s good to be tested out again.” He informed her. Lunta nodded enthusiastically, and then directed her gaze behind Cedric, where she saw the little princess point at her, as if she recognized her.

“Look, mom! It’s the lady that Mr Ceedric was talking to at the ball!” She announced, then took her mother by the hand and led her up to Lunta and Cedric. The rest of the royal family followed them.
“Well, well, who do we have the pleasure of meeting here?” King Roland commented, while observing Lunta head to toe.
Lunta froze in fright for a moment, but she managed to compose herself and relax her posture. “Lunta Pohjoinen, Your Majesty.” She said and curtsied as deep as she could without looking ridiculous. She picked up her simple light blue dress that she wore to everyday occasions, while struggling not to tilt her basket and drop its contents on the floor.

“Pohjoinen?” The King repeated Lunta’s last name. “That name sounds familiar.”
“The royal family of the Cold County?” Cedric cleared up Roland’s confusion, but also said it as a question. Lunta shrugged and gave him a smile that signed that he was correct. “You’re the daughter of Raine and Walter Pohjoinen?” He went on, to which Lunta nodded shyly. “Oh, this is so exciting! I’ve never met anyone from the Cold County, let alone, I never thought I’d meet someone from the dynasty!”
“I wouldn’t call it a dynasty, but I am a Pohjoinen, yes.” She corrected him.
“The Cold County has been ruled by six generations of your family, it’s a dynasty.” Cedric insisted.
“I’m sorry, what dynasty?” Queen Miranda asked in confusion.
“The Cold County?” Princess Sofia repeated after Cedric.
“Excuse the girls, please, they haven’t had time to learn about all the kingdoms and their histories yet.” The king said to Lunta.

“It’s no trouble at all.” Lunta assured him. “The Cold County used to be called the Cold Kingdom and it neighbored the kingdom of Freezenburg, but it got weaker and weaker until it collapsed, so it merged with Freezenburg and became its county under the current name.” She explained to everyone.
“Freezenburg?” Princess Amber repeated. “That’s where Hildegard is from!”
“Your friend from school?” Roland added.
“Yes!” Amber happily said. “Lunta, did you go to Royal Prep?”
“Do we have any students from the Cold County at school?” Sofia asked Amber.
Lunta shook her head in response to Amber’s question and answered Sofia’s. “I’m afraid you don’t. As far as I know, even though it’s part of Freezenburg now, people from the Cold County rarely leave it. They’re very humble; and those who aren’t and want to explore the world, usually become sailors and merchants, but people like that are quite rare. Other than them, and perhaps royalty, everybody stays where they are for all their lives.”

“When exactly did it become a county of Freezenburg?” Roland got back to the previous topic. He seemed to be especially fascinated by the politics.
“My grandfather signed the contract with their king then, so my parents were the first Count and Countess.” Lunta explained.
“Your parents are royalty? You’re a princess?” Sofia asked in awe.
“A lady, technically.” Lunta corrected her.
“Where do you live? It must be a nice home if you’re Lady of the Cold County living abroad.” Queen Miranda joined with the questions.
“I have a little cottage right up there.” Lunta pointed at the mountains rising above Dunwiddie. “I don’t really lead a life of a noblewoman. I’m one of the humble ones.”
“The Piercing Peaks?” King Roland observed.
“That’s what they’re called?” Lunta replied. “Huh. Yes, I live there.”

“Sorry to interrupt,” Cedric spoke, “but I could’ve sworn they had an only son. Are you sure you don’t have a brother? A long-lost cousin or anything similar?”
“A brother?” Lunta repeated in confusion which, to Cedric, seemed fake. “I wouldn’t know of any brother, no. Or cousin.”
“Your parents, Raine and Walter Pohjoinen, they have a son, I know it, I read it in a book about your kingdom. Or county, now.” Cedric was persistent. He then spoke to King Roland. “No one knows where that son is now, but there certainly are records of a boy in the family.”
“There is no son!” Lunta yelled, quieting everyone else down. Suddenly, as if by magic, small icicles formed on the tips of her fingers up to her forearm. Realizing that the others had noticed it, she awkwardly smiled and brushed them off. “Sorry.” She said as she did so. “Look, I am the only child of my parents, and I am very clearly, I hope, a woman. And Lunta is, as far as I’m aware, a girl’s name.”

“And a very unique name, too.” Queen Miranda noticed. “There must be a special meaning behind it.”
“There is!” Lunta’s eyes gleamed with excitement when she got the chance to talk about her name. Cedric thought that he saw snowflakes fall off her clothes, but after the icicles, it didn’t really surprise him. “It means snow! It’s common in the Cold County to be named after a natural phenomenon.”
“Interesting! Your parents really gave that one a lot of thought.” The queen said.
“Actually, I did.” Lunta murmured.
“Sorry?” The Queen asked, as she didn’t hear what Lunta said.
“Oh, nothing!” The other woman smiled.
“Well, it was nice meeting you, Lunta. I hope to see you on another occasion.” King Roland spoke.
“The pleasure was all mine, Your Majesty.” Lunta curtsied once again and watched the royal family leave for somewhere else in the village. Cedric, however, stayed where he was.

“Cedric?” The King turned around and called for the royal sorcerer.
“Just a moment, your Highness.” He excused himself and turned back around to Lunta. “So… I haven’t heard from you since the ball.”
“Well, there wasn’t any way to.”
“I know, but we still should’ve tried something.” Cedric continued.
“Like what?” Lunta wondered.
Cedric thought for a moment. “That’s a good question.” He admitted that he didn’t know what to say right away. “We should arrange a time and place to meet again!” He suggested with a smile.
“We should.” Lunta smiled back, excited that they were about to make plans together.

“Cedric!” Baileywick was approaching the two from a distance. It seemed that the king didn’t hear him the first time.
“I’m sorry, I really have to go.” Cedric apologized to Lunta and left towards Baileywick and the royal family. “Goodbye!” He waved to her.
“See you soon!” Lunta replied and turned around to make her own way home. “Wait! We didn’t say when we met! Or where!” She yelled for Cedric, but it seemed that he couldn’t hear her anymore. She stomped her foot into the ground and groaned in frustration. She wanted to run back after him, but he was already long gone and lost in the crowd. So, she let it be and hoped fate would have them cross paths soon.

Chapter Text

“Merlin’s mushrooms!” Cedric exclaimed as he took an almost empty jar off his shelf. He walked over to a potion that he was brewing, disappointed that he wasn’t going to be able to finish it. He was missing the key ingredient, which was supposed to be filling the jar he was now holding, but there was barely any inside.

Just in that moment he heard a familiar knock on the entrance door of his workshop. In walked Princess Sofia, happy and bubbly as always.
“Hi, Mr Ceedric!” She greeted him.
“It’s Cedric.” He corrected her, just like he did countless times before, but it was still no use. She still got his name wrong every time. “What do you need now?” He asked in an annoyed monotone voice, expecting it to be something irrelevant, as it always was, like a magic spell, or even worse, a school project.
“Nothing, I just came to see what you and Wormwood were doing.” She said in the same annoying sweet tone she always said things in.
Wormwood, Cedric’s pet raven, squawked at the princess.
“Nothing interesting? Oh, I’m sure it’s quite the opposite, Wormwood.” She responded to the raven. “It’s always interesting in here!”

“If you must know, I’m brewing a potion.” Cedric answered Sofia’s question. He hoped that she’d leave now that she got her answer.
“Ooh. How’s it going?” She went on. Cedric couldn’t believe it. The audacity.
“Bad. I’m out of Solstice Snowbells, and they’re the key ingredient in the potion!” He complained.
“Why don’t you go pick some more then? I’m sure we have some in our royal garden.” Sofia suggested.
“I’m sure we do, Princess, but it’s not that simple.” Cedric replied. “See, it’s in their name. Solstice Snowbells only bloom once a year, and right now it is nowhere near their blooming time.”
“Isn’t there a solstice twice a year?”
“Yes, but Solstice Snowbells only bloom on the winter solstice. There are also Solstice Sunflowers, which only bloom in the summer.” Cedric explained.

Sofia nodded and looked through the window of Cedric’s tower. She loved how high up she was whenever she was here, and she loved the view that spread out from that window. From there she could see almost the whole castle, then the numerous villages of Enchancia, and lastly, the mountains that spread along the horizon. Seeing them, an idea formed in Sofia’s head.
“What about those mountains?” She asked.
“The Piercing Peaks?” Cedric laughed. “Oh, Princess, it may be colder up in the mountains, but the weather doesn’t fool the Snowbells. They know when it’s solstice, and that’s when they bloom, and there’s no changing that.”
“Didn’t Miss Lunta say that she lived up there?” Sofia recalled. Realizing that that was, in fact, true, Cedric started reconsidering the idea. But it was going to be cold and windy up there, and he didn’t want to go through all that. “So? Can we go?” Sofia asked him, pulling him out of his thoughts.
“Princess, I just told you, there are no flowers up there right now-“
“Maybe Miss Lunta has some.” Sofia cut him off. “Come on, Mr. Ceedric, why don’t you want to go?” Sofia kept asking questions.

Cedric realized that trying to talk her out of it was not going to have any results. Telling her that there were no Solstice Snowbells to pick at this time of the year was like correcting her pronunciation of his name: there was no use because the kid was stubborn to death. Besides, he didn’t really have anything to lose. If he didn’t go, he’d have to dump out his potion and waste all the ingredients he had already used. “Fine.” He said, not satisfied in the slightest. “Put on something warm, we’re going to the Piercing Peaks.” He declared.
“Yes!” The princess squealed and hugged him. “Thank you, Mr Ceedric!”
“Don’t touch me!” He shouted and pushed her away. “And it’s Cedric. Now go before I change my mind!”
Sofia was giggling as she skipped her way out of Cedric’s workshop and into her room. Wormwood squawked again and flew onto Cedric’s shoulder.
“I know, Wormy.” He said as if he could understand the bird. “But I guess it will be good for me to get out of the castle for once. I suppose I should do it way more often, but there’s no time for that.” He then went into his closet to find something warm to wear himself.

The two met in the main hall of the castle. Sofia had already asked her parents to go, and they had ordered for a carriage to take her and Cedric to the foot of the mountain range. Cedric helped her get on the carriage, and then got on it himself. The coachman got the carriage moving, and in no time the flying horses pulled the carriage into the air. The view of the kingdom from up there was almost as good as the one from the workshop’s window. Almost.

When the carriage got to the foot of the Piercing Peaks, Cedric and Sofia got out and started walking up the marked trail. From the very beginning it was covered in snow, even though it wasn’t so cold outside. Sofia was very careful as to not get her gown wet, but Cedric didn’t care if his robes and coat got dirty. They can be washed later. As the two went further, snow was slowly appearing on the sides of the trail as well. All along the trail Sofia was looking for any sign of Solstice Snowbells, but without success.
“Mr Ceedric, what do the Solstice Snowbells look like?” She asked him after a longer while of not finding anything resembling her idea of them. She was a devoted member of the Buttercup scout troop, where they learned about a lot of different flower species, but they never mentioned this particular one.
Cedric sighed. He might as well tell her, even though she wasn’t going to find them. “They look like regular snowbells, but much bigger, and their pollen glows with a white light.”
“They sound beautiful.” Sofia commented and continued walking, keeping her gaze down in the grass next to the trail.

After a good amount of walking, Sofia noticed something unexpected in front of them. It was a cottage built out of the same black stone that the mountains were made of. The stones served as bricks, and whoever built the cottage had used snow as plaster to keep the stones together. Icicles hung all along the perimeter of the roof, and the windows were made of ice and too blurry to see through. Beside the cottage was a small makeshift fireplace – it was really just a pile of coal and burnt wood, surrounded by rocks to define it – and a single log of wood that served as a bench laid on the ground by it.
“Look, Mr Ceedric!” The princess pointed at the building. “This must be Miss Lunta’s cottage! Maybe she can help us find some Snowbells.” She said and ran towards it.
“I don’t think we should be bothering her!” Cedric tried to stop Sofia, but the little girl didn’t listen. Cedric hated knocking on people’s doors and ringing their doorbells; he always felt like he was bothering the people inside so much, and the thought of disturbing Lunta that same way made him feel even worse. But that was really just because he hated people coming into his workshop unannounced, so he thought that everybody felt that way about him too.

Sofia knocked on the door. Only a moment later it opened and, sure enough, Lunta was on the other side.
“Miss Lunta!” Sofia squealed in excitement.
“Princess Sofia, what a pleasant surprise!” Lunta returned with an equal amount of enthusiasm, but hers wasn’t as honest. It was well intended, though. She looked up at the man standing a little further back. “Cedric!” She greeted him, to which he only smiled awkwardly. “Come on in, both of you!” She invited them and went inside.

Sofia and Cedric entered the cottage and observed it top to bottom first thing. The floor resembled that of a ship, made of long wooden slabs laid out one next to the other. Most of it, however, was covered with snow, so the wood wasn’t very visible. All the furniture in the main room was made of ice: from jars, vases, and other small decorations, to tables, chairs, and shelves. A single armchair made of snow and covered with a thick blanket sat in a corner. There were two doors leading to separate rooms, which were the bathroom and bedroom, equally incredible and equally – cold.
Cedric noticed that Lunta wasn’t wearing any warm clothing, not even her cape, only the light blue dress that she had worn to Dunwiddie a few weeks prior. She seemed so at home in the freezing temperatures, and it made sense – she was from the Cold County, after all.

“What brings you two here?” Lunta asked Cedric as she pulled out a chair for him to sit in.
“You live here?” Cedric whispered in awe.
“Yes, I do.”
“And you… how did you…?” Cedric continued.
“I used to travel the word by ship, and when I decided to settle in Enchancia, me and the crew actually found it abandoned and falling apart, so they helped me renew it and make it into a nice livable space.” Lunta explained. “But how come you two ended up here?” She asked again.
“We came to look for Solstice Snowbells.” Sofia said and sat in another chair. “And check out the mountains.”
“Oh, princess, don’t you know?” Lunta laughed. “There aren’t any Solstice Snowbells at this time of the year.”
“I told her that, but she wouldn’t listen.” Cedric said through gritted teeth, trying to save himself from further embarrassment, and looked at Sofia, visibly very annoyed. She cluelessly smiled back.

“I understand.” Lunta sympathized. “Although…” She got up and took one of the jars made out of ice off the shelf. She took off the lid and looked inside. “Aha, I knew it! I do have some Snowbells after all!”
“What?” Cedric said with a mix of confusion, disbelief, and surprise in his voice. “But they… you-“
“I picked them last year when I was back in Freezenburg. I didn’t really want to go there, but one of my friends encouraged me to. And it’s a good thing he did, isn’t it?” Lunta spoke. “I kept the Snowbells with me just in case, although I never needed them. But you do, so here you go.” She said and handed Cedric the jar.
“Well, uh… thank you.” He said, still in disbelief.
“You see, Mr Ceedric, I told you we’d find them!” Sofia added. She then got up and made her way towards the entrance door to go out.

Everything was interrupted when a dog came running out of one of the separate rooms. It was a husky, big in size and with ice blue, almost white eyes. He was running directly towards the three. Sofia ran into a corner, and Cedric froze in place out of fear. Lunta grabbed him by the upper arm and pulled him out of the dog’s way, but she pulled him so close to her and so hard that they crashed into each other. With everything happening so fast, Cedric lost control of his hands and let go of the jar of Solstice Snowbells. Luckily, Lunta’s reflexes were fast enough, and she let go of his arm to draw a magic wand out of her sleeve and conjure up a pile of snow on the spot where the jar was about to fall.

“I’m so sorry!” Lunta broke the commotion with a loud laugh. “That’s my dog Dimitri. He must’ve just woken up.”
“Hi, Dimitri!” Sofia greeted him and ran over to him to play with him. Cedric was taking a little longer to process what had just happened. The way Lunta quickly got him out of the way of the dog and saved him from the animal knocking him over made him feel something for her that he didn’t feel before. He knew that he definitely had a crush on her already, but was this feeling… even more than that? It couldn’t have been. But still, the way her hand felt wrapped around his arm, and the strange vibe between the two of them in general… he couldn’t help but feel a certain way.

“Tha-thank you.” He stuttered as he was still processing what had happened. He set his eyes on the magic wand in Lunta’s hand. It was shaped like an icicle, but uneven and bumpy, as if it was badly carved out of a block of ice. “You… you can do magic?” He asked.
“Of course. How else do you explain all the ice chairs that haven’t melted after being sat on for the hundredth time? Or this little bit of snow there?” She pointed at the pile she had just conjured. Cedric only shrugged at that. “I am the granddaughter of the last king and queen of the Cold County, after all. It’s expected that royals know at least some magic, isn’t it, Princess?”
“It is. And I love learning it.” Sofia giggled.

Cedric looked at Sofia, then back at Lunta. “Now I’m even more confused, but we should really go now. Shall we meet next weekend at the castle and… go somewhere?” He suggested, although insecurely.
“Really? I mean… yes!” Lunta replied happily, and Cedric noticed a couple of snowflakes fall off her again. He returned the smile, and they ended up, once again, staring at each other. The moment was broken by Sofia’s giggling and loud footsteps; she started running around the cottage, with Dimitri chasing her and barking.
“Alright, Princess, time to go!” Cedric announced and headed for the door. Sofia ran through the open door, and Lunta stopped her dog before he could exit as well.
“Goodbye, Miss Lunta!” She shouted from the outside. Lunta waved at her with her free hand as Cedric closed the door and the two outside left.

“And that’s eight Solstice Snowbells!” Cedric exclaimed as he put the flowers in the cauldron, finally back at the castle.
“What does the potion do?” Sofia asked. She still hadn’t left him alone.
“You’ll see in just a moment, princess.” He told her. “Now I just have to dip my wand into the potion,” he spoke as he did what he was saying, “and say the spell.” He looked through his spell book until he found the right page. With a flick of his wand and a couple of strange words, a beam of magic light shot up into the air. A white ball formed right under the ceiling of his tower, and burst into thousands of snowflakes, which began falling slowly to the ground. He had just finished the spell he was going to impress Lunta with on the next perfect occasion for that.

Chapter Text

Lunta had arrived at the castle around the time that she and Cedric had agreed to meet. She crossed the bridge leading to the castle with no problem and entered the front area where carriages usually arrived. She then walked up to the entrance door into the very castle, where two guards were standing. They crossed their spears in front of Lunta when she tried to go in, blocking her way.

“Who are you and why are you here?” The guard on the right asked her with a raspy, hoarse voice. He was taller, much more muscular, and he had a beard and brown hair barely visible under his hat.
“I am Lunta Pohjoinen and I’m here to see the Royal Sorcerer.” She answered politely.
“Goodwyn the Great retired decades ago. You’re not going to find him here.” The guard told her.
“He’s in the retirement home at the Mystic Meadows.” The guard on the left added. This one had a relatively high-pitched voice, blonde hair, and he was skinny and shorter than his colleague. He also seemed to be younger, perhaps new to the job, but Lunta decided not to assume anything too quickly.

“I don’t know who that is, but I’m not here to see him.” Lunta said. “I’m here to see Cedric. He’s the Royal Sorcerer, isn’t he?”
“You actually want to see him?” The first guard sighed in disapproval.
“What’s wrong with that?”
“A lot.”
Lunta was baffled, so she remained silent for a moment. “So, can I go see him?”
“No.” The guards stiffened up again. “We weren’t told you were coming.”
“Can’t you just… let me in anyway?” Lunta negotiated.
“We can, but we won’t.” The right guard declined.
“Yeah. You could be an evil sorceress who’s trying to take over the kingdom in disguise.” The guard on the left said.
“Well, yes, but I’m not.”
The guard gasped. “That’s exactly what an evil sorceress who’s trying to take over the kingdom in disguise would say!” He proudly pointed out.
Lunta rolled her eyes. “Come on! I’ve been here before and you let me in no questions asked!”
“Well now we’re asking questions!” The blonde guard replied.

“Ugh, clouds, this is impossible!” Lunta groaned and turned around to leave. She decided that she’d find another entry, perhaps a side door, or someone from the castle would recognize her and let her in.
She started circling the castle, looking through the windows for somebody inside to explain the situation to. But all the windows were either too high, had curtains drawn over them, or led into empty rooms. When she got bored of looking for ways to get inside, she started flicking and brushing off the icicles that formed on her from the frustration.

That was when she came up to one of the towers with a green roof. High up in the tower there was a window, and as she was looking at it, it suddenly opened and a bright blue smoke came out of it, spreading into the air.
“This must be Cedric’s tower.” Lunta thought. “Cedric!” She decided to try calling for him. “Cedric!” She yelled a couple more times, and when the smoke cleared up, she could see the sorcerer looking down at her from the tower.
“Lunta!” He responded. “What are you doing down there?”
“The guards wouldn’t let me in.” She explained.

Cedric looked at the sky and thought for a moment. “Stay there.” He instructed her, and disappeared into the tower. The next thing Lunta saw was a smaller cloud of, this time, green smoke form in the window, and the same smoke appeared next to her. Lunta jolted at the smoke materializing out of nowhere, but when Cedric emerged out of it, she couldn’t help but let out a scream of shock.
“I’m sorry!” She laughed at herself, taking a few steps back to stay away from the smoke, just to be safe. “It’s just still so strange seeing… magic that advanced play out in front of me.”
“Well, you should start getting used to it if you’re going to be seeing me this often.” Cedric smiled back.
“I should, shouldn’t I?” Lunta replied, looking away from Cedric to hide the shy grin that had appeared on her face.

“Never mind that; let’s go make sure that this doesn’t happen again, hm?” Cedric said, referring to Lunta having to circle the whole castle to find him.
“Uh, okay?” She replied a little confused, but still smiling. Cedric put one hand on his back and with the other, pointed in the direction they should go. Lunta started walking back to the entrance door, and he followed immediately after. As they walked, he hesitantly put his arm gently around her waist from behind. He glanced at Lunta to see her reaction; that kind of physical contact may have been a little abrupt of a move. But she was blushing and smiling, and when Cedric saw that, his face did the same.

“Oh, she wasn’t joking.” The taller guard commented when he saw Lunta and Cedric walking together towards the entrance door.
“You, again?” The other guard shouted at Lunta when she and Cedric approached the door and, this time, pointed the spear at her.
“She’s with me.” Cedric stopped the guard and turned the spear away from Lunta. “And she’s going to be visiting occasionally from now on, so you two let her in when she does. Understood?” He ordered.
“Huh. When did you grow the guts?” The right guard smirked. ”I thought I saw you picking flowers in the royal garden just the other day, and now you’re giving me orders?”
“They were magical herbs!” Cedric defended himself. “And I’m just asking you a simple thing. Can you do that?” He requested, barely keeping it together.
The guards looked at each other. “Sure.” Said the one on the right, and they drew their spears to themselves, letting Cedric and Lunta in.

“Where are we going?” Lunta asked Cedric, who was still holding her hand and walking a little too fast for her.
“Why, my workshop, of course.” He replied.
“We are? You’re letting me in this time?” Lunta’s voice was full of excitement.
“It’s still a mess, but I do think you should see it.” Cedric replied.
As the two arrived in front the workshop, he reflexively reached for the key in its secret place next to the door. But it wasn’t where it always was, and where it was supposed to be. Cedric started searching for the key all over his clothes, thinking that maybe he’d put in in a pocket.
“Didn’t you just teleport out of the workshop?” Lunta noticed. That image was going to be hard to get out of her head.
“That’s right, I did.” Cedric agreed. “I can’t believe I didn’t lock the door.” He shook his head and opened the door.

Inside was Princess Sofia, wearing a purple robe with a matching wizard’s hat and sweeping the floor. Seeing her, Cedric was put at ease as he remembered that she was there when he left.
“Princess Sofia!” He called and walked directly up to her. “Any incidents that happened during the short time that I’ve been gone for?”
“No, Mr Cedric, everything’s okay.” She assured him with a smile. She had finally started pronouncing his name correctly in the meantime.
“It better be.” He said and made his way towards the desk. He cleared it a little bit by throwing everything that was on it onto the floor and brought out his crystal ball. He then took out his wand as he turned around and cleared his throat. “I was thinking that we should have a way of communication at a distance.” He said to Lunta. “Princess Sofia, would you do the honors of making another one of these for me?" He handed the little girl his wand, but she hesitated.

“Duplicating it?” She gasped. “But I only learned that spell today, and it didn’t go that well earlier.”
“I’m sure you’ve mastered it by now.” Cedric assured the girl. She then took out her own wand, waved it at the sparkling yellow ball and chanted a duplicating spell. Suddenly another crystal ball appeared right next to the first one, looking completely identical to it. Still a little scared of magic, as it was so unknown and unfamiliar to her, Lunta took a step closer to Cedric. It gave her a slight sense of comfort.
Sofia came closer to the crystal balls to inspect if there were any faults or differences in the copy. “I think I did it!” She told Cedric and smiled proudly. He gave her a pat on the head and walked over to the objects, next to Sofia. He pointed the wand at the newly spawned one and made it shrink to half its size. He then took it in his hands and brought it over to Lunta.

“So it doesn’t take up too much space in your home.” Cedric spoke and handed the crystal ball to Lunta. She took it and held it close to her face, appreciating it from nearby. Like the other day, when she met the royal family down in Dunwiddie, and when Cedric invited her to the tower, snow started falling off her again.
“Lunta, you’re, um…” Cedric tried to politely point it out. “There’s snow around you.”
Lunta looked around herself and laughed. “Oh, yes. That, uh, the snow… I’m snowing. Snow falls off of me when I’m happy.” She stammered and smiled as she explained. Cedric was taken aback by such a quirk. He had never seen anything like it before, but he thought it was so adorable, that the only thing he could do is smile with Lunta. “It’s hereditary, and it doesn’t happen to everyone in the Cold County. I can’t control it, even though I tried to hide it sometimes. It can be inconvenient at times.”

“I don’t think you should hide it. It’s wonderful.” Cedric added and reached out for a snowflake to fall on his hand. “I’ve seen it happen to you before, I just didn’t know how to ask about it. It was when you were talking about your name.” He mentioned.
“Yes! Yes, I’m very fond if it.” Lunta blurted out, hoping so hard that he wouldn’t comment how her parents thought of it.
“Is it like the icicles?” Cedric went on. “They appeared on you that day too.”
“It is. I snow when I’m happy and get icicles when I’m upset.” Lunta explained.
“Why were you upset?”

“So, this, the crystal ball, it’s wonderful. Thank you so much.” Lunta avoided the question.
Cedric was confused, but decided not to pry.
“You can always bring it back here for me to make it bigger again, or whatever size you wish, if you don’t like it.” Cedric advised her. “I take that you can’t do that kind of magic yourself.”
“I can’t, no. I have the Winter Wand, which can only do what’s called Snow Sorcery, and that’s snow-, ice-, and generally winter-related magic.” Lunta explained. “But this is perfect anyway, so thank you.” She added, looking at the crystal ball once again.
“It’s no trouble at all.” Cedric assured her.
“Anyway, I have to go, Dimitri’s waiting for me. But thank you so much for this. Goodbye, Princess! Bye Cedric!” Lunta excused herself and left through the door and down the stairs.

Cedric stayed where he was, staring at the door, sad that Lunta had to go and wishing that she was still there. Meanwhile Sofia was as excited as one could get. She loved watching those two interact, she thought they were perfect for each other. And so did her best friends, whom she updated on the situation regularly.
“Ruby and Jade are going to love this!” She thought out loud and ran out of the workshop without saying anything to Cedric.

Chapter Text

Lunta was in her home, playing with her dog Dimitri and rehearsing some tricks with him. Suddenly, she heard a voice come from somewhere in her cottage. She looked through the windows for people outside, or even animals, but found nobody. Perhaps it was the wind that blew through the cracks of poorly installed windows or doors.
She looked at the little crystal ball that Cedric had gifted her a couple of weeks prior. It was sitting on a small coffee table next to the armchair, and there seemed to be something in it. Whatever it was, it seemed distorted and vague. Lunta walked over to the ball and sat down on the armchair. As she got closer to the crystal ball, the picture in it cleared up.

“Lunta?” Cedric was calling for her. “Lunta!”
“Cedric?” She answered.
“Ah! There you are!” He exclaimed. “Can you see me?” He went on as he got farther away from his crystal ball.
“I can. This is so weird.” Lunta commented.
“Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it.” Cedric assured her with a laugh. “I just wanted to check if your crystal ball worked fine, since the last time Sofia duplicated something, we’d had some… difficulties. But there seem to be no problems with this one so far, hm?”
“Uh, no. It seems fine.” Lunta replied. “How do I contact you through this anyway? I’ve been struggling to get it to do anything ever since I got it, so I just gave up.”
“Right…” Cedric sighed. “Well, you’ll have to come over so I can explain it to you.” He smiled.

“Right now? Why can’t we do it like this, over the ball?” Lunta responded.
“Well, it’s much easier to explain handling a crystal ball in person than via… a crystal ball.” Cedric replied.
“Alright. I’m going to Dunwiddie tomorrow anyway, so I’ll make my way to the castle from there.”
“Sounds good! I’ll see you tomorrow then.” Cedric responded. “And let’s hope the guards let you in this time.”
Lunta laughed in agreement. “Yes, let’s hope. Now, how do you turn this thing off…” Lunta murmured and started inspecting the ball.

“Hi, Mr Cedric!” She heard another voice come from the crystal ball.
“Princess Sofia, what could possibly bring you here?” Cedric got away from the ball and greeted the little girl. His image became all mushy and foggy again.
“What is wrong with your crystal ball?” Sofia ignored his question. “Is it dirty?” She asked questions and as she got closer to it, the picture in it cleared up. “Oh, hi, Miss Lunta!” She greeted her when she saw her, and Lunta waved back. “What are you two talking about?”
“Oh, Cedric was just checking if my crystal ball was working fine.” Lunta told her. “I must say, you’ve done a great job making this one for me.”
“Thank you!” Sofia giggled.
“Yes, and we were just ending the conversation.” Cedric interrupted them and went to shut down the crystal ball.

“Wait!” Sofia screamed before Cedric could do anything. “Miss Lunta, are you coming to the Fire of Friends this Wassalia?”
“The what?” Lunta asked back. Cedric groaned in annoyance somewhere in the background.
“This year marks 60 years since King Roland the First started his rule over Enchancia and in his honor, my dad decided to light a huge fire in front of the castle on the coldest night of the year, which is Wassalia. It’s going to be so fun when the temperature goes from chilly to warm and cozy! And my dad encourages to bring someone that you care about deeply so you can experience it together!” The princess explained. “I think Mr Cedric would love you to come.” She giggled as she looked at Cedric.

“Oh.” Lunta chuckled. She thought about it for a moment, seeming quite insecure about the idea. “Sure. I’ll be there.” She responded timidly.
“You… don’t seem too happy about it.” Cedric noticed. “You don’t have to come if you don’t want to, you do realize that?”
“No, I will come, it sounds amazing, I just…” Lunta insisted. “I’ll stop by tomorrow and explain everything.”
“Oh. Alright.” Cedric said and cut off the connection between himself and Lunta. In her crystal ball, Lunta could see the picture get foggier and blurrier once again, until it completely vanished.

The next day Lunta and Dimitri descended the snow-covered trail of the Piercing Peaks all the way down to Dunwiddie on a sled. She left her husky and the sled tied to a post right by the beginning of the trail. This was routine and so far, there were no incidents, so she never feared leaving him there. She knew he’d be fine.
After running all the errands that she had to run in Dunwiddie, she brought her groceries back to Dimitri and left them on the sled. With that, she made her way to the castle of Enchancia. She got through the guards with no problem this time, and when she greeted them, they even said hello to her back. She set off towards Cedric’s tower, politely greeting a couple of servants on her way there. She climbed up the spiraling staircase, knocked on the door and slowly opened them. When she didn’t hear any disapproving words from Cedric, she fully entered the room and closed the door behind her.

“Lunta!” Cedric exclaimed as soon as he saw her. He quickly went over to her and hugged her worriedly as soon as she was within arms’ reach. Lunta was surprised at the sudden gesture, since from what she saw so far, Cedric wasn’t very fond of hugs, and he had never hugged her before. “What was that yesterday about?” He spoke with concern. “You have to tell me, I was so worried about it ever since, I couldn’t stop thinking about it!”
“Woah- it’s fine, Cedric, it’s nothing serious, trust me.” Lunta assured him. “I was just… bummed out a little, that’s all.”
“What about?” Cedric went on, now more at ease.

“Well, about the fire thing, and heat…” Lunta said. She shook her head and decided to start over. “You know how in the Cold County it’s… cold?” She spoke. “For that reason, when a child is born, only a few days after their birth, a spell known as Kilmei is cast upon them, and it keeps them from feeling cold. It allows them to feel heat and warmer temperatures normally, but when the temperature of their surroundings drops below a certain point, they still feel as if it’s mild, lukewarm. In other words, we don’t feel cold. Otherwise, we wouldn’t survive in the harsh environment of the Cold County. So, if I attended the Fire of Friends, I would feel its heat, but not the switch from cool to warm that Sofia was so excited about. It just got me thinking about the little things that I’ve been missing out on, that’s all.”

Cedric stared at the floor and processed everything. “If that’s a spell,” he thought out loud, “then there must be a counter spell for it!” He concluded and started looking for books about Snow Sorcery and other magic related to winter and cold, performed in those parts of the world.
“What? No, please!” Lunta called for him and reached out her hands to try to stop him, even though he was too far from her. Hearing the worry in her voice, he immediately turned around to listen to give her his full attention. “Even if it’s possible, I don’t think Kilmei should be undone. It would probably be too big of a shock to suddenly feel cold in any way. I don’t mind it, though. I just never thought about… how it would be to feel it.”
“Don’t you want to know?” Cedric asked, sad that Lunta was declining such an offer.
“I do, but…” She started, but he cut off her off.

“Then there must be a way to reverse it, if nothing, then only temporarily!” Cedric said and pulled out a book from the shelf by magic. He flipped its pages and inspected some of them, with a few ‘Ah, there’s and ‘Mhm’s and ‘Uh-huh’s here and there. “Ah, it’s a potion!” He commented when he found it. “The Kilmo potion. It says here that it would take around five hours to brew, and I seem to have all the ingredients. Would you like to make it with me?”
“I’d love to, but not today.” Lunta said.
“That’s fine, we have three weeks until the Fire of Friends. You know you’re welcome to come over anytime.” Cedric smiled at her.

“I know.” Lunta returned and looked away. Her gaze wandered around the room until it set on the clock. “I guess I should get going then.” She spoke when she saw the time.
“Already?” Cedric asked, to which Lunta just sighed in disappointment as she got up. “Shall I walk you home?” He offered. He was being very generous today.
“There’s no need, I don’t want to drag you all the way to the middle of the mountain.” Lunta declined.
“To the foot.” Cedric insisted. “Just to the beginning of the trail.”
Lunta lightly blushed at his efforts. “Okay.” She gave in and got up. The two exited the workshop, and Cedric locked it behind them.

They walked down the paved road leading away from the castle and through Dunwiddie, all the way to the edge of the village. The whole time they talked and laughed their guts out; they said some jokes, then shared some secrets and stories from their life, and then just complained to each other about how hard life was and whatever other small thing was bothering them. At one point, when they both had their arms down, their fingers accidentally brushed against each other. Lunta immediately drew her hand back, but hesitantly, after taking a quick glance at Cedric and him not seeming to mind, she put it back down. He let his hand touch hers again, and when she didn’t pull it back again, he gently intertwined his gloved fingers with hers. A moment of pleasant silence followed, and then Cedric continued telling her the story that he was just telling before, except now he was struggling to speak, stuttering like crazy, and he was also being distracted by the snow that had started falling off Lunta.

When they came to the bottom of the Piercing Peaks, Dimitri was there waiting for them, right next to the sled that he was keeping an eye on the whole time.
“You remember Dimitri?” Lunta let go of Cedric’s hand and let out a huge sigh of relief as she approached her dog. “Last time when you met it was… eventful.” She recalled how Dimitri almost knocked Cedric and Sofia to the ground that day.
“Yes, it was.” Cedric replied. “But he seems to be pretty good of a dog, unlike Prince James’s Rex. How I hate that pesky critter!”
“Oh, Dimitri’s the best!” Lunta added and petted the husky. “Thank you for coming all the way here with me.”
“Oh, it’s no trouble at all, I wanted to.” Cedric dismissed it. “I… found myself wanting to spend more time with you, Lunta.” He admitted, as if it wasn’t obvious from what had just happened.

“Me too.” She replied and fixed her hair. Snow was still falling around her. “Well, I’ll see you soon.” She suddenly spoke. She quickly got on the sled and drew her magic wand out of her sleeve. “Goodbye!” She yelled and signed Dimitri to start running. Cedric stayed where he was and watched them ascend. Lunta pointed her wand at the trail in front of them. She started conjuring snow onto the trail only moments before the sled passed it, making it passable for the vehicle. Soon she disappeared into the fog and the clouds surrounding the mountain.
Cedric followed her with his gaze until he couldn’t see her, and after that he kept looking at the mountain a little more. “Goodbye!” He shouted back, knowing that Lunta couldn’t hear him anymore.

Chapter Text

A few days after they had just seen each other, Lunta couldn’t bear being away from Cedric any longer. So, early one morning she came into the castle of Enchancia, headed to the chambers of the Royal Sorcerer. She politely curtsied at the guards at the entrance door, as well as greeting the servants, as she always did.
“Cedric?” She called for him as she opened the door of his workshop. Startled by her, the sorcerer dropped a spell book that he was holding onto his foot. “Oh, clouds! Are you alright?” Lunta exclaimed and ran over to help him.
“I’m fine!” He shouted and pulled his foot out from under the book. Almost completely unbothered, as he was used to accidents like this, he picked up the book from the floor and put it on a table. “What brings you here today?” He started, completely ignoring what had just happened.

Lunta contemplated if it was correct of her to brush it off as well. “I was thinking we could make that Kilmo potion today.” She answered. “But, seriously, are you okay?”
“Ah, the reverse potion for your spell for feeling cold.” Cedric remembered. “Why, of course! And don’t worry, love, really, I’m fine. It happens all the time.” He assured her and happily walked over to the book that had the potion recipe in it. It was on the edge of his table; he hadn’t put it away since Lunta’s last visit.
“Love?” Lunta repeated, unsure if she heard him correctly.
Cedric gulped as the nickname he had just called her by dawned on him. “Did I… really say that out loud?” He turned around to see her reaction to everything. Lunta was trying to keep a smile from forming, but unsuccessfully. “I-I-I mean, i-if you don’t mind…” He tried to explain himself.
“I don’t…” Lunta assured him. “…dear.” She improvised.

They both laughed at themselves and the awkwardness of the moment. But they were both perfectly aware of the significance of these two words in the progress of their relationship.
“Right, let’s do this, shall we, love?” Cedric spoke as he turned back around towards the book.
“You don’t have to say ‘love’ at the end of every sentence, though.” Lunta advised him. “Dear.”
They laughed again, but after that, they were determined to make that potion.

“Here it is, the Kilmo potion.” Cedric read from the spell book. “You can go get some of the ingredients, I’ll read them out to you.” He said and showed her the page.
“I don’t know where you keep them. Or how they look.” Lunta mentioned after reading a few of the weird names of magical things listed on the page.
“Oh. Right. Can you bring out the glass bottles and tubes then?” Cedric suggested an alternative.
“I’d rather do something that I can’t mess up.”
“Not messing anything up - that’s rare in this workshop.” Cedric stated and climbed a ladder that led to the higher shelves. “You just… stay still, I’ll get everything, I’ll be quick.” He did as he said. Lunta watched him walk around the top floor and collect jars, bottles, and boxes of various shapes and sizes, and then by magic gently bring them down onto a table. The whole time she was ready to run to catch any of the containers if they started falling at a normal speed. But it never happened – Cedric knew what he was doing, and when he was done, he put away his wand, came back down, and wiped his hands into his robe. “Let us begin!” He finally declared, and the two started working on the potion.

Cedric would tell Lunta to pass him an ingredient, and he’d describe it to her so she could get the correct one easily. When it was possible and not dangerous, he’d allow her to add the ingredient into the mix herself, which she was always happy to do. Oftentimes there were longer periods where the potion, or what they had of it so far, would need to sit and not have anything done with it, so that’s when they would sit down, relax, and talk about whatever came to mind. So far this happened three times, and the conversations in between would almost always start with Cedric explaining what they were going to do with the potion next, then Lunta would ask about one specific ingredient and want to know more, so Cedric would explain it to her in great detail. If the time wasn’t up by then, Cedric would have time to go into stories of his school days, the potions he blew up, the spells he chanted wrong, but also his sorcery successes. Slowly, Lunta started opening up as well, and she’d go on about her travels to all and every corner of the world, although she didn’t sound as excited as Cedric when she talked about them.

The fourth mix was going to be a separate one, and it was to be added into the main potion later. Cedric and Lunta quickly made it, since they didn’t need much of it, and it had fairly little ingredients.
“And lastly for this, I’ll need four Solstice Snowbells.” Cedric told Lunta. “They’re the-“
“Hold it! I know which ones they are!” She proudly cut him off. She took the blue ice jar containing the big, white flowers and opened it. “You kept the jar that I gave you!” She noticed.
“Of course, why wouldn’t I?” Cedric happily said. “I think I’ll keep all my Solstice Snowbells in it from now on.”
Lunta said nothing, just smiled and passed him four of the flowers. Cedric added them into the potion, stirred it a little, and poured the pale green substance into a test tube that he then closed with a cork. He put it into a claw-like holder that was just wide enough to hold the tube, and it was placed on a thin metal rod. When he finished, he stirred the main potion and sat on a chair on the other end of the room. Lunta did the same, and another conversation followed.

After a little over ten minutes, Cedric got up and came over to the table. He took the test tube out of the device holding it.
“Now, if we did everything correctly, when I let go of this, it should float where I leave it.” He explained. He then flipped the tube upside down, and the liquid inside of it, that had turned bright pink in the meantime, flew to the top side of the tube, instead of the bottom. As Cedric let go of it, the tube kept levitating in the same spot.
“That’s incredible!” Lunta exclaimed.
“It’s just magic.” Cedric replied humbly.

The two kept watching as the tube slowly started rising up and away from them. Cedric’s expression changed from proud to concerned as he watched it.
“How high up is it supposed to go?” Lunta asked cluelessly.
“Poseidon’s pumpkins.” Cedric exclaimed in realization.
“What, is that an ingredient that we missed?”
“No, the potion, it isn’t supposed to do that!” Cedric screamed and started moving around in a panic. He jumped a couple of times trying to catch the glass tube, but with no success. Lunta tried to do the same while Cedric ran and got the nearest chair. It was a rotating chair, and it was completely unstable, but he didn’t have time to go and get another one. He placed it right under the test tube and tried to reach it standing on the chair, but it seemed useless. Lunta held the chair to keep it stable, but Cedric lost his balance and started falling. Lunta tried to move away and avoid him falling on her, but she wasn’t quick enough. Cedric fell right on top of her, and knocked her onto the ground with him.

Lunta’s back hit the ground, and Cedric fell onto her facing the floor, and consequently, Lunta herself. Cedric lifted his upper body away from her and supported himself by his arms, but for the following few seconds, that seemed eternal to them, they stayed in the same position and just stared at each other in pure shock. Neither of them failed to notice that their faces were only inches apart, and their bodies were, although awkwardly and painfully, on top of one another. Horizontally. And while, almost since the moment they met, they had been anticipating this moment, they didn’t expect it to come around like this.

Cedric finally stood up and brushed off his robe, and then held out a hand to help Lunta get up as well.
“Are you alright?” He asked in concern.
“Yes, thanks.” Lunta replied. Between her words she took a deep breath, and a few more after. She was breathing heavily from the shock and intense emotions that she was feeling, and also from the air physically having been ejected out of her lungs as she hit the floor moments before.
“We are never speaking about what just happened.” Cedric suggested. It was more of a demand.
“Agreed.” Lunta wheezed, still catching her breath.

That was when Wormwood flew from the windowsill and caught the floating test tube in his beak. He brought it back down to Cedric, and the sorcerer grabbed it firmly in his hand. In silence, he walked over to the table where the ingredients, bottles, tubes, books, and everything else that they were using at the moment was placed, and poured the pink liquid from the test tube into the cauldron which contained the main potion. He then added a few other things, stirred the liquid a little, and then left it alone again.

“Now what?” Lunta tried to start another conversation after this awkward moment and the incredibly uncomfortable silence that had followed it.
“Now we wait for half an hour, and it should be done.” Cedric explained. The two kept standing in silence, looking around and avoiding making eye contact, while thinking of things to say that wouldn’t lead to them talking about what had just happened. “I-I’m going to go… get something… somewhere… else.” Cedric excused himself and started walking towards the door.
Lunta enthusiastically nodded, happy that she was going to be alone. “Sure, I’ll…”
“You wait here.” Cedric suggested.
“I’ll be here.” Lunta repeated, at what Cedric closed the door behind him. On the other side, he cringed hard at everything that had just occurred, and descended down the stairs. He was probably just going to walk around the castle and procrastinate, until the potion is finished, and then come back. Perhaps a little earlier. He didn’t know right now.
Meanwhile Lunta decided to explore Cedric’s workshop a little. Out of curiosity, but also to become familiar with where he kept which ingredients, bottles, and other utensils for his potions, and magic in general. She wanted to be more helpful the next time they did something like this together.

Chapter Text

“Hey, you’re right on time, the potion is almost finished.” Lunta said when Cedric burst through the door. “Where have you been for so long?”
“The castle is quite large.” Cedric replied. “And of course, the other servants stop me all the time to do something for them. As if it’s not their own job. ‘Oh, Cedric, do this for me,’ ‘No, Cedric, that’s not what I asked you to do, do the other thing,’ on and on until I lose my nerves!” He lied. After he had fallen on top of poor Lunta and slammed her into the floor, he tried to make up an excuse to leave the room, but what he really did was that he just hid in the castle’s kitchen for twenty minutes, until the Kilmo potion was finished and he had to be back.

Lunta nodded to show that she understood his frustrations. In silence, Cedric walked over to the cauldron and scooped out a portion of the light pink substance with a small ladle, and inspected it closely.
“It seems good to me.” He noted. “Why don’t we try it out?”
“Uh, sure, but I don’t have a feeling that it’s cold in here.” Lunta spoke. “Is it?”

“It’s not, so why don’t you conjure up some falling snow for us?” Cedric suggested, and Lunta did as he said. She took out her magic wand and pointed it upwards. As she did so, he remembered the potion he had made for her a while ago, and he wanted to stop her and conjure up the snow himself, but Lunta had already begun with her own magic. Cedric slammed his palm against his forehead, but let it go and watched Lunta do her thing. A thin, but bright, white ray of light flew out of her Winter Wand and started spiraling around, reaching all the way to the walls of the room. When it had nowhere else to go, it disappeared, and snowflakes started slowly falling on the ground from where the ray had passed. Lunta looked at Cedric for approval, but he was already looking at her in awe. She shyly looked at the floor, feeling a little embarrassed. It was such a simple spell, one of the first she’d ever learned, but he still thought it was amazing.

In order to not waste any more time, Cedric scooped some of the potion into a small test tube and brought it over to Lunta. He carefully held the open tube above her head, waiting for a single drop to fall out and onto her. When that happened, he quickly lifted the top back up, to pour out no more, and got the tube away from her. It started with her head and shoulders, but quickly her whole body started glowing with a faint, yellow light, and the light turned into little sparkles that then flew away from her and disappeared into the air. It was the Kilmei spell leaving Lunta’s body, after having protected her from cold for 36 years.

When the last sparkle disappeared, Lunta felt shivers go through her whole body. The first thing she did was hold out her hand and let a snowflake fall onto it. She watched it melt in her hand, and while she had seen that happen countless times before, she never felt it before. The snowflake falling onto her hand and melting, leaving a drop of water instead, it was cold.
She looked up at Cedric with a huge smile. She ran towards him and hugged him to thank him. For helping her experience cold for the first time in her life. For helping her experience the sensation that everybody felt occasionally, one that was normal for everyone to feel, except for her. Until now.
“Oh, thank you!” She let out a few happy tears, still hugging Cedric. “Thank you so much. This is… wow.” She said as she put out her hand again to catch some more snowflakes. Even she herself started snowing, but her snow mixed up with the one that she conjured and that was falling from the ceiling. “This is crazy.”

Even though he was smiling, feeling just as thrilled as Lunta, Cedric couldn’t help but feel sorry for her. It was her first time feeling something so ordinary, and it was only now, so late in her life. “It is no trouble, love. At all.” He grabbed her hand firmly.
Lunta looked back at him, still smiling widely, to see if he was as elated as she was. And Cedric was a little calmer than her – the chill wasn’t anything new to him – but he sure was happy nonetheless.

Lunta felt shivers again, and she could see the same yellow sparkles now appear in the air around her. They slowly flew towards her and stuck to her, giving her the same golden glow again. When the light faded, she knew that the spell was back on her. She held out her hand and caught one last snowflake, but when it melted, it just felt wet. She was sad, but she knew that this moment would only last a short while because it was just one drop of the potion, so it wasn’t as hard for her to accept that it had ended. She shook the water droplet off her hand and wiped it into her dress.

Cedric stretched himself and yawned. He walked over to the table and started removing things from it, putting them all in a bowl with bottles that he was going to wash later.
“Tired already? It’s just past noon.” Lunta noticed.
“I just spent almost five hours brewing a potion with you, and I almost broke several of my bones.” He defended himself and remembered how he fell right onto her.
“Didn’t we say that we wouldn’t speak about it?”
“Right. We did.” Cedric admitted and shyly turned around to face away from Lunta. “Well, I’ll…” he tried to think of an excuse. “Give me a minute.” He blurted out and raced into a separate room of his tower. There was an arched opening in the wall, with a red curtain covering it and preventing anyone from seeing into the space behind it. Lunta followed him into the room behind the curtain.

It was a small bedroom. And it wasn’t just small compared to the main workshop, it was small. Not impossibly tiny, but it wasn’t of the size that one’d expect the bedroom of the Royal Sorcerer to be. The walls were of a desaturated purple color, filled with a repeating motif of a spiral that was printed all across them. Up against the wall was a bed with red silk bedding – at least that was appropriate for a bedroom in a castle. Next to the bed there was a wooden bedside table with a candle on it, and a couple of random pictures hung on the wall.
“This is where you sleep?” Lunta asked, even though the answer was obvious.
“Yes. And just how did you guess that?” Cedric sarcastically replied with a grin on his face, which faded as soon as he finished the sentence. “I don’t spend a lot of time here, it’s almost completely useless.” He added and sat down on the bed with a deep sigh. He put his hands on the bed while he adjusted himself to sit comfortably.

Lunta sat next to him and put her hand on his. Cedric looked up at her with his eyes wide open, and his breathing slightly sped up as he didn’t know what to expect next.
“I want to talk about what happened.” Lunta smirked at him, while he was hyperventilating in a panic. Not waiting for an answer, she leaned towards him, closed her eyes, and kissed him. For Cedric, in that moment it was like everything stopped. His breathing calmed down, and his thoughts were no longer racing. As he closed his eyes, there was no more potion brewing, no more Wormwood squawking, just him and Lunta, and her lips on his. Lunta strengthened her grip on his hand, and he softly placed his other hand onto hers.

Just like she had initiated the kiss, Lunta pulled away and drew her hand out of Cedric’s grip. She looked at the floor in front of her without saying anything, and her shoulders had risen up from all the tension. She was snowing again, very heavily this time, so she decided to leave before the snow could gather up on the floor.
“I should probably go. See you.” She muttered and rushed out of the room.

Flabbergasted, Cedric kept staring at the red curtains that Lunta had just raced through. He was breathing heavily again, and in his face, it was visible that he was confused and shocked. He dropped onto the bed and now looked at the ceiling, with his hands on his stomach. Slowly, a smile appeared on his face, and he began laughing. He couldn’t believe this had just happened.

Chapter Text

This December was exciting for everyone, but especially Lunta and Cedric. Ever since they made the Kilmo potion, and finally – kissed – they spent almost every day together; either in her cottage, in his workshop, or outside in Dunwiddie.

It was exactly one week before Wassalia when they were once again in Cedric’s workshop.
“I’m so excited for the Fire of Friends!” Lunta mentioned when she had nothing else to say about the previous topic of their random conversations.
“So am I, love.” Cedric replied more calmly.
“Is it going to be the first event like that? How does it go? Do you know the procedure?” Lunta asked.
“I do, but why do you want to know so bad? Just wait until then, you’ll see what the king has planned.” Cedric assured her.
“I like to be prepared. I don’t want to come there and have no idea what’s happening.” Lunta explained.

“Well, in that case…” Cedric walked over to Lunta and held her hand as she got up from her chair. “First, we’ll wait until everybody gathers in front of the castle. And when they do, we will all sit around the huge fireplace in front of the castle, and King Roland and Prince James will light the fire, while some village children – and probably Princess Sofia – sing some Wassalia song. Then, when the fire burns the brightest it can, the Royal Orchestra will start playing music, and we can dance to the music all night long!” He grabbed Lunta’s hand and twirled her around, until she fell into his other arm with a giggle. He returned the laugh and pulled her back up to stand, at what she put one hand on his shoulder, and the other on his cheek. “Now I really can’t wait.”

As the two looked at each other lovingly, and it seemed like they were about to kiss, the door of the workshop flung wide open. Startled, Lunta pushed herself away from Cedric, and both of them glanced at the door to see who was on the other side.
“Cedric!” The strong voice of King Roland called for the sorcerer’s name. As the man entered the room, he looked at the terrified expressions on Lunta and Cedric’s faces. “Am I… interrupting something?”
“Not at all, Your Highness.” Cedric lied and bowed. “What is it that you require?”
“Our Royal Astronomer – and Amber – said that it could be very windy on Wassalia. And if there’s wind, we won’t be able to light the Fire of Friends.” Roland explained. “Just in case, do you have a spell to light a fire and, more importantly, keep it lit?”
“I know plenty of spells for lighting fires, yes, but to make a fire that can’t be put out, I think you’d need a potion, the Pyro Potion to be precise, and then a counter-potion to be able to put out the fire again.” Cedric spoke.

“Can you make them?” Roland asked.
“Of course, I can, Your Majesty. It’s just… it takes a really long time.”
“I need them three days before Wassalia.” Roland cut Cedric off, not caring about the technicalities.
“That’s in four days!” Cedric rephrased what the King said. “You’re giving me four days for that?”
“Is there a problem?” Roland checked.
Cedric sensed that if he told him that there was, in fact, a problem, he could end up in trouble. Or if not that, he’d just disappoint the king, which he did enough times already. “Of course not, Your Majesty.” He cleared his throat and gave Roland a fake smile. “No problem at all. I’ll have it ready by then.” He assured him.
“That’s great, Cedric.” Roland thanked him – at least that was his way of thanking people – and left the room, having almost completely ignored Lunta the whole time.

Lunta waited until the king closed the door, and then approached Cedric again. “So, where were we?” She playfully said. “Dancing?” She spun around and let her dress spin with her, and then grabbed Cedric’s hand to pull him into the dance with her.
“I can’t, Lunta, I’m sorry, I have to make the potion.” Cedric rejected her and marched towards his desk.
“Right away?” She complained. “Why don’t you start a little later? When I leave, maybe. I have to go soon anyway.”
“The King gave me four days to make a potion that takes six days to brew. Now I have to make loads of catalysts that will speed up the potion making process, and the Put-out Potion…” Cedric explained.

“Why didn’t you say something?” Lunta asked.
“He already doesn’t like me very much.” Cedric replied. “I don’t want him to think of me any lower than he already does, all because I ‘couldn’t make the potion in time’.”
Lunta wanted to protest and tell him that he can’t let King Roland treat him like that and if he needs six days to make the potion, he should ask for six days. But Cedric already seemed upset, and Lunta didn’t want to argue with him. Especially not when he had little time altogether, and he couldn’t afford to waste it on fights.

“I understand.” She muttered and left for the door. “Oh, I almost forgot. Do Solstice Snowbells grow on the Piercing Peaks?” She turned around as she remembered a very important question that she had for Cedric.
“They do, why?” He answered.
“The winter solstice is in three days. Want to go pick them with me?” Lunta suggested. She was planning on asking Cedric this for a while now, and she was so excited that it was finally a good time to do it.
Cedric’s face lit up at the offer. “I would love to, Lunta!”
“I was thinking that we could do that because I know that you use them a lot in your potions, but if you don’t have time for that because of this potion for the king that you have to do now, I understand, you know.” She was becoming insecure of the idea so she started explaining herself, but Cedric came over to her as she spoke, to assure her otherwise.

“I’ll be there, Lunta. I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” He quietly said and wrapped his arms around her. They stared at each other for a couple of moments that seemed to last way too long. During those few moments, Cedric was contemplating whether he should go for a kiss, since the last one was a little rushed; it happened so fast that he didn’t manage to process it properly, and Lunta left immediately after. She was, again, just about to leave, so this time he wanted to really make it count. Finally, he closed his eyes and softly pressed his lips against hers, to which she happily returned the gesture. She placed one hand on his chest and caressed the back of his neck with the other, kissing him with much more passion than last time. When they pulled away, they gazed at each other’s eyes again, and then Lunta hugged him quickly before heading for the exit.
“Oh, what time is the best to pick them?” She asked as she opened the door.
“They bloom from sunrise to sunrise, so… how about noon?” Cedric suggested.
“Perfect. I’ll see you soon, then.” Lunta said and left the workshop.

Chapter Text

For the following two days Lunta’s mind was racing with many different thoughts and worries. The second half of December was always a stressful time for her, and this year the Fire of Friends and the potion that Cedric had to make didn’t help. Ever since she last saw Cedric, she didn’t hear from him at all. She didn’t go to the castle, but she tried multiple times to talk to him through the crystal ball. However, she couldn’t reach him that way either.

On the third day she was finally about to see him. It was the day of the winter solstice, the shortest day in the year, and also the day when the two would go picking Solstice Snowbells. A little before noon, Lunta dressed up, and grabbed her basket, which she usually carried when she went to the market in Dunwiddie. As she did all of that, every couple of minutes she’d look through the window to see if Cedric was there, but he never was.
This didn’t concern Lunta at first, but she became worried when noon passed. And just like noon, one o’clock passed, then two, and Cedric was still nowhere to be seen. Lunta went outside of her cottage and sat down on the one stair in front of the door, and Dimitri, whom she was planning to bring with her and Cedric, followed.
“Do you see him anywhere, Dimitri?” She asked her dog as if she could understand him, but he remained silent. “Hear him, perhaps?” She checked again, not expecting an answer. Dimitri didn’t make a noise, just went back into the cottage. Lunta sighed and stared into the distance.
‘Forget it.’ She thought, and decided that she’d go picking the Snowbells herself.

She didn’t stay out long. She called for Dimitri to come out of the house, and they went for a walk. She only picked enough flowers to cover the bottom of her basket, and then came back home. She harnessed the dog to the sled, which she then sat on, and they descended down the mountain and into Dunwiddie. It was winter now, so the trail on the mountain down which she always went was already covered in snow, so she didn’t have to conjure it up herself. Usually, she’d leave Dimitri and the sled at the beginning of the trail and then walk through Dunwiddie and to the castle, but since the streets of the village were covered in snow, now she could go through them by sled as well.

When she arrived in front of the castle, she left Dimitri next to the flying carriages and rushed inside.
At the entrance door, the guards blocked Lunta’s way with their spears and didn’t allow her in. It was the same two guards whom she’d had trouble with a few months prior. She looked at them for a moment, hoping that they made some mistake and they just didn’t realize it, but they didn’t say anything.

“Are you going to let me in?” She finally asked.
“No.” The guard on the right, the one with a stronger voice, told her.
“Why?”
“It’s lunchtime. Nobody can disturb the King during lunch.” The guard answered.
“I’m not here to see the king and you know that.” Lunta said as calmly as she could. This guard, the ginger one with a beard, was especially getting on her nerves.
“Sorry. Can’t let you in.”
“But Cedric told you to let me in!” Lunta protested.
“And we did let you in every time you came, but right now you’re visiting during lunch and we can’t let you do that!” The other, blonde guard, shouted at her.
“I’ve visited during breakfast and dinner too and you let me in! Are we seriously doing this again?” She sighed, but the guards still remained silent. “You know what, I don’t care.” She declared and pushed through the guards’ spears and into the castle. The guards ran after her and grabbed her by her arms to pull her back out. Thankfully, just in that moment, Prince James was passing by, eating a muffin that he had taken with him from the dining room.

“Oh, hello, Lunta.” He greeted her nonchalantly as he continued walking. Only then he realized that something was happening. “What’s going on?” He spoke with his mouth full.
“She tried to disturb your lunch, Your Majesty!” The left guard informed him.
“I didn’t! I’m just here to see Cedric.” Lunta corrected the guard.
“Go ahead…?” James said insecurely. “I don’t see what’s the problem. And if you need my dad, he’s done with lunch too.” He told her and went to his room, still eating the muffin.

Lunta broke free from the guards’ grip, and they didn’t bother seizing her again. Without words, she picked up a snowbell that had fallen on the floor out of her basket, and ran off towards Cedric’s tower. Passing through the hallways, this time she didn’t bother greeting all the servants that she saw along the way because she was in such a hurry, but also because there were way more of them than usual. There was only four days left until Wassalia and the Fire of Friends, so the whole castle was filled with busy servants, maids, butlers, and cooks.

When she arrived at Cedric’s workshop, Lunta took a deep breath before abruptly opening the door and going inside.
“Who’s there? Leave!” Cedric shouted, not turning at the door to see who was bothering him.
“What happened here?” Lunta gasped as she looked around the workshop that was in a bigger mess than she had ever seen it in. There were glass bottles and test tubes on the floor; some empty, some with a little potion still left in them, tipped over so it was pouring out onto the floor, then there were jars of ingredients all over the place; open and closed; full, half full, empty; on the floor, tables, and chairs. Some magic wands were on the floor, along with a few pages that fell out of a spell book, and Cedric himself looked like he’d probably had a couple of unsuccessful potions blow up in his face.

“Oh, hey, Lunta.” He greeted her when he recognized her voice. “What are you doing here?”
“What are you doing here?” Lunta said right back. “We were supposed to go pick Solstice Snowbells together almost three hours ago!”
“No we weren’t, that’s in…” Cedric wanted to correct Lunta, but as he looked at the clock, and then the window, he seemed to have realized that he messed up. “That’s today.” He muttered and, in all the disbelief, dropped the bottle that he was holding onto the floor, and the potion in it exploded in a bright orange smoke. He emerged from the explosion and immediately began apologizing, and as he did, he walked over to Lunta to hold her hands to show her that he really meant it. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize that so much time had passed, I thought I still had some-“

“Cedric, your eyes!” Lunta exclaimed when she noticed how tired he looked.
“Charming, aren’t they?” He replied, seemingly having completely lost touch with reality.
“No, your eyebags, they’re even- Have you slept at all?” Lunta yelled at him out of worry.
“No, there’s no time for that.” He happily told her and turned around to go back to his desk.
“Cedric!” Lunta screamed at him and pulled him back by his hand. The icicles that had appeared on her fingertips from the concern even slightly stung him, but they weren’t big enough to do any real damage. “If you haven’t slept in three days you have to go to bed now!” She explained to Cedric.
“I would, but I’m not even halfway done with the Pyro Potion yet!” He defended himself. “I’ve only finished the Put-out potion and I still have to make so many catalysts, and I only have two days left for that.”
“The deadline’s tomorrow.” Lunta reminded him.
“One day!” Cedric slapped himself on the forehead. “Oh, I’ll never finish it in time. You have to leave me alone and let me do this in peace, Lunta. I’ll sleep after that, I promise.”

Lunta couldn’t bear seeing him completely drain himself like this because of the king’s unrealistic expectations and requests. He had done so much for her by now – argued with those impossible guards, gave her a crystal ball, taught her about so many different things that could be used as ingredients in magic potions, and to top all of that, although it was just for a minute, he let her feel cold for the first time in her life. It was time that she finally did something for him, even though it wasn’t going to be nearly as big or noble.
“I picked some Snowbells by myself.” She said and took the flowers out of her basket. “Here you go. I don’t need them anyway, and you do.” She spoke as she handed them to Cedric.
Without words he took the flowers and put them in the icy jar that once stood on Lunta’s shelf. Reluctantly, she finally left the workshop.

She wasn’t running anymore, but she was still walking quickly through the hallways of the castle. As she turned a corner, she almost walked right into King Roland.
“Your Majesty!” She curtsied. “I was just looking for you.”
“Oh, hello, Lunta. What is it?”
“It’s Cedric, Your Majesty. He’s overworking himself brewing that potion that you need, and he hasn’t slept at all ever since you asked him to make it.” She explained.
“Oh, it can’t be that bad, I only ordered him to do that… three days ago.” Roland realized. “He hasn’t slept for three days?” He asked, showing a small sign of concern.
“I’m afraid so, Your Highness.” Lunta replied. “The thing is, it takes six days to make the Pyro Potion, and you only gave him four. So now he’s been making a bunch of other side potions that are supposed to speed up the process of making the main one, and as far as I understood, he also needs to make a counter potion… It’s all very complicated.”

“So, where are you going with all this?” Roland questioned.
“Where I’m going is; I’ve also been through multiple consecutive sleepless nights. And after three or four, a person starts to lose their mind.” She explained. Even though she would do anything to avoid it, she knew that in order to make the king understand her concerns, the exact thing she had to do was to speak about Cedric the way Roland would. Just a little bit. “If Cedric stays up just one more night, he may go crazy and mess up the potion. Then you’ll have a potion that does something else, or even worse, you may not have a potion at all.” She hated that she had to speak about Cedric like this, but if that was what it took for him to get some sleep and function normally again, so be it.
“You’re right, that wouldn’t be great.” Roland noticed. “What are you suggesting then?”
“All I’m asking of you is to give him one more day. I don’t understand why you need it three days in advance anyway.” She asked.
“I guess I can do that.” Roland said, but he didn’t sound completely sure that he wanted to do it. “I’ll send someone to tell him.” He informed Lunta and walked past her, without a goodbye or anything.
“Oh, thank you, Your Highness, thank you so much!” Lunta cheered, but the king already disappeared into another hallway.

She sighed in relief, but also in frustration. Roland was a great king, but really annoying to talk to.
Well, that was one of her concerns solved. Now she started thinking about the topic that always bothered around this time every year without fail. She walked around the hallways of the castle, and when she realized that there was nobody around, she sat down on the top of a staircase just to clear her mind a little. She knew she probably didn’t have much time before one of the servants saw her and shooed her away, but she just needed a moment to sit down and think.

“Lunta?” Out of nowhere she heard the concerned voice of Queen Miranda address her.
She quickly turned around to face the queen. “Your Majesty! I’m so sorry.” She immediately apologized and got up, ready to rush down the stairs and out of the castle.
“No, it’s fine, don’t worry about it.” Miranda assured her and signed her to sit back down, to which Lunta complied. “Is something wrong?”
Lunta sighed. “It is, but I can handle it.” She answered.
“I’m sure you can, but I think it would still be easier on you if you told someone.” Miranda insisted. “Come on, you can tell me. We girls must stick together when something’s bothering us.”

“Right, girls.” Lunta chuckled. “I mean, I can tell you, but it’s weird.” Lunta sighed again. She looked up at the queen to see her reaction, but she seemed as if she was ready to listen. “It was supposed to be my birthday today.” Lunta muttered.
“How do you mean ‘supposed to’?” Miranda asked.
“In the Cold County it is believed that if a child is born on the first day of winter, which is today, they will bring good luck to the family and go on to achieve great things in life.” Lunta explained. “Since my family had lost a lot of power in the prior decades, my mother really wanted me to be born on today’s date so I could perhaps bring us back on our feet. I was never on perfect terms with her, and I feel like one of the reasons for that was the fact that I wasn’t born on that day.”
“Well, it’s not your fault.” Miranda pointed out. “And it’s not your mom’s fault either. We can’t exactly control when we are born. It happens when it does.” She went on. “Besides, it’s just a superstition. It probably wasn’t even true, so your mom really had no reason to be that harsh on you.”

“I know, but – she was.” Lunta sighed.
Miranda went quiet for a moment. “So, when is your real birthday then?”
“Tomorrow.” Lunta said sadly, almost as if in defeat.
“Oh, that’s great!” The queen commented. “What are you going to do? You can spend the day with us here at the castle.”
“I don’t celebrate it.” Lunta declined her offer. “But thank you.” She timidly added and looked up at the ceiling, avoiding eye contact with the queen. Tiny, but visible icicles grew on her sleeves again. Miranda noticed it, but she didn’t know what it meant.
Lunta got up before the queen could ask about it, or just point it out. “I’ll see you on Wassalia, Your Highness.” She curtsied and rushed down the stairs.

Chapter Text

The day that Lunta, Cedric and the rest of the royal family, as well as many people of Enchancia, and wider, were expecting had finally come. It was Wassalia, the coldest day of the year. And tonight, the Fire of Friends was to be lit in front of the castle.

Lunta put on the same dress that she wore to the ball at which she first met Cedric. The dress with a blue skirt and a pink top, which brough back the memory of that rather strange evening. How Cedric flew into the ballroom on his collapsing flying machine, and how he was then accused of stealing jewelry, and almost taken to the dungeons. How he thought Lunta was going to make fun of him when she first talked to him, but they had a pleasant conversation walking to his workshop regardless. And how he shut her out of his workshop when they were at its door. In that moment she was slightly shocked and quite offended, but now, looking back, she thought it was cute how talking to her probably just made him nervous.

She put on her white boots and covered the dress with her cape. She exited her home, froze the handle with a flick of her wand instead of locking the door and, as always, harnessed Dimitri onto the sled and made her way down the mountain trail. Shortly after, she arrived at the bridge in front of castle and left her husky and the sled nearby.
She then crossed the long, winding bridge and walked into the crowd that had gathered in front of the castle, looking for Cedric. A lot of people from different places were there; royalty from the other two kingdoms in the Tri-Kingdom Area, folk from Dunwiddie and the rest of Enchancia, their families who perhaps lived in another kingdom… so many different cultures, clothing and colors. It was like all the countries Lunta had visited throughout her life gathered in one place.

She made her way towards the entrance door, where she anticipated King Roland and others, including Cedric, would be, and she was right. Cedric was explaining to the king how to use the Pyro Potion, but it didn’t seem like Roland was listening to the instructions for the first time. He was rolling his eyes and looking around, waiting for Cedric to stop talking.
“You don’t have to put all of the potion into the fire if you don’t want to, but regardless of how much you do, you must pour all of the Put-out potion in.” Cedric was explaining.
“Thank you, Cedric. But I believe I’ve quite caught the hang of it already yesterday, after the second time you clarified it.” King Roland sarcastically responded.

“Yes, Your Majesty, but if you want to do it on your own, I need to know that you understand how it works.” Cedric defended himself and bowed in apology when he finished.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a familiar figure approaching him. “Lunta, love, you’re here!” He called for her when he noticed her in the distance. Lunta returned with a few snowflakes falling off her and an excited wave; she didn’t want to yell through the crowd. She hurried over to Cedric, who embraced her in a warm hug when she reached him. “How are you?”
“I can barely wait any longer!” Lunta exclaimed. Cedric couldn’t make out if she was talking about using the Kilmo potion or the fire itself, but he smiled at her anyway. Only then did Lunta notice the king and queen, so she quickly curtsied in their direction, but almost immediately turned her attention back to Cedric. “How cold is it even?” She asked, looking around, trying to estimate the temperature by herself, but it was hard.

“Very. Isn’t it obvious?” Cedric replied, and Lunta looked at him more thoroughly. He was wearing a long dark blue coat from his old sorcery school over his usual clothes. It was the same one that he wore whenever he visited her on the mountain. There was also snow everywhere around them, and icicles hanging were from the edges of roofs of the castle.
“You’re right, it is.” Lunta concluded. “You look great. Did you finally get some sleep?”
“I did. And thank you.” Cedric replied and grabbed Lunta’s hand. They started walking away from the royal family, trying to find some place near the fireplace.
“Did you finish all the potions in time?”
“I did. In fact, I don’t know what happened, but the king even gave me an additional day for it!” Cedric said happily.

Lunta smiled, wondering if he suspected at all that she had something to do with it. But she decided not to bring it up; it wasn’t that important. “How long did it take you altogether?” She went on.
“Just under five days for the main potion, and somewhere in the middle of everything I made the counter potion, which took me a little over an hour.”
“Five days… and an hour?” Lunta looked away to think and try to understand, but the numbers weren’t adding up. “How does that make sense?”
“It doesn’t. Magic doesn’t have to make sense.” Cedric replied. “There are some spells that you have to say out loud, but if you mess the pronunciation up even in the slightest, you might end up with something completely different.” He explained. “And that’s just one of the things that I love about it.”

“Cedric!” The two heard the voice of an older woman shout from somewhere in the crowd.
“Mum?” Cedric muttered, unsure if he heard it right. He looked at Lunta, then back at the crowd with an uncomfortable expression on his face, contemplating if he should go find his mother or not. “Lunta, do you, uh… want to go meet my parents?”
“You don’t sound very thrilled about it.” Lunta observed.
“That’s because I’m not.” Cedric sighed.
“What if we just… didn’t go meet them then?” Lunta suggested half-jokingly.
“They’re going to find me sooner or later. It’s better if I just get it done straight away.” Cedric declined. “So, do you want to meet them?”
“I don’t know.” Lunta admitted. Cedric could see a couple of tiny icicles forming on the edges of her cape. “Meeting your parents sure is… a big step. And you could’ve told me in advance that they were going to be here. What if they don’t like me, or think that there’s… something wrong with me?”

Cedric stopped for a moment, concerned about what that could possibly mean. “Is there something wrong with you?”
“No!” Lunta spoke. “At least I don’t think there is. What if your parents think otherwise, though?”
“Then I’ll convince them the opposite. I can’t name a single thing that could be wrong with you, and I’m sure they won’t be able to either.” Cedric assured her and held out his hand, waiting for Lunta to grab it. And when she did, he slowly pulled her through the crowd in the direction from which he heard his mother’s voice.
“Yes, but, you’re not… parents.” Lunta replied. “If they want to find something wrong with me, they will.” The icicles spread from her fingertips onto her palms and forearms.
“They’re not like that.” Cedric added. “They’re lovely peop- they can be lovely pe-“ He stammered, trying to describe his parents accurately. “My mum’s a nice person, you don’t have to worry about her.”
“And your dad?” Lunta asked, worrying about him.
“He’s… not too bad.”

They shifted through the crowd for a short time, and they found Cedric’s mother rather quickly.
“Oh, Ceddy!” She exclaimed once more when she saw her son. “There you are, my dear.” She said as she hugged him tightly.
“Yes, I am, mommy.” Cedric timidly replied, he had forgotten about that custom of his mother’s. He always felt awkward when she hugged him like that in public; but in front of Lunta, he felt plain embarrassed.
“Cedric.” A man who was standing beside the mother greeted him.
“Father.” He said back and wriggled out of his mother’s arms. He fixed his posture to stand as tall as he could and brushed his hands into his coat.

Cedric’s mother gasped at the sight of Lunta. “And who do we have here?” She said and walked over to Lunta. Even though she was much shorter than her, and seemed very friendly, Lunta found her quite intimidating.
“Right.” Cedric muttered and came over to Lunta before his mother could. “Mom, father, this is Lunta…” He proudly introduced her to his parents. Lunta looked at him, waiting for whatever he was going to say next. Cedric lovingly glanced back at her. “…my partner.” He finally added. That was the title that they called each other by, which they had settled on in a ‘What are we?’ conversation that they had not long ago. “Lunta, these are my parents, Winifred the Wise and Goodwyn the Great.” He introduced his mother and father respectively.
Winifred gasped again. “Goody, our Ceddykins has finally gotten himself a girlfriend!” She clarified to her husband. “Oh, look at you!” She grabbed Lunta’s cheeks and pulled her face close to hers.
“Mommy, please.” Cedric intervened and got Winifred off Lunta. “And we don’t really say girlfriend and boyfriend, that’s for teenagers, but… I guess that’s what we are.”

“It is a pleasure to meet both of you.” Lunta said while rubbing her cheek, which still hurt from Winifred’s grip.
“The pleasure is all ours.” Winifred replied enthusiastically.
“I’m not so sure yet.” Goodwyn disagreed with crossed arms.
“Goodwyn!” His wife snapped at him. The elder sorcerer walked up to Lunta and looked her straight in the eyes. In fear, Lunta took a few steps back and ended up next to Cedric, who protectively gripped her hand. He could feel tiny icicles form on her hand again, and the ones along her arm grew slightly bigger.
“That’s enough, father.” He said through gritted teeth.
“I wasn’t talking to you.” Goodwyn told Cedric off without even looking at him.
“But I am talking to you.” Cedric went on. “I know what you’re thinking: ‘Is she good enough for my son?’” He theatrically imitated his father. “So, I’ll save you the trouble right away: she is perfect for me. And you don’t get to decide that.”

Goodwyn stared at his son, baffled at the response he had just gotten from him. Cedric was usually obedient to him, incredibly apologetic if he did something wrong, and would do anything for his father to approve of him. But it seemed like now he was only letting him approve of Lunta, even if it meant that he’d get on Goodwyn’s bad side. Or an even worse side than the one he was already on.
Without any more words Cedric turned around and walked away, towards the center of the crowd. He placed his hand on Lunta’s back and led her with him. Watching them leave, Goodwyn let a faint, but proud smile show on his face, although it was still hidden by his grey moustache and beard.

“Your mother is lovely.” Lunta said to break the silence.
“I’m sorry, I should’ve known he would react like that.” Cedric said out loud what they were both thinking. “I know I didn’t say that he was amazing, but Merlin…”
“Do you think he’ll ever like me?” Lunta wondered out loud. “Or do you think he has a, um… feeling about me…”
“What feeling, Lunta?” Cedric snapped. “What are you saying? You’re scaring me.” He said worriedly and with a shaky voice as he softly put his hand on her cheek.
“Nothing.” She brushed it off and moved her head away from his hand. “I don’t know, I just don’t have a good experience with… parents.”
Before Cedric could say anything else, he heard bells ring and saw castle servants turning off every lantern around. The only source of light left was a lantern held by Baileywick, who was standing behind King Roland and his family.
“Never mind that.” He told Lunta. “It’s time.”

Chapter Text

“Everybody, we’re turning off the lights now! Please, sit down on the benches around you to avoid any accidents and injuries!” Baileywick warned the attendants as the servants started to turn off the lights. When everyone sat down in their place and the area in front of the castle was left in complete darkness, King Roland approached the fireplace. There were already logs of wood neatly stacked in it, waiting to be lit. Baileywick stood next to him, holding a lantern that lit up his face so everybody could see him.

“I don’t want to keep us all in darkness for too long so I’ll make this quick.” The king began. “I want to thank everybody who is here tonight, for coming. This year marks exactly 60 years since my father, King Roland the First, ascended to the throne of Enchancia. In his honor, I hosted the Fire of Friends; a night when we all gather around the fire with people we love and appreciate.” He made a short pause, and people started clapping. “I now invite my son, Prince James, to light the Fire of Friends with me.” He announced, and James walked up to him. Baileywick handed the king a box of matches, and backed away to give him and James space to light the fire. That was the cue for a choir of children from the village, along with Princess Sofia, to start singing a Wassalia song while they waited for the fire to ignite.

“This is it, love.” Cedric announced as well, but only to Lunta. The two managed to find a place in the second row, almost right in front of the fire. In the days leading up to Wassalia, Cedric thought a lot about how will Lunta react to the harsh winter temperatures, so he made sure that she was one of the first people to feel the warm flames once they’re lit up. As the two sat down, he brought out a small glass bottle with a light pink liquid inside it. “Are you ready?”
“I mean, I’ve lit fires before, and I felt that they were hot, but I guess this is different.” Lunta said instead of answering the question.
“Indeed, it is.” Cedric confirmed. “This time you’ll only feel warm where the fire reaches you. So, shall we?” He spoke and lifted the closed bottle between his and Lunta’s face.
“Let’s do this!” She exclaimed.

Cedric got closer to her and tilted the bottle above her head to let the Kilmo potion out. The snow falling around Lunta from all the excitement that she was feeling was giving him a little bit of trouble, but it was nothing he couldn’t handle. As the potion poured onto Lunta, she started glowing with the same yellow light as she did when they tested it out in the workshop, only this time it was slightly brighter. The light turned into tiny yellow sparkles, which then started flying away from Lunta and disappearing into the darkness. The last sparkle didn’t even have time to fly away off of Lunta’s skin, when a wave of freezing air blew right at her whole body. But, unlike the royal Astronomer had anticipated, there was no wind tonight. This was Lunta feeling cold for the first time in her life - excluding the time she and Cedric tested out the potion and she had a few snowflakes fall onto her hand. And it wasn’t as pleasant as she thought it would be.

As her muscles stiffened and the hairs on her arms rose up, she wrapped her cape around herself and brought her legs closer to her body, shivering the whole time. She curled her toes up inside of her boots, attempting to warm them up, and she clenched her fists and placed them under her chin while barely feeling her fingers.
Cedric chuckled at her, finding her reaction adorable. “Are you alright?” He asked, not too concerned.
“I may have underestimated just how cold it gets.” Lunta’s laughter mixed with her voice shaking from the freezing.
“Didn’t you think to at least put on an extra layer of clothing?” Cedric wondered.
“I never needed to do that before, so no.”

Cedric gave an understanding nod and looked away. As he thought of what he could do to help her at least until the fire ignited, he unconsciously tapped his fingers on his thighs. Suddenly, he looked at his hands, with an idea in his mind.
“Here, have these.” He handed his fingerless gloves to Lunta.
“But… you never take these off.” She pointed out, rather surprised at the offer.
“Well, I did now, so take them.” Cedric said and pushed his hand holding the gloves closer to Lunta. She kept looking up and down at Cedric’s face, and then the mud-brown gloves in his hand. “I’m just lending them to you, go ahead already!”
Lunta jolted and took them. In silence she put them on and rubbed her hands together. The gloves were still warm from having been worn by Cedric, which was definitely helpful. Finally, the sorcerer got a little closer to Lunta and put his arm around her. Lunta leaned back into him and looked up in his eyes. They both smiled, and then directed their gaze at the tiny flame that caught onto the firewood at the very bottom.

“It’s burning, dad!” Prince James proudly shouted when the logs caught on fire. Hearing that, now full of motivation, the children’s choir started signing slightly louder. All of this shook Lunta out of the dreamy state of essentially cuddling with Cedric, and she sat up straight again. She looked over at the fire and really, it was burning. She couldn’t feel its warmth yet, but she sensed that she was about to any moment now.

“Do you feel it yet?” Cedric checked with Lunta.
She focused really hard, trying to see if any of the flames were strong enough for their warmth to reach her. And then, at last, they were. One of the logs broke in two and its halves fell down, flaring the fire up and sending hundreds of sparks into the sky. Lunta’s eyes widened at the sight, which was enough to answer Cedric his question. As she stared at the floating sparks, the fire creating them kept growing and its flames got gradually hotter, until suddenly Lunta’s face felt like it was burning. She instantly put her hands on her cheeks to warm her fingers up and cool her face down, and as she held them there, she looked around her and noticed how everybody held their hands in front of themselves with their palms open towards the fire. She knew that people usually did that, but only now that her whole body was freezing did she understand why. Hesitantly at first, she joined everyone else and put her hands in front of her. She felt the fire heating up her palms, while all that stayed in the shadows was freezing. Lunta lit fires almost every day, and she knew that the side of her body turned to them would always feel warmer, but she never felt the contrast of freezing cold on her back and burning heat on her face like she did now.

The flames rose higher and higher, until they reached their peak. They kept dancing at almost a dozen feet in the sky for a few moments, and then another log broke down, bringing the whole fire lower with it. A second set of sparks was let into the air, at which the king signed to the orchestra to start playing music when the choir ends their song. The musicians nodded in acknowledgement, so when the children sang the last note of their song, the band waited for a few seconds until they started playing. It was a song suitable for a waltz, so a lot of couples rose up from their seats and made their way to the area with were no benches, meant for dancing. Following their lead, Cedric stood up and gently grabbed one gloved hand of Lunta’s, turning her attention to him.
“Shall we? Our first official dance together?” He asked.
Lunta smirked and picked up her dress as she stood up. “It would be a pleasure.”

As Cedric and Lunta made their way to the improvised podium together, she tried not to be stiff the whole time, but it was just too cold outside for her to only be wearing a dress. She did have the cape on, as always, but it wasn’t nearly enough. The two had a slight struggle getting into the position for a waltz; first, Lunta rose the wrong hand to hold in the air, and then she almost put her hand around Cedric’s waist – which was the thing that he was supposed to do – and then she hesitantly placed her hand on his shoulder, as if she was afraid that she was doing it wrong, but they eventually got there. They waited for the next section of the composition to start dancing, and when it finally came, they made the first step. Cedric placed his right foot forward, but so did Lunta. She shivered once more from the chill and awkwardly laughed in apology, but Cedric thought nothing of it, so he assured her that they’d wait out a couple more notes and then start. Lunta focused hard on not messing it up this time, and thankfully, she didn’t. Again, Cedric stepped forward with his right foot, and this time Lunta moved her left foot back, and from there, the dance went smoothly.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know when was the last time I danced at a ball like this.” She apologized.
“No worries. I don’t know if I ever danced at a ball with someone.” Cedric one-upped her.
“Oh.” Lunta was left speechless at that. “Well, here you are now.” She pointed out and continued dancing. Cedric said nothing, but instead let go of her waist and lifted his hand that was holding Lunta’s up in the air. Lunta took the sign and spun around in place. Her dress and cape spun with her, and her hair flew after her, filling her with the happiest feelings she had ever felt. Even though she had danced before, she was never the one to spin around. And now, as she did, she felt the flames from the fire now far away reach a different side of her body every second, with cold Wassalia air wrapping itself around the rest.

Raptured by the joy and love that he felt in that moment, Cedric pulled Lunta towards himself, which caught Lunta by surprise. He placed his hand on her back and brought her close, while she, slightly confused, put her hand on his chest, trying to slow down what was happening while she processed it.
“I love you, Lunta.” Cedric said while gazing right into her ice blue eyes. Lunta just stared back at him with her mouth barely open, trying to make out any words, but she was unsuccessful. Cedric didn’t mind, though, so just as suddenly as he did everything up to now, he pulled her by the waist even closer and pressed a passionate kiss onto her lips. Lunta was taken aback by this; based on how the things were going at the moment, she didn’t think Cedric would be very comfortable with publicly kissing like this. Or doing almost anything similar, for that matter. She thought that he would maybe hug her, or perhaps even hold her hand with other people watching. But she definitely wasn’t expecting to be kissed at a ball with attendants from multiple kingdoms. However, he didn’t seem to care, and Lunta wasn’t disappointed either. Instead, she kissed him back and stroked her hand through the side of his black hair. Her eyes were closed, but she could feel that Cedric was smiling through the kiss.

“Sofia, look!” Jade, one of Princess Sofia’s friends, and one of the kids who sang in the choir that night, shouted and pointed at Lunta and Cedric from the other side of the fire.
“Quiet, Jade, they’ll hear you!” Another girl, Ruby, who was Jade and Sofia’s best friend, warned her.
“I can’t believe that they’re finally together!” Jade commented, jokingly putting on a crying voice to sound like a proud mother whose child is getting married. “Does this mean that it’s official?”
“I don’t know, but I’m so happy for them either way.” Sofia finally joined in.
“Do you think he would’ve asked her out on his own?” Ruby wondered.
“I’m not sure, but that’s why I’m here!” Sofia laughed, and the other two girls joined in.

Chapter Text

It had been four months since the Fire of Friends. Right now, unsurprisingly, Lunta was in Cedric’s workshop, making him company as he tried out some new spells. Princess Sofia knocked on the door and let herself in, greeting Cedric and Lunta when she saw them both inside.

“Oh, and what are you all dressed up for?” Cedric commented on Sofia’s appearance. She was wearing a slightly different purple dress than the one she usually wore, but it wasn’t hard for Cedric to notice that. After all, next to Lunta, Sofia was the one to spend the most time with him.
“The fair tonight.” She answered. “And it’s another international event, there will be people from all around the world coming to Dunwiddie. I even heard that some sailors from the Cold County will visit.” She winked at Lunta as she hinted to her that she should go too.

“Sailors, you say?” Lunta repeated. In her face it was then visible that she just remembered something she really shouldn’t have forgotten about. “Oh, clouds, you’re right! Sailors, i-it completely slipped my mind! Princess Sofia, would it be possible if Cedric and I came with you?” Lunta suddenly asked.
“Whatever for?” The man protested out of nowhere.
“When I moved here, my crew told me that they’d come back in a year to check up on me. I travelled the world by ship, remember?” Lunta explained. “And that’s around this time!”
“And why do I have to go there?” Cedric said with a disgruntled tone.
“I want you to meet them! Say ‘Hi’. You don’t?”

Cedric thought for a moment. He wasn’t expecting to be going out tonight, and he wasn’t feeling like it either. But Lunta constantly talked about those sailors, she shared dozens of anecdotes and stories from the ship with him, and they were clearly such a huge part of her life. He had to know who these people were.
“I-I do.” He answered Lunta’s question. “When did you want to leave?”
Lunta laughed in relief and hugged Cedric from the side. “So, Princess, do you think Cedric and I could join you on your way? And my dog?” She added. “Ugh, clouds, Dimitri. We’d have to go all the way back to the Piercing Peaks to get him.”
“I still don’t understand why you never bring him to the castle.” Cedric pointed out.
“I did when it was winter. But the sled needs snow to move around, and I shouldn’t conjure up snow all around Dunwiddie in the middle of April.”

“We can go get him, it’s not a problem. Our flying carriages are super-fast.” Sofia said. “But we’re still waiting for Amber to get ready.”
“Sofia, are you there?” Amber called from the bottom of the staircase, and Sofia didn’t close the door when she entered the workshop, so the three could hear her loud and clear. “We can go, I’m ready!”
“Coming!” Sofia yelled back. “Come on!” She turned back around to call for the couple. They followed her out of the door and the princess ran down the stairs while Lunta waited for Cedric to lock the door.

Sofia got on one flying carriage with Lunta, Cedric, Dimitri, and her bunny Clover, while James, Amber, their parents, and Baileywick boarded another. Sofia’s carriage took off first and left for the Piercing Peaks, while the other one flew straight to Dunwiddie. As they flew, Sofia rambled about how excited she was to see everything at the fair, with Cedric patiently listening to her, and Lunta looking out of the window, mesmerized by the way Enchancia looked from above. Sure, she lived on a mountain, but the view that spread from her cottage was way different than the one from the flying carriage. They were equally fantastic, but each in its own way.

After picking up Dimitri, they also flew to the village, arriving shortly after the other carriage. When they landed, Sofia and Clover went to find her family and left into the center of the village, while Lunta, Cedric, and Dimitri headed for the docks. The husky happily strutted along the path, a little too fast for Lunta’s pace, so for the first few minutes she had to hold him back every few seconds, until he slowed down on his own. Then Cedric took Lunta’s hand and, as they continued walking, they both admired the various ships that were anchored in the port.
“So, what are we looking for, love? How does this ship look like?” Cedric asked. “Is she a small boat? Is she made of… ice?” He joked. “Does she have giant, snow white sails? Do you know where she’s anchored?”
“Relax.” Lunta stopped him. “I don’t know where she is, we’ll just have to walk until we find her.”
“Well, you could at least tell me what to look for.” Cedric insisted. “How big is she, what shape, what color, what kind of wood…” He started naming things by which he would recognize the ship.

Lunta was going to tell him, but suddenly, she stopped in place. With her, she pulled back both Dimitri and Cedric, who were still walking forward. Cedric looked back at her to check what was the matter, but he noticed that she was looking up. He gazed in the same direction and immediately saw the exact ship that Lunta was observing, floating in the water right before them. She was built completely out of dark, almost black wood, and her sails were all different from one another. There was one small sail that was new, completely white and fully intact, while all the others were yellow from being exposed to the sun for so long. Some were patched up with fabrics of different colors, some were missing almost entire halves, some were stained from countless strange sources. There was a plank coming off the ship and onto the dock that was wide enough to safely walk on. On both sides of the ship her name was written in beautiful, but readable, bright blue colored cursive.
“The Iceberg.” Lunta whispered the ship’s name with happy tears appearing in her eyes and snowflakes falling around her.

A sailor on the ship noticed the couple staring at her. He took a closer look at the two and almost immediately recognized one of them.
“Lunta-ley!” He yelled and ran down the plank and onto the deck.
“Lauri-lo!” Lunta ran towards him, dropping Dimitri’s leash, and hugged the man tightly.
“It’s been so long!” The sailor said, still hugging Lunta.
“I know! I’ve missed you so much. And the crew. And the Iceberg.” She replied with a huge smile on her face. Out of nowhere, Dimitri jumped up onto the man, happily barking and wagging his tail, trying to get his attention.
“Dimitri, boy, there you are!” He crouched and petted the dog slightly aggressively, but Dimitri seemed to like it.

“Um, Lauri?” Lunta touched the sailor on the shoulder. With his attention back on her, at least partially, he stood back up again and turned towards the other man, who was just awkwardly standing there the whole time, not knowing what to do. “This is Cedric. He’s a sorcerer.” She proudly mentioned.
“Royal Sorcerer, to be precise.” He corrected her. “Cedric.” He shortly introduced himself and bowed.
“No need to be so formal here.” The sailor laughed. “Although I certainly did not expect to meet a sorcerer today! Lauri Merinen is the name, and it is an honor to meet you.” He grabbed Cedric’s hand and shook it firmly, while Cedric widened his eyes at him, slightly shocked. Lauri was a man in his fifties, but he was in great shape for his age. He was wearing a white button-up shirt and he had his white trousers rolled up to under his knees. He looked like a typical person from the Cold County: his hair was completely white, and it would reach his shoulders, but it was tied in a ponytail. He had a moustache and a short beard, and pale blue eyes. “Come along, all three of you!” He said and ran up the plank.

When he got back on the ship, he looked behind to see where they were. Dimitri ran right after him and bolted for the other sailors on the ship, and Lunta walked up the plank with no trouble. Cedric stayed behind, though, taking tiny steps across the plank trying hold his balance and not fall into the water. Lauri rolled his eyes and grabbed the railing next to the plank with one arm, letting his body fall forwards towards Cedric, until his arm stopped him. He spread out his free arm and Cedric insecurely grabbed it, at which the sailor abruptly pulled him onto the ship’s deck. Cedric fell on the floor and almost immediately shook his head and looked around at the other sailors on the ship. They were all looking in his direction, at which he gulped in embarrassment.

“Who’s that?” A sailor who was sharpening a knife asked, pointing the weapon at Cedric.
“Why, our woman on board, of course.” Lauri confidently answered referring to the wrong person.
“Lunta-ley!” A third seaman bolted in the woman’s direction and when he approached her, he started circling her and tapping her on the head. Falling snowflakes followed him as he walked, although the joy showed in his face and body language as well. Lunta smiled as he did that, not minding it at all.
“All right, Pilvi, you’re being weird again.” Lauri pulled him by his clothes away from Lunta. The other sailor’s smile softened, but didn’t fade, and he went back to where he was sitting before. Lauri smiled at Lunta and rolled his eyes, and she chuckled at him, as if she knew exactly what he meant by that. “You, Cedric, mate, get off the floor already!” He then called for the sorcerer, who had been observing everything still laying on his stomach.
Cedric quickly got up and straightened his robe. “Sorry.” He managed to blurt out, and then walked over right by Lunta, where he felt slightly safer.

Lauri went back to the plank by which they all came onto the ship and lifted it up to place it on the deck, so that Dimitri couldn’t run off at any moment he desired. “Don’t worry, we won’t take you hostage.” He jokingly said to Cedric, seeing how uncomfortable he was the whole time. When he set the plank down, he turned back around at Cedric and Lunta standing strangely close to each other. “Wait a second,” he stretched his words, “are you guys together?”
“We are!” Lunta hugged Cedric’s arm and pulled him closer with a huge smile on her face. Cedric looked back at her and returned the smile. As happy as he was seeing her so proud of being his girlfriend – or partner, as they preferred to call it – he was still scared to show too much emotion, surrounded by all these tough sailors, who were sharpening their knives and staring at him at the same time.

“And you said it wouldn’t be possible.” Lauri stood on Lunta’s other side and put his elbow on her shoulder. “I told you, you should always listen to good old Lauri.” He then leaned his head forward to look at Cedric once again. “And I can see why, you two are very similar, I’ll tell you that.” He started making steps in random directions, staying in one general spot in front of them, but still moving around a little. “You know, Cedric, you remind me a lot of Lunta in her early days on the Iceberg. Before she was, well, Lunta, she used to be one of the most timid, shyest…” He started talking, but he noticed Lunta shaking her head with her eyes widened, and waving her free hand in front of her, warning Lauri not to finish his thought.
He squinted at her, unsure if he was getting the right message.
Lunta shrugged in a ‘What can I say’ way.
Lauri was then the one to widen his eyes, realizing that Lunta was really saying what he thought she was. He rolled his eyes and shook his head.

“What’s going on?” Cedric broke the incredibly strange and awkward silence. He was unable to understand the gestures that seemingly made up a language of only Lunta and Lauri, so for the past few seconds he was just looking at the two of them making faces back and forth at each other.
Lauri moved to Cedric’s side and placed an elbow on his shoulder this time. He looked up, rephrasing the last sentence he said, in his mind. “Before, Lunta was just Lunta.” He began, ignoring Cedric’s question. “But then, Pilvi joined our crew, and for some reason he likes to add one more syllable to everyone’s name. So, I became Lauri-lo, and Lunta became Lunta-ley, and that one stuck because it’s easier to yell out from the other side of the ship. The only people who call me Lauri-lo are Lunta and Pilvi himself.” He explained. Suddenly, the three heard a commotion a little further on the deck. “Ah, clouds. Speaking of Pilvi, I think he’s having one of his outbursts again, I’m going to check on him.” He sighed and jogged over to the other sailor. “Be right back!” He yelled to Lunta and Cedric as he ran.

“Clouds?” Cedric repeated. “You say that a lot too.”
“It’s the Cold County dialect.” Lunta replied. “It’s like you saying ‘goodness’. Or ‘Merlin’s mushrooms’.” She teased him.
“All right, I get it.” He laughed with her. “Pilvi is the big one over there?” He then asked, watching the sailor Lauri was headed towards. Lunta confirmed with a hum, looking in the same direction. “What’s the matter with him?” Cedric asked again.
“Nothing’s the matter, he’s just always been…” Lunta tried to find the perfect words to describe him. “…in his own world. He may do some weird things and he doesn’t talk much, and when he does, it’s just words that seem unconnected to anything going on at the moment. And he also snows and gets the icicles! He’s very smart, though, trust me, he just has his head in the clouds… so we named him Pilvi. It means ‘cloud’.” She explained.
“You named him?” Cedric pointed out, looking around at all the sailors.
“Yes. It started off as a nickname, but, even though he barely talks, he let us know that he liked that name way more than his initial one.” Lunta said.
“What was his name before?”

In a second, Lunta’s expression changed into a way more serious one. She slowly turned her head towards Cedric, trying to compose herself. “Why does it matter?” She calmly spoke.
Cedric got extremely uncomfortable at her sudden change of behavior. “I-it doesn’t, I was just wondering…” He stammered, avoiding Lunta’s stare.
“Well, don’t!” She snapped. “Don’t ‘wonder’! If he’s not using it anymore, it’s irrelevant!”
Cedric remained silent. Even though she was somewhat calm and collected, he could see that her whole body was stiffened up, and she was about to lose her mind any moment.
“I’m sorry.” She sighed and relaxed. “I’m overreacting. But I meant it when I said that if somebody used to go by one name, and now goes by the other, the name that they used before doesn’t matter anymore. You can forget it, and to be honest, I forgot Pilvi’s, but even if I didn’t, I still wouldn’t tell you because it’s not important.”
“I understand.” Cedric quietly said, not wanting to make her mad again.

Chapter Text

“Hey, why the long faces?” Lauri called, coming back to the couple from calming one of his sailors down. He asked it in a light, joking manner, not knowing that Lunta was upset because Cedric asked about Pilvi’s previous name, and that Cedric was thinking of what to say next, so that he wouldn’t make her angry again.
“Oh, it’s nothing, we’re fine.” Lunta assured the sailor.
“Alright, then. Come on, Cedric, you’ve got to meet the crew!” Lauri said and put his arm around Cedric’s shoulders, and led him towards everybody else. Cedric tried to escape him first, but he then told himself that there was nothing to be scared of. Hopefully.

“You already know Pilvi.” Lauri began. “He’s a little out of it, but he makes up for it by being the strongest man on the Iceberg. He may weird you out at first, but he’s great once you get used to him, really. Pilvi, say ‘Hi’ to Cedric.” He told the sailor. Cedric looked at Pilvi, waiting for an answer. The man was around the same age as Lunta, perhaps slightly older. He was tall, strong, bald, and had a beard. He had a white button-up shirt on, but it wasn’t buttoned up, and he had dark brown shorts. He brought his hands close to his chest and wriggled his fingers, staring at Cedric with an open mouth, as if he was about to say something.
“Dishes.” He giggled and started flapping his hands.

“What did I tell you?” Lauri laughed. “These are Matti and Jasper.” He continued, pointing at the two men next to Pilvi. “Matti is also Matti-meh sometimes, because, as I said, Pilvi gave these silly names to everyone, but only some of them stayed, because they’re easy to yell out. Jasper was Jasper-ee, but it didn’t stick because it’s pointless.” He explained.
Cedric glanced at the two sailors, who were way younger than the rest of the crew. The one on the left, Matti, had ginger hair and a short beard, and was slightly shorter than his friend on the right. Jasper’s white hair had, like the sails of the ship, become yellow from the sun. They were both wearing the same shirts as Pilvi, but Jasper’s was buttoned-up completely, while Matti’s only halfway. Matti was wearing dark green shorts, and Jasper had navy blue pants on.

“Those men over there are Glenn and Vuori.” Lauri pointed at two more middle-aged sailors on the other side of the deck. They were sat down in the shadows, among some boxes and barrels. Glenn’s hair was short and completely white, protected from the sun thanks to the blue bandana that he usually wore, which was currently hanging from a belt loop on his navy-blue shorts. He was the only one not wearing any white clothes, but he had a regular grey shirt instead. Cedric gulped when Glenn looked back at him, as he slid two knives along each other, sharpening them both at the same time.
Vuori didn’t even turn his head to look at Cedric, but only glanced at him from the side. He had long hair, yellow from the sun too, and a thick, long beard. He was also wearing a halfway buttoned-up shirt, and black pants.

“Ve-Vuori!” Pilvi shouted the man’s other nickname out of nowhere.
“Yes, Pilvi, Ve-Vuori.” Lauri said. “We don’t use that one either.” He whispered to Cedric. “And, you know, we all think that those two have a thing going on.”
“A thing?” Cedric repeated. “As in…”
“Lovers.” Lauri quietly sang in Cedric’s ear, so the men they were talking about couldn’t hear him. “We don’t know why they hide it from us. Perhaps they think we wouldn’t accept them, which is strange, because when Lunta…” He started, but quickly remembered that the last time he wanted to say something about her, she let him know that she really didn’t want him to.
Lunta, who was only a few steps away from him, widened her eyes at him once again, this time in an intense ‘Are you serious?’ way.

“Uh, you know what, never mind that. I was saying, we are just going to wait until they’re ready to come out with it.” Lauri quickly finished his thought.
“River.” Pilvi added.
“Right.” Lauri said just to let him know that he heard him. “Well, that would be it, then. The rest of the crew is at the festival, and then there’s, of course, the captain – me!”
“It’s nice to meet all of you.” Cedric smiled, trying to hide how scared he really was of all the sailors, especially of Glenn.

“Who’s up for a game of cards?” Matti suggested and brought out a small box of cards that was falling apart. All the sailors cheered and walked over to the center of the ship deck. Lunta signed Cedric to follow her because she saw how lost and frightened he looked the whole time. Everybody sat down in a circle, and Matti passed the deck of cards over to Lauri to shuffle it.
“Hey, Cedric, you’re a magician.” Lauri mentioned as he shuffled the cards.
“Sorcerer.” He corrected him. Lauri was probably the least intimidating sailor on the ship to Cedric, and the only one that he dared correct like this.
“Do you know any card tricks?” Lauri went on.
“Of course, he does, he’s a magician, it’s in the name.” Jasper pointed out to the captain.
“Sorcerer!” Lunta corrected Jasper this time, louder and more confidently than Cedric.
“I know that, stupid! It’s a rhotic question!” Lauri yelled back at the sailor, ignoring Lunta.
“Rhetorical question.” Cedric corrected him again. “And yes, I do know some. I’ve been practicing lately.” He said timidly, but proudly.
“Go on, show us one already!” Lauri encouraged him.

He passed the cards to Cedric, who then pulled out his magic wand and waved it at the deck in his hand. The cards flew up into the air, separating and connecting into one deck again, as if someone was doing it by hand, but it was just his magic. The deck then split into two and the cards of each half interweaved, then folded into a bridge and fell down into one pile again, mixing them all into a new order. The sailors cheered and laughed the whole time. They looked at each other to make sure that they were all seeing the same thing, and hit each other on the chest, shoulder, or back to share their excitement.
“It’s really nothing special.” Cedric humbly told them.
“It’s the best thing I’ve seen in my life!” Lauri said otherwise.

“That’s nothing compared to what he can do.” Lunta glorified him even more. “He made me a potion that temporarily removed Kilmei off me!”
The crew erupted into a clamor of ‘No way’s and ‘What’s, in disbelief of what they were hearing.
“That’s incredible!” Glenn commented.
“You… you really think so?” Cedric asked, flattered at the remark coming from the sailor who had intimidated him the most up to this point.
“They really do.” Lunta spoke. “The only magic they’ve ever seen was my Snow Sorcery.” She brought out her magic wand to remind him. “And up until I met you, it was the only magic I’ve seen too. I mean, just remember that night when we met, and my reaction when you casually lifted the flying machine from the floor.”

“When he did what?!” Lauri cut her off in disbelief.
“Yes!” Lunta replied laughing and quickly explained to everyone what happened that fateful evening. “We met at a ball actually…” she barely began, when the whole crew replied with a unanimous ‘Ooh’. “It was open for everyone to attend; so, I was at the ball, and he came crashing into the ballroom on this flying machine thing, and I asked him if he needed help with carrying it to wherever he had to take it, and he was like ‘Sure,’ but then he took out his wand,” she took out her Winter Wand and started waving it around aimlessly to imitate him, “and he did an Abracadabra and the thing started floating in mid-air!”
The crew cheered again, laughing to cope with the emotions of finding out that magic like this existed. Lunta glanced over at Cedric, who was laughing with them, but more lightly and visibly forcibly, and she could tell that he still didn’t understand why it was such a big deal to the sailors.

She put her hand on his to calm him down and get his attention. “We’ve all travelled the world, but there aren’t really sorcerers that you can find just walking around. At least not in villages and ports, and we never went to castles. There are some places where people who can do magic offer their services for money, but it’s always too expensive for us sailors to afford.” She explained. “So, all we ever had was this.” She added and showed him her wand once again, which she was still holding in the other hand.

“I see.” Cedric responded. “Well, how about another trick then?” He said with the most confidence so far and stood up. The sailors cheered, excited for the next spell that Cedric was about to show them. “Although, I’m still perfecting this one.” He added, at which he waved his wand at the cards and said the magic words. The cards flew out of the circle in which the sailors were sat, and started forming a card tower elsewhere on the ship deck. Everybody gasped in awe, and Pilvi started clapping, and snow started to fall around him.
“Gnarly!” Vuori exclaimed and hit the floor with his foot. This made the magic lose its effect on the cards, and the tower collapsed. “Sorry, mate!” The man immediately said.
“Oh, it’s fine, I still have to work on keeping the tower together.” Cedric replied. He then collected the cards into one pile and made them go back into the center of the circle, with magic, after which he sat back down.

Lauri took the card deck and shuffled them one more time, just in case. “Oh, and Lunta, I forgot to mention, I heard that your mother finally travelled outside of the Cold County.” He spoke as he handed the cards out.
“She… she did?” Lunta replied, genuinely surprised.
“Well, apparently, she only went somewhere in Freezenburg, but it’s still a big step. I don’t think she’s ever been abroad at all.”
“Interesting.” Lunta commented as she arranged the cards in her hand so that she can see them. “Do you know what was the occasion?”
“No, and honestly, I don’t even know if it’s true, I just heard rumors.” Lauri replied, to which Lunta nodded in silence. “Who’s going first?” He asked everybody after taking a look at his own cards.
“Kittens.” Pilvi laughed at a joke that he made in his head and that only he understood.
“Let Lunta go first.” Jasper suggested.
“Me? Okay.” Lunta said and looked closely at her cards, marking the beginning of the game.

They played around a dozen rounds, and nobody won more than twice. Cedric didn’t win at all, but he came close a couple of times. Cedric was amazed at how the sailors weren’t competitive at all, unlike some people in his life. Most people he knew would rub it in others’ faces when they won a game, or even do a victory dance, not always with bad intentions, but it was annoying and felt condescending. These sailors laughed when they lost more than when they won, and when they did win, they’d just go on to the next game. They were just here to have a good time, and generally seemed like such positive people to be around. He could see why Lunta stayed with them for all that time, and especially why she wanted to come back to them after a year.

A little before midnight, Lunta put Dimitri back on his leash, and Lauri put back the plank for her and Cedric to leave the ship. She hugged everybody goodbye, and Cedric just waved lightly. Lunta and Dimitri walked first down the plank and onto the dock, while Cedric had trouble with it again. He made small steps, looking down at the plank and the water around it.
“Come on, Cedric, not again.” Lauri rolled his eyes at him, standing by the railing of the ship.
“Leave him alone. This is not how he usually gets on ships.” Lunta told Lauri. “I’ve seen the royal ones. They practically have bridges to get on them, with railing and a red carpet, and they’re much wider.”
“No wonder, then.” Lauri laughed at that. “We’ll be back next year. Until then, Lunta-ley!” He waved.
“Farewell!” Lunta yelled back. When Cedric finally came down, she grabbed his hand and they made their way towards where the carriages left them.

Chapter Text

Lunta knocked on the door of Cedric’s workshop and let herself in. “Cedric?” She called for him and looked all around the room. She would sometimes find him in the strangest spots in his tower, so she never knew where to expect him to greet her from.
“Lunta?” He replied from the ladder that led up to the higher shelves, just about to pull a book out. “What are you doing here? And why are you here so early?” He asked and put the book under his arm to hold it as he climbed down.
“I thought I’d come earlier so we could make an entrance to the ball as a couple.” She explained.
“Oh, well…” Cedric thought out loud as his feet touched the floor. “That’s a good idea, we should do that, yes.” He mumbled and put the book he was holding onto the table. “Ooh, but that won’t do.” He said when he took a better look at Lunta.
“Excuse me?” She replied, offended by his comment.

“Your dress, it’s… not fit for a ball like this.” He tried not to send her the wrong message, which in this context wasn’t easy.
“I don’t understand. I wore it to this same ball last year, and to the Fire of Friends, and you didn’t complain then.” She called him out.
“And I’m not complaining now, either. I think you look wonderful, but Lunta,” he took both her hands in his so that hopefully she’d take this more seriously, “it’s the anniversary of when we met. Surely you can make an exception tonight and wear something a bit more… fancy. I know you don’t like extravagant things, and I didn’t have anything like that in mind, but you know…” He helplessly waved his hands around to hopefully get the point across.
“I guess I could.” Lunta sighed. “But what did you have in mind? This is the fanciest dress I own.”

“Leave that to me.” Cedric stated and pulled his magic wand out of the sleeve of his robe. He waved it at Lunta in circles, and white sparkles of magic started flying towards her. The pink top of her dress turned light purple, and it was now decorated with small, simple motifs of strong, dark pink, blue, and purple colors. The bottom of the dress went from a simple light blue, one-layered skirt into one of a stronger blue color resembling water, with one layer of a sparkling see-through fabric on top of the main layer, and one under it, so that it looked like ice, and it grew to reach all the way to the floor.
Cedric conjured up a mirror in front of Lunta to let her see herself in it. She turned around a couple of times to see the dress from different angles, and with every turn her smile grew wider and wider. “Cedric, it’s… it’s beautiful.” She whispered with happy tears in her eyes.
“Yes, well, let’s not ruin our makeup for it now, what do you think?” He said and approached her to grab her hand. He stood next to her and looked at the image of them both in the mirror.
“You’re right.” Lunta blinked a couple of times to avoid any tears flowing down her face.

In that moment they heard bells ringing, signing that the ball was about to begin any minute now. It had been three months since the fair in Dunwiddie when Cedric met the Iceberg’s crew, and no bigger events occurred since then. Lunta locked arms with Cedric, and the two made their way down the stairs of the tower and to the ballroom. This was an annual ball that took place every year, and it was unreal to both Lunta and Cedric how much had changed since the last one. They met, they fell in love, they kissed, Lunta met Cedric’s parents and he even helped her feel cold for the first time, Cedric met the sailors and Lunta’s best friends… and now they were here again.

They entered the ballroom just in time. First, they made their way to the edge of the room to listen to King Roland’s short speech welcoming everybody to the ball and officially opening it. Then the orchestra started playing their instruments, and most of the couples started dancing to the music.
“Do you want to go find my parents?” Cedric suggested.
“So soon?” Lunta observed.
“Well, we better do it straight away so they don’t interrupt us later.”
“You’re right.” Lunta agreed. It was just like the night she first met them. “Let’s go.”

It didn’t take them long to find them because Winifred’s voice was recognizable from miles away.
“Mum!” Cedric called for her when he saw her.
“Oh, Ceddykins, there you are!” Winifred exclaimed and walked over to him as fast as a woman of her age could.
Goodwyn followed right after her. “Hello, Cedric.” He greeted his son.
“Good evening, father.” He replied.
“And Lunta, my goodness, do you look fabulous in that gown!” Winifred commented and took Lunta’s dress in her hands to see the fabric up close.
“Thank you.” She laughed. “Cedric conjured it up for me.” She added, hoping to catch Goodwyn’s attention.
And she seemed to be successful, at least partially. The man’s eyes widened slightly, and his eyebrow rose, but his hands were still crossed, so Lunta wasn’t certain. Goodwyn blinked and his expression went back to his usual cold, unimpressed one.
“He did?” Winifred, however, shamelessly expressed her surprise and pride in her son. “Why, Cedric, it looks wonderful!”
“Thank you, mommy.” He shyly replied.

Winifred continued showering Cedric with questions and trying to get her husband to join the conversation. But it was mostly family matters that didn’t concern Lunta, so she stayed where she was, but looked around the ballroom to see who else was there. She saw Princess Sofia and her friends talking and laughing, as well as her siblings with their own friend groups. King Roland and Queen Miranda were talking to some man who seemed equally important as them, and Baileywick was pointing in some direction and explaining something to a couple that seemed lost. Suddenly, her eyes set on two figures that stood out of the crowd to her. They were old, around the age of Cedric’s parents, and just like Lunta, they had snow white hair and pale skin. The woman was wearing a pale blue gown and had her hair in a bun, and the man had a moustache and short hair, wearing a fully white suit, with his button-up shirt and bowtie being the same color as the woman’s dress.

Lunta’s eyes widened in panic and as soon as she saw that couple, she tightly grabbed Cedric’s wrist.
“Excuse us for a moment.” She apologized to his parents and pulled him across the room. She ran up to one of the pillars in a more shadowy part of the ballroom, and Cedric was barely able to keep up with her pace.
“What’s going on?” He yelled in shock.
“My parents!” Lunta whispered as loud as she could. “They’re here!”
“Raine and Walter Pohjoinen are here?” Cedric turned around to look for them in the ballroom.
“Cedric!” She drew his attention back to her. “I know that you’re a fanatic of my family for whatever reason, but that’s not good!”
“It’s not?”
“No!” Lunta’s voice started to sound more panicked with every word. “They’re surely going to see me tonight. What am I going to do?” She asked, looking at the floor and not really expecting an answer.

Cedric realized that he still knew almost nothing about Lunta’s relationship with her parents. “Um, why is it such a problem if they see you, if I may ask?” He spoke. In all the conversations they had, she almost never mentioned either of them, so all he knew about them was from the books. He did try tried asking her about her parents before, but Lunta always gave him vague answers out of which he couldn’t really make anything, and the one she gave him now was no different.
“The last time I saw them, we were on terrible terms.”
“Well, if it’s been a while since then, maybe they’ve had a change of heart?” Cedric tried to make it seem not so bad, which was totally out of character for him, but he was doing it for Lunta. “How long has it been since you last saw each other? A year? Perhaps… three?”

“Twenty-one years.” Lunta said, still not looking at him.
“Twe-“ Cedric choked on the saliva in his throat. “Twenty-“ He coughed a few more times to clear his throat out. “Twenty-one years? Lunta, you’ve got to talk to them, they probably don’t even recognize you after all that time!”
Lunta smiled in realization. “You’re right. They probably don’t.” She chuckled.
“So, does that mean that you’re going to talk to them?”
“Oh. I thought that maybe, if they didn’t recognize me, we could just… keep our distance, and they won’t even try to talk to me.” Lunta suggested, hoping that Cedric would agree with her and her absolutely genius plan.
“Lunta.” He said with a warning tone.
“Fine.” She groaned. “But why do you insist so hard that I talk to them anyway? They’re my parents, I don’t have to talk to them if I don’t want to, and you don’t have to interfere.”

“Because…” Cedric hesitated for a moment. “I used to think about my parents the same way you think about yours now. Especially about my father.” He spoke. “You know the story of the Family Wand, right?” He began. Lunta leaned against the pillar and looked at him, signing him to go on. “It’s a magic wand that was passed on for generations in my family, until it was my turn to inherit it. My father refused to give it to me because he though I wasn’t good enough of a sorcerer to own it. But then Princess Sofia convinced him to give me another chance. She had to convince me first; I myself thought that there was no way he’d change his mind after all that time. But I gave it a try, my father gave me a try, and I proved myself. After thinking of me as a disappointment all my life, he finally changed his mind and saw me as the great sorcerer that I am, and gave me the Family Wand. Our relationship is still far from perfect, but it’s slowly getting better.” He then put his hand on Lunta’s shoulder. “Let me do for you what Princess Sofia did for me back then. Let me convince you to talk to your parents, and change their minds about whatever it was that caused you problems. Even if you might think it’s hopeless. Let’s just try.”

Lunta’s eyes filled with tears once again. She looked at Cedric, then at her parents far in the crowd. She rapidly blinked a couple of times to get rid of the tears in her eyes, and sighed deeply. “Alright. Let’s go.”
“I’ll be right behind you, love.” Cedric added and grabbed her hand.
Lunta took another deep breath and made the first step. Her other foot followed, and like she was hypnotized, she made her way through the crowd towards her parents, with Cedric holding her hand and walking right by her.
When she was only a few steps away from them, Lunta got second thoughts and she wanted to stop so bad, but there was something in her that didn’t let her do that, so she made the few remaining steps up to her parents, until she was close enough to speak to them. Standing behind them, she squeezed Cedric’s hand tight and took a deep breath yet again.

“Mother? Dad?” She spoke. Hearing these words made the older couple turn around instantly, and they both looked at the woman standing before them. “It’s me, Lunta. Your daughter.”
After a moment of silence and Lunta’s parents failing to get any words out due to their disbelief and surprise, her mother was the first to say anything.
“Ledd!” She screamed and threw her arms around her daughter’s neck, embracing her into a hug.

In a second Lunta’s face got filled with nothing but panic once again. Her heart started beating fast and her breaths became shorter and deeper. The only thing going through her mind was that Cedric probably heard what her mother said, and he was going to hear whatever else comes out of her mouth in the following minutes.
“Mother, I just told you, it’s Lunta, you know that.” She corrected her with a shaky voice but stayed as calm as she could, and gently moved her mother’s arms off her and took a step away.
“Oh, Ledd, look at you.” Her mother gasped as she placed her hand on Lunta’s cheek. “Walter, I told you we should’ve gotten him help, sent him to therapy while we had the chance…” She said to her husband.
“Mother, what are you talking about? I don’t need therapy, I didn’t need…” Lunta shoved the woman’s hand off her face.
“Of course, you did. Look what happened when we didn’t send you anywhere.” Her mother insisted. “You’ve completely ruined yourself, you look like…”

“I think she looks fine, Raine.” Lunta’s father spoke for the first time, in a soft, weak, raspy voice.
“No, Walter, he doesn’t, it’s not fine.” Raine snapped back. “Oh, Ledd, son, why did you run away? Why did you do all this to yourself? Why did you do that to us?”
Lunta was afraid of this. With her mother, there was never a ‘Hello, how are you?’ or anything similar, but instead, she always went straight to the point. Even though it was unnecessary and had nothing to do with the situation.
But, as sudden and uncalled for as the whole thing was, she decided to answer her mother’s question. “Because I was unhappy, mother. And now I’m not. In fact, I am the happiest I’ve ever been.”
“No, that can’t be, you’re delusional.” Raine persisted. “Walter, he’s delusional, our son is sick!”
“I am not your son!” Lunta shouted over her. “I was never your son. And if after more than twenty years you still can’t accept that, I don’t want to be your daughter either.” She told her mother, making sure she said every word loud and clear. She then furiously marched out of the ballroom.

Entirely confused by what had just taken place, Cedric stayed where he was, not knowing what to do. He looked at Walter, then Lunta walking away, then Raine, then Lunta again. Finally, he ran after her, full of questions that he needed answered.
“What just happened?” He asked her when he finally caught up. “What is she going on about? And who’s Ledd?”
Hearing that name come out of Cedric’s mouth, the back of Lunta’s arms, as well as her whole spine and the rest of her back, all filled with icicles in less than a second. But Cedric didn’t seem to notice. He was too busy trying to answer his own questions himself, or at least thinking of possible answers.

“Is it another one of the sailors? A friend of yours from somewhere else?” He speculated. Lunta was walking so fast that every few steps he had to run to catch up with her again. “A cousin- A brother! The long-lost brother that they wrote about in the books!”
When she reached the door, Lunta violently opened it and stormed out of the room. Cedric slipped through the open door without touching it immediately after her.
“What happened to him? Did he get hurt? He died and your mother is grieving so she’s being delusional and projecting it onto you, believing that you’re him?”

“Stop talking, Cedric, just stop talking!” Lunta screamed as soon as the door behind them closed. Only now did Cedric pay closer attention to her, seeing how heavily she was breathing and noticing the countless icicles on her. “I’m going home.” She muttered and swiftly turned around, making her way out of the castle.
“Why?” Cedric grabbed Lunta’s wrist to stop her.
“I can’t spend another second here.” She freed her wrist from his grip.
“Don’t leave just yet, please. Let’s go to my workshop.” Cedric offered.
Lunta took a moment to think. A moment which, to Cedric, seemed like an eternity. “Okay.” she agreed, to which he pulled out his magic wand and lifted it high up. With force, he brought it down and made a cloud of green smoke appear around him and Lunta.
They disappeared from the hallway and rematerialized on the top of the staircase in front of Cedric’s workshop. The sorcerer groaned, frustrated that his spell didn’t teleport them into the workshop, but outside. He reached for the key in its hidden place and opened the door, letting himself and Lunta in. In silence, she went inside, and he closed the door behind her after he entered as well. The second she heard the door close, Lunta fell to the ground and started crying uncontrollably.

“Lunta?” Cedric attempted to calm her down. But he really didn’t know what he was doing; comforting crying people was probably the thing he was the worst at.
She kept sobbing, and she tried wiping her tears and her watered-down makeup into the sleeves of her new dress, but more tears just kept coming in.
“There, there.” Cedric hesitantly muttered, knowing that he wasn’t helping at all. He gently placed his hand on Lunta’s shoulder, but as soon as he did, at least a dozen of new icicles broke out of her shoulders and back, making him quickly retrieve his hand.

He didn’t know what to do. He had so many questions that he needed answered if he was going to help her, but he wasn’t going to get anything from her in this state. He also simply hated to see her like this, on the floor and sobbing her heart out. He looked around his workshop, trying to think of anything that would help her calm down.
That’s when his eyes set on a jar that stood out from the others on one of his shelves for magic potion ingredients. He couldn’t see them from the outside because the jar was made of ice, but he knew that it contained Solstice Snowbells. It reminded him of the potion that he needed them for, that he brewed all those months ago. He looked at Lunta, who still had icicles all over her, and an idea formed in his head.
“Snow.” He whispered so only he could hear, immersed in thought. If her being happy makes it snow around her, then snow falling around her ought to make her happy! It must go both ways!

Cedric ran over to the shelf with his finished potions and searched through the bottles. He pulled out a round bottle with a sparkly blue liquid inside of it and unplugged the cork from its throat. He left it on the table nearby, and then pulled out a book which contained the recipe for the potion, as well as the spell that went with it. He dipped his magic wand into the potion and stirred it around a little, and then read the magic words out of the book. As he did so, he finally pointed the wand at the ceiling. Just like the first time, a ray of magic light shot up at the ceiling and, just before touching it, it curled up into a glowing white ball. It exploded, making snow begin to fall into every corner of the room.

Feeling snowflakes fall onto her skin, Lunta stopped crying and looked up. She saw snow falling all the way from the ceiling and couldn’t help but feel extremely confused. She looked at Cedric to hopefully get an explanation, and she saw him already looking back at her, with his one hand holding a wand and his other hand on a book on the table.
“How did you…” She began, but she didn’t really even know what to ask. “What…”
“It’s a potion that I made a long time ago.” Cedric explained. “It’s the one that I needed Solstice Snowbells for, but I didn’t have enough, so Princess Sofia made me bring her to the mountain with me to look for them. And then we stumbled upon you.”
“That was a while ago.” Lunta commented.

“Yes.” Cedric chuckled. “Back then we still barely knew each other, so I made the potion to impress you, but the right moment to use it never came, and overtime I just forgot about it.”
“That’s still so thoughtful of you.” Lunta sniffled.
“And, speaking of back when we had just met each other,” Cedric continued, “remember when we were going here, to the workshop, from the ballroom and I slammed the door in your face? I was just really nervous to talk to you. I thought you had already seen enough disaster with my flying machine, and I didn’t want you to possibly see anything else as catastrophic.”
“Yeah, I figured.” Lunta smiled.

Cedric sat down on the floor next to her. “I know you probably don’t want to talk about it now, and honestly, neither do I, but I need to know what happened back there.” He finally got to the point. “What did you get so mad at? What was your mother saying, what did she mean? And who was she talking about?”
Lunta sighed. “I guess you deserve to know.” She looked around the room wishing that she could avoid what followed, but she had no choice.
“Did I guess correctly who that was? Did I at least get close with any of my guesses?” Cedric went on.
“Not quite.” Lunta let out one last chuckle. She looked at the floor, avoiding eye contact with Cedric, and took a deep breath before confessing to him a secret she had kept for far too long. A secret that could either strengthen their relationship greatly , or ruin it forever. A secret which, for that reason, she tried keeping from everyone. “Ledd… is me.”

Chapter Text

After what she just said, Cedric looked at Lunta for a few seconds, trying to make sense of it. “I’m not following.” He finally said.
Lunta sighed. “I guess I better start from the beginning. It will all make sense, I promise.” She spoke.
Cedric sat more comfortably and glanced at her, not knowing what to expect from her next.

Lunta looked through the window and took a deep breath. “Thirty-seven years ago, on the day after the winter solstice, I was born. Ledd Pohjoinen, heir to the throne of the Cold County.” She started telling her life story. “The issue with my birthday is that there’s a belief in the Cold County that if a child is born on the first day of winter, they will bring great luck to their family and go on to do great things in life.” She repeated what she told Queen Miranda once. “But if they are born either one day earlier or later, they are destined to a terrible life full of failure and misery, and they’ll completely ruin their family as well. My mother was hoping that I’d be born exactly on the first day of winter so I would bring back the Cold Kingdom, and she deliberately planned her pregnancy for me to be born on that day, so I’d have good luck and success following me throughout my lifetime. But no one can plan someone’s birthday that specifically, and neither could she, so I ended up being born a day later. You’d think that she’d have resented me for that, held it against me all my life, and maybe even neglect me because she’d think I was worthless… But instead, she just stopped holding on to that belief. It was just a superstition anyway, that anyone born on the winter solstice would have it easy in life and anyone who missed it by a day wouldn’t. So, she didn’t believe in it anymore, and hoped that by doing that, I’d be fine.”

“And at first it was as she had anticipated. Since the very beginning, my parents made sure that I was a child whose achievements were promising that he would do even better later on in life. I didn’t go to Princess Sofia’s Royal Prep, but I went to the best school in the Cold County. It wasn’t much better than the others, though; they were all similar, but I had a lot of private tutors on the side. And my dad spent all of his free time doing different activities with me. He taught me how to fence, ride a horse, steer a dog sled… all the things royal boys should know.”

“But soon, when I was around nine years old, I realized that something was wrong. With all of that. I found myself daydreaming of leading a simple, humble life in a cottage hidden away in the mountains or the woods. No luxurious ice palaces and servants doing basic things instead of me. I didn’t feel like having perfect grades and training to become king, or even count, anymore. I became more uncomfortable in my home every day. But I also realized that I felt different on the inside, too. I was sick of fencing, wearing pants and suits, and having short hair. I realized that I was a girl. I just had to match that on the outside too.”

“I started occasionally sneaking into my mother’s closet and dressing up in her gowns, putting on her jewelry, and trying on her makeup. But I didn’t let anyone know that, and I didn’t rebel in any other way. I still did all the things I was already doing with my dad, and I continued studying hard for perfect scores in every class. Still, over time I grew bored of that, I didn’t know how much longer I could keep pretending that I wanted it. So, when I was twelve years old, I came out to my parents. I explained to them what was going on, how I felt like a girl on the inside, and if anything, I wanted to be allowed to wear dresses and have long hair. I left out the part about not wanting to be king – or queen, by now. I thought that this was enough on its own. It was also the moment I first introduced myself to them as Lunta, which was the name I had chosen for myself and by which I wanted everyone to call me from then on.”

“My mother threw a terrible fuss. She immediately started shouting, screaming, and crying, that how could this ever happen to her, how could such a thought cross my mind, I didn’t know what I was saying, I was too young to even understand these things, and so on. My dad was always passive and, I think, scared of my mother, so he didn’t try to calm her down or stand on my side. She was yelling at me for hours, and when she was finally done, she stormed off into her room. That was when my dad finally spoke to me, when it was just the two of us, and he told me that he accepted me for who I was. He said that he would speak to my mother, but to this day I have a feeling that he never did.”

“I tried everything to get her to accept me, but she was persistent, and so unbelievably stubborn. First, I didn’t respond when she called me by my old name, or ‘young man’, or anything similar, then I would shout ‘Lunta’ when she said ‘Ledd’ and ‘daughter’ when she said ‘son’… Clouds, I even tried calling her ‘father’ so she’d see how it was, but none of that ever did anything. At fourteen, I couldn’t take it anymore, so I ran away from home for the first time. They found me less than a week later because stupid, barely teenage me wandered around the city the whole time, stayed over at some classmates’ places and ate in bars and inns. And I was Lord of the Cold County – everybody knew who I was! I was home in no time. Since then, my mother only started paying attention to me even more than before, and the palace was always under high security, making sure that I never did anything of sort ever again.”

“So, for the next two years I planned my second escape very carefully. And I completely gave up on school. I attended classes and didn’t disturb them, and I also took tests regularly, but I didn’t give it any effort at all. For my fifteenth birthday I got Dimitri. Like most dogs there, he had a spell put on him that would slow down his aging process by a lot, so he’d live as long as I. So even though he’s twenty-two now, which in dog years is well over a hundred, he’s still as good and strong as new. My parents thought that taking care of him would teach me responsibility and hopefully make me start caring about school again. But I saw him as nothing more than aid for when I’ll be running away. At first. I spent a lot of time training him, and I inevitably started loving him, and we grew very close. He became my best friend, and my only one, for that matter.”

“When I turned sixteen, the school break had already started a few days prior. That day my parents told me that they were sending me to some boarding school for royalty and other noble children. And hearing that news, I lost it. I told them that I didn’t want to be king, not even count, that I didn’t care about politics and leading the country, and that I didn’t care about them. That was the last straw for me, and that night I decided that I was running away. I packed my things, I took some money and food with me, and three days later, on an early Wassalia morning, well before the sun had even come out, I put all my bags on a sled, harnessed Dimitri onto it, and went for the port. I spoke to the first sailor that I saw, and I asked him if I could join his crew on their way, wherever they were going. I offered to help with whatever they needed on the ship, and in exchange they’d take me far from the Cold County. That sailor was Lauri, and he had only joined the Iceberg’s crew recently, but he spoke to his captain, and not long after I became an official member of the crew.”

“Two years later I came out to the crew too. I was prepared for them to reject me and kick me off the ship, but they accepted me instead. Since then, wherever we ended up, I’d look for places where I could get therapy, medicine, and surgery to become more of a woman. And when Lauri had no idea where to go, we’d set off for another place where the doctors told me I could continue my own journey. I’m sure there are magic spells for switching genders, or at least look very different, but those aren’t available to regular folk, so I had to do it the traditional way. We travelled the world and met a lot of lovely people, learned a lot of sea shanties from other kingdoms and in dozens of languages, and learned about so many customs that different cultures have. I can’t say that I regret it, but it was never my main goal in life.”

“Last year, we came to Enchancia for the first time. I had fully finished my transition from man to woman a few months prior, which meant that my journey was over. When we arrived here, we went all around looking for a small house where Dimitri and I could move in. Glenn and Vuori decided to climb the Piercing Peaks and found an abandoned cottage falling apart in the middle of the trail. So, they called for the rest of the crew, and we renewed it together. I helped them a lot with my magic, conjuring snow to hold the bricks together, and we were actually done surprisingly quickly. Initially I was scared to try making acquaintances with anyone, or even just introducing myself, so for the first three months I only went down to Dunwiddie to go to the market, and then right back home. But then there was that ball, and when I heard that anyone could attend, even villagers, I decided that I wouldn’t miss that chance to finally talk to someone. And the rest you know.”

Cedric stared at Lunta, not believing what he was hearing. Suddenly, everything made sense. How happy she was whenever someone asked about her name, but how scared she was to meet his parents the first time, the ‘feeling’ she thought Goodwyn would have about her, how she messed up the waltz that same night by doing the dance steps for men instead of those for women, then how come she became a sailor in the first place, even her height – she was almost as tall as him. Everything that was confusing him throughout the past year, but he didn’t question much, suddenly fell into place, and he had no idea what to say.
“I wasn’t born a woman, Cedric, I became one later on.” Lunta pointed out once again. “And I understand if you’re angry about that or… don’t want anything to do with me anymore.”

“I’m… so sorry that you had to go through all that.” Cedric finally spoke. “But that’s such a big and important secret to keep; why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t you tell me any of this?”
“I wanted to, I really did!” Lunta replied. “And I was going to, but… I wanted to do it on my own terms.”
“And why did it take you so long to come to those terms?” Cedric tried to not sound like he was mad, or attacking her. He wasn’t, but he didn’t know what words to use to let her know that, so he just kept his tone really calm instead. “Would you have told me tonight, even if it wasn’t for your mother being here and… outing you first?”
“I don’t know.” Lunta admitted. “I understand if you’re mad that I didn’t tell you before. I… I can leave.” She offered, but Cedric stopped her.
“I’m not mad, just… disappointed. But in me, disappointed in me that I made you feel like you couldn’t tell me.”

“You didn’t… You never made me feel like I couldn’t tell you.” Lunta insisted. “When I first met you, I didn’t tell you because - well, I didn’t have to - but really because I didn’t feel like it was relevant. Then we met again, and again, and when I realized that there was going to be something between us, I got scared to tell you because… Not because I didn’t feel safe telling you or I thought you wouldn’t accept me; I did feel fine at the thought of that, but… I also thought I’d be safe telling my mother. And I didn’t want what happened with her to happen with you. I didn’t want to lose you.”

“Oh, Lunta, love.” Cedric embraced her into a tight hug, barely holding tears back. He placed his hands on her shoulders and looked her in the eyes to make sure that what he said next really got to her. “I don’t care who you were before, or how you were born. All I care about is who you are now, and that is the most wonderful woman I have ever met.”
“Oh, Cedric!” Lunta cried and threw her arms around him again. “I love you!” She managed to speak through her sobs.
He hugged her tightly once again and even let out a few tears himself, but he made sure that Lunta didn’t see them.

“Are you ready to go back downstairs?” He asked after a good amount of time.
“What?” The question sent shivers through Lunta’s whole body. “Why?”
“Well, we can’t spend the rest of the night here.”
“We absolutely can.” Lunta brought her knees close to her chest in an attempt to calm down. “My parents are still there, they’re going to see me, and it’s going to be the same thing all over again.”
“Don’t worry about them. We’ll keep our distance, we won’t talk to them, don’t even look at them.” Cedric put his hand on her shoulder. “Your mother hasn’t ruined your day in twenty-one years. Don’t let her start again now.”

Lunta contemplated for a moment. “Okay.” She hesitantly agreed.
“Perfect!” Cedric exclaimed. “Let’s just fix that makeup quickly.” He added and lightly waved his wand at Lunta’s face. Her smudged makeup disappeared and the only thing left of it was some mascara on her eyelashes. Cedric didn’t know that much about beauty products, but he knew enough to make it look fine. He conjured up a small mirror on front of her to let her see how she looked.
“It’s great.” Lunta commented just to say something. She really didn’t care about makeup right now.
Cedric grabbed her hand and lifted his wand up to teleport them back to the ballroom.
“Can we-“ Lunta spoke before he could say the spell. “Can we walk?” She asked.
Cedric recognized that she probably just wanted to stay out of the ballroom for as long as possible, but he didn’t mind.
“Of course!” He agreed, and, hand in hand, they left the room.

Chapter Text

Cedric opened the door of the ballroom and went inside, with Lunta following him, holding his hand. They moved over to the edge of the room so they weren’t in the center, where Raine and Walter could possibly see them. While Lunta was trying to keep icicles from growing on her arms, Cedric listened to the music that the orchestra was playing.
“Do you recognize that song?” He asked her.
“I think so.” Lunta lied, not wanting to admit that she had no idea if she even heard that song before.
“It was one of the songs to which we danced at the Fire of Friends.” Cedric reminded her.
“Oh.” Lunta concentrated on the tune, trying to ring a bell, but she had nothing. “You’re right.” She mumbled, now feeling bad that she didn’t remember it.
“Care to dance again?” Cedric bowed lightly and put one hand on his back, and the other one in front of Lunta. She placed her hand in his, and they started dancing to the music.

Even though she was waltzing and turning around all the time, Lunta couldn’t help but stare at her parents whenever she was facing in their direction. Cedric would point it out all the time, as it really wasn’t hard to notice. Lunta would say that she knew, and then she’d wait until the dance steps turned her away and then back towards them, over and over.
“Cedric, look. My mother’s leaving!” She suddenly stopped dancing and watched Raine leaving Walter alone to go talk to somebody. “I want to go talk to my dad.” She stated and headed for where he was.
“What?” Cedric responded in confusion. “But I thought…”
“I am mad at him for lots of reasons, but I don’t hate him. I do want to talk to him.” Lunta explained. “I know I’ll be fine with him, but… come with me.” She said and pulled Cedric by his hand.

“Dad?” She called when she was close enough to him.
“Lunta?” Walter returned in surprise. “Your mother just left.” He mentioned, thinking that Lunta wanted to see them both.
“I know. I only wanted to talk to you.” She replied.
Walter sighed. “I’m sorry about her, really. I can’t believe she’s still acting like that, even after all this time, and all…” he looked at Lunta up and down, “…this.” He chuckled, feeling so proud of how far his daughter had come.
“I should’ve known.” Lunta spoke. “I had some hope that maybe she would’ve changed her mind by now, but deep down I knew she never could.”
“Oh, come here.” Walter suddenly opened his arms, and Lunta threw herself into his embrace. Cedric saw snow falling around both of them, and he couldn’t tell if it was coming from Lunta or Walter. Maybe both?

Lunta looked over at Cedric and broke out of the hug. “Dad, this is Cedric, my partner.” She brough him closer to her father.
“Your Grace, it is an honor to meet you.” Cedric bowed to him deeply.
“Hello, Cedric.” Walter returned much more relaxed and bowed lightly in response.
“He’s the royal sorcerer of Enchancia.” Lunta mentioned. “We actually met at this exact ball, but last year.” She went on.

“Excuse me. Miss Lunta?” Princess Sofia sneaked up on the three. “Can I steal you for a second? My friends want to meet you.” She asked and took Lunta’s hand.
“Oh, well, I’m sort of in the middle of something, if you could come back-“ Lunta declined, but Sofia cut her off.
“Oh, it’ll just be a minute.” She insisted and pulled her away from Cedric and her father. Lunta smiled in apology to the men, and left into the crowd with Sofia.

Cedric and Walter were left alone with each other. Cedric contemplated whether he should say some more good things about himself, or talk about Lunta, or perhaps about Walter. The other man also stood there in silence, waiting for Cedric to say something. But after he didn’t, he decided that it was best to go somewhere else.
“Your Grace!” Cedric called for him before he could leave, and walked over back to him. He took a deep breath, as he was about to ask one of the biggest questions in his life. “I’m not planning anything yet, but… in case I never see you again,” he spoke, avoiding eye contact with him the whole time, “do I have your blessing… for your daughter’s hand in… marriage?”

Walter tried to hide his excitement behind a serious face, but he was unable to stop a smile from forming. “Only if you promise that I’ll be there to walk her down the aisle.”
Cedric couldn’t believe it. Did he really just ask that? And Walter approved it? Under that simple of a condition, too?
He immediately straightened his posture, feeling way more confident than he did seconds ago. “You have my word, Sire.”
“And you have my blessing.” Walter replied and smiled at him. “I should probably find my wife, even though I doubt she’s wondering where I am.” He sighed, not really talking to Cedric directly, and walked away.

Elated, Cedric watched Walter leaving, and when he got lost in the crowd, he quickly went to find Lunta. She was surrounded by Princess Sofia and her two best friends, Ruby and Jade. They were asking her questions, completely amazed and obsessed with her.
“Hi, Mr Cedric!” Sofia greeted him with excitement when he approached them.
“You’ve got the best girlfriend ever! I’m jealous!” Ruby squealed.
Cedric chuckled at her. “I must agree with you on that one.” He told the little girl and looked over at his best girlfriend ever.
“Have you guys kissed yet?” Ruby went on.
“Of course, they have, don’t you remember?” Jade replied. “Kiss now!” She told the couple.
“Jade!” Sofia scolded her.
“You kids are weird.” Lunta commented and signed to Cedric that she wanted to go somewhere else.
“No.” Jade whined. “We’re just really happy that Cedric finally has someone! I mean, I couldn’t care less about him, but if Sofia’s happy for him, so am I.”
“Ugh, Jade, you always know just the wrong thing to say.” Ruby groaned.

“We’ll go somewhere else.” Lunta excused her and Cedric. “Why don’t you three go eat something at that table over there?” She suggested, pointing at a table with some cupcakes and cookies.
“Okay. Have fun!” Sofia waved at them as the couple left into the crowd.
“We’re staying here?” Ruby checked with her friends.
“Definitely.” Sofia confirmed.
“And watching them?” Jade added.
“Absolutely.” Ruby agreed, and they all giggled at their mischievous plan.

Lunta and Cedric started dancing to the music, still feeling a little weird after their encounter with the girls.
“What… did you tell them about us? What did they ask?” Cedric started.
“Apparently Sofia has been telling them all she knew about our relationship - which, don’t worry, isn’t a lot – and they’re obsessed with how it’s going between us.” Lunta laughed remembering their enthusiasm.
“Little children, I shouldn’t have expected anything else!” Cedric groaned, angry that these kids pried in his private life. Lunta tried to calm him down, telling him that it wasn’t that serious, and they barely actually knew anything, but made up a lot of things themselves instead.
“What did you talk about with my dad?” She switched the topic.
“Oh, nothing much. Just about how much I love you.” He said in a joking tone, not wanting to make her think that they really talked about something very close to that.
Lunta laughed at that and looked him deep in the eyes. “I love you too, Cedric.” She spoke, to which he smiled, and they continued dancing into the night.