Chapter 21-1: Trickle Down

[I too need to know my family will be safe. But more than that, I want them to be happy.]

Turning away from the Sprinkles Supplies gates, I sniffed back the last of my tears. “Come on, we should go.”

Bosco cleared his throat, making no move to follow. “We should, huh? Go where, Snow?”

I didn’t stop, as my mind was already on my other brothers. “We’ve gotta go find Buff and Lo… and the Overmare, I guess.”

“No, we don’t.”

I stumbled at that. Lips rapidly drawing back from my grinding teeth, I rounded on him. “What are you talking about, Bosco? This isn’t the time for jokes. I have to find my brothers!”

If he noticed how perturbed I was, it didn’t show in his grey eyes. “It can wait!”

I bristled. “NO, IT CAN’T W-”

“It can and it will, Snowflake!” He barked back. His muscles had locked up and his stare didn’t falter. “You aren’t the only one with things to take care of, and you promised us… promised me that we would go find my Memory Orbs next. I won’t let you go back on that promise.” He stomped a hoof on the ground. “I’m sick of waiting! It’s my turn now!”

You can’t be serious. “The situation’s different now, Bosco! I can’t just leave my brothers out there.”

“Your brothers are buffalo! They’re three times your size!” Bosco’s charcoal mane darkened his eyes as he panned a hoof across all of us. “We all decided, together, what we would do after going to find Naiara’s clan. Well, we found them, and now we move onto the next item on the list: My Memory Orbs!” His face was tight, almost squeezing his features.

I found it hard to meet his eyes. You’ve never acted like this before, Bosco. What are you thinking? “Bosco, I don’t think you understand how important this is to me. My brothers-”

“I don’t understand the importance?!” A strained laugh escaped his lips. “Snow, don’t you dare. I’ve been out here for SIX. YEARS. Six years! The only thing I had to keep me going was those Orbs. I had nothing else to work towards, except finding out what was in them.”

“And you did, thanks to me!” I shot back.

“I saw the memories, but I still don’t understand them! I’m not going to find out what they mean until I get them back. They’re the reason Facemask asked me to go along with you, because you had one of your own. Well, you’ve found out what your Orb means, but I’m still in the dark. You promised to help me, so why won’t you?”

“Guy’s got a point,” Breeze chipped in as she glided overhead, “we all voted on this. First we helped Naiara find the zebra, and now it’s Bosco’s turn. After this, we’ll decide what to do next.”

“But… but…” This can’t be happening!

Breeze’s sister softly touched down at Bosco’s side, laying a wing across his back. “You’re right, Bosco. We did agree to that, and we will ALL follow the group consensus. Snowflake is no exception.”

“Don’t talk for me, Venatici.” I groused. “You should know better than to get between a pony and their siblings.”

“Then do not assume we are the same, Red Ice.” Still comforting Bosco, Cassie blew a stray strand of red mane out of her eyes irritably. “You would not have gotten nearly as far as you have without assistance from every single person here, time and again. You certainly would have never found the brother you did without Naiara, nor acquired a new sister.”

“Family matters do seem trivial in comparison to our other concerns, dahling.” Grinning her insufferable grin, Schwarzwald added another voice of support for Bosco.

Well, I guess I can’t be surprised at that. I thought darkly. All you care about is making Wings into an Element bearer.

I wasn’t completely alone, though. Though outnumbered, I gathered myself before responding, stepping over to Undertow as I did. “Bosco, you’re right. I did promise that, and I want to help you.” I spared a glance at the others. “I will help all of you accomplish your goals, but right now my situation has changed. I wasn’t sure I’d ever see my brothers again, but at least I knew they were back in the Stable. Now I don’t know where they are, and I have to find them. They’ll be looking for me, and might get in trouble in doing so.”

Frowns deepened all around. “So what are you saying, Snow? You’re just gonna ignore the rest of us?”

“Of course not, I-” I had to break off as Undertow strode purposefully into the space between us. I couldn’t read her eyes behind her goggles, but the corner of her mouth was turned down.

“I agree with Bosco. We should help him find his Memory Orbs first.”

I blinked once, twice, then a third time after a long second. “WHAT?! Undertow!” What are you saying? They’re your brothers too!

“It is important to keep our promises, Snowflake.” She said nothing else, and her tone was flat. A brick wall was more expressive.

I tried to step towards her, but she stepped back towards the others to match. “Guys, come on…” I pleaded, getting desperate. “...I have to find them. They need me.”

“No you don’t, Snow.” Wings’ rough voice came out at last. Shoulders stiff, she put a firm claw on my collarbone. “They’re buffalo. Big and strong and not something any sane individual wants to pick a fight with. Not only that, but there’s two of them.”

“You said ‘sane’. What about Raiders?” I challenged, trying and failing to shuck the claw from my clavicle.

She didn’t let up, nor loosen her grip. “Even if the Raiders weren’t far more interested in finding US, your brothers are still buffalo, and what’s more they’re wearing Pipbucks. Pipbucks with danger sensors. They have less chance of running into Raiders than we do, and I’m guessing they’ll be too preoccupied looking for you to try and repeat your ideas about reforming the Raiders. You sought out the dangerous ponies, Snow. Your brothers will be more sensible and avoid them.”

Wings gave me a half-shove. “Suck it up, Snow. We all have things to deal with, and we’re not here to follow you. We’re here to work together to help each other, and I’m gonna make sure we do. That was our agreement, and that’s how it is. Now the sooner we help Bosco, the sooner we can find your brothers. We’re not gonna forget about them, and we’ll take the opportunity if it’s there, but we won’t drop everything. Tunnel vision is a killer out here, Snow, and we have have too many enemies to afford it.”

~~~~~~

Thoroughly annoyed at being outvoted, I was content to hang back and sulk as we walked. Bosco was at the head of the group, talking with Wings. The others were either walking in silence, or chatting amongst themselves.

All except for Breeze, that is, who was flapping along on her back, not looking where she was going. Her attention was focused on the communicator that she balanced on her belly, which she was tweaking with her tools, talking to herself softly as she did.

“We just boost this a little and… got it!” The communicator gave a static squeal, and then a familiar voice emerged.

“Good afternoon, my little ponies! This is DJ Pon3, here to bring you the truth, no matter how bad it hurts.” The DJ’s deep voice stopped the others’ conversations as they turned heads to listen in.

“Some news has come in from a few days ago, but I’ve been a little busy with the new fuss happening around Ponyville. Sorry about that, fillies and colts, but here I am to spread the word, and the word is good! I’m happy to report that some good old-fashioned good vs bad went down, and good won!”

Clueless looks were exchanged throughout our group, before the radio broadcast went on. “A few days ago, up in the north of what’s left of Equestria, that renegade Red Ice took her Raiders for a little swim, at Soft Swell lake.”

Undertow gasped, Schwarzwald started to grin mischievously, while Wings and I looked at each other.

“Except when they got there, they found a group of scientists from the… lessee, I had it a second ago… here we are! From the ‘Bernstein Conclave’, a pretty successful business. Anyway, they decided that killing some ponies would be more fun than taking a dip in irradiated water. Now now, don’t go losing hope just yet, my friends, because this is where it gets good! You see, Red Ice might fancy herself the baddest thing around, but there’s another lady around who isn’t having any of that! Red Ice tried to throw her weight around, and Blue Fire threw it right back!”

Wings and I shared an incredulous look. I didn’t think Amber would want her activities at the lake broadcast. Did one of the scientists talk?

“Blue Fire came down like a bolt from the heavens, killed all of the Raiders, and sent Red Ice running with her tail between her legs! Check plus! How about that, folks? Seems like the bad guys don’t get to do what they want up north, not on Blue Fire’s watch! Oh, and we can confirm she’s a griffon, not a pegasus now. Double check plus! It’s like I’ve been saying, fair fillies and gentlecolts: Evil won’t win so long as we don’t let it, and Blue Fire is one hero who certainly won’t let it! Good job, griffon girl, I’m proud of ya.”

I glanced over at Schwarzwald, who gave an amused shrug.

The DJ’s broadcast was starting to wrap up. “That’s all for now, my little ponies. I’m going to leave you with some of that smooth Sweetie Belle jazz, to keep this good feeling going. This is DJ Pon3, signing off!” The communicator crackled into silence.

Breeze cackled into good cheer. “Heh heh heh, everybody knows you got your flank kicked all over the shore!” Bosco and Naiara coughed and turned away, hiding smiles. Cassie and Undertow were carefully neutral. Schwarzwald was still grinning, and looking between Wings and I. Wings herself was looking slightly concerned.

“Don’t pay it much attention,” I groused, “that’s not how it went down. We know the truth.” And I did NOT get my ‘flank kicked all over the shore’, thank you very much, Aqua Breeze.

Some of her feathers ruffled slightly. “That’s not what… never mind.”

Cassie stepped up beside the chocolate-and-cream griffon, smiling primly. “They do seem to like what you’ve been doing, Wings. This isn’t the first broadcast praising you. It just happens to the first where you two have ended up being mentioned together.”

“Now that you mention it, I don’t think I’ve heard Snow and Wings being put on opposite sides like that, either.” Bosco rubbed an ear as he thought back. “You’d think it would’ve happened sooner. We do fight a lot.”

“I do not think this will help your reputation, big sister.” Undertow wasn’t smiling, but at least she was talking to me. “You promised Lexi that you were finished with this Red Ice business.”

My heart momentarily skipped as I thought about disappointing Fedexi Lexi, but I didn’t lose my cool fully. “Well, yeah, but… this happened days ago, the DJ even said so. Lexi told me to do what I needed to to fix the Red Ice business. I wasn’t going back to it, we had a plan. We all followed Bosco’s plan!”

“Hey, the hell’re you selling ME out to your boss for?”

Breeze stroked her chin. “Does she even know who you are, Bosco? I mean, she obviously knows Snow and ‘tow, me and Cassie too, and Wings I guess. You three? I’m not sure she really cares.”

Undertow huffed. “Of course she cares! Lexi is very kind, and has been nothing but fair to any of you. Especially you two twins.”

“Need I remind you that we have agreed not to kill each other?” Cassie’s rebuke was quick, but just short of confrontational.

“Ngrrr. Fine.”

Naiara tapped her hooves together. “Focus, people. Snow and Lexi will be fine. Remember that we have real problems to deal with. Who cares if Pon3’s trying to paint Snow as a villain this time? Everybody already thinks she is anyway.”

“True, Naiara dahling, but…” Schwarzwald broke her silence. Her grin, though still present, had shifted from mischievous to calculating. “...perhaps we can use this to help at least one of our goals, maybe more.”

“What do you mean?” Wings snapped out of her funk at Schwarzwald’s words. Her blue eyes searching the mare’s face. I found myself mirroring Wings’ actions, no clearer on Schwarzwald’s meaning.

The scarred mare pointed a hoof to the north. “According to our dear Snowflake, waiting just beyond the mountains are a fearsome horde of nightmare beasts, drawn here due to our squabbles. The only thing keeping them at bay is a blizzard, powered, poetically, by love. The more love there is to go around, the longer the blizzard holds.”

“What’s your point, Schwarzwald?” Granted, we can’t just up and forget about all this, but we’re doing Bosco’s thing right now.

“My point, dahling, is that we have an opportunity here. The Wasteland needs love to power the blizzard, and that is hard to come by. There are, however, ways to speed up the process. Tell me, what do the common masses love?”

“Uh…”

“Safety?” Naiara ventured hesitantly.

“Yes, but what else? What will they come together for?”

“Alcohol!”

“No, Breeze.” Anger flashed across Schwarzwald’s face for a moment. “Perhaps I should ask who they will come together for?”

“...Heroes.” Cassie provided, as understanding dawned.

As one, we all looked at Wings. The griffon shrank back slightly. “What? I’m just doing what my own thing.”

Schwarzwald shot me a meaningful look, her eyes and brows screaming for me to speak up. Thinking back to my last talk with Watcher, I raised a hoof to get Wings’ attention. “Maybe… maybe that’s what the people need. Somebody who does the right thing naturally. The DJ was right, Blue Fire is important, and he should be proud of you. THEY all should. I know we all are.”

Wings, if anything, had shrunk back further as I spoke. “What are you saying, Snow?”

“She’s saying,” Bosco cut in, “that the one thing that the common ponies as a whole love, more than anything, is a hero, Blue Fire.”

“‘s not the worst idea I’ve heard.” Breeze agreed as she floated above our heads. “We don’t even have to change what we’re doing that much. We’re already killing all the Raiders we come across.”

“That is a good start,” Cassie took up the reins of the conversation, “but we need to make sure that word gets out that it is Wings who is the one who gets credit for the Raider kills, and that it happens often enough.”

“Hey wait! I didn’t agree to this!” Wings growled, stalking back and forth.

Not bothering to hide the fact that I was enjoying this after what happened earlier, I put a hoof on her shoulder to stop her motion, and half-shoved. “Sorry, Blue Fire, but it looks like you’re outvoted. You’re gonna be the hero of the northern Wasteland.” I stepped back to stand with the others. “We’ll make them believe in you.”

Glaring daggers, Wings pulled herself up to full height. “Oh yeah? Well, what about you?”

Blinking blankly, I cocked my head to the side. “What about me?”

Her beak twisted into a savage smile. “I seem to recall that you were at Soft Swell lake too, Red Ice.”

“She’s right.” the mood of the conversation was lifting spirits. Naiara was practically bouncing. “Every good hero needs their villain, and we’ve got both right here!”

A wood-brown hoof landed on my shoulder, startling me. “This is a good opportunity, Snowflake. For Blue Fire to truly become a hero, she must clash, again and again, against her nemesis, Red Ice… you.” She leaned in close. “If we can pull this off, it will solve a great many of our problems, do you not think?”

I leaned away slightly, but had to agree. If we can get Wings to do this, it’ll be a big step towards getting her Element. She’ll have tons of chances to prove her honesty, and we get to make the northern barrier stronger in the process. It’s a win-win.

Undertow apparently agreed too. “Doing this would bring the Raiders’ attention to bear on us. We would have to face them eventually, but at least if we do it this way, we can whittle down their numbers first.”

“And keeping the Raiders’ attention on us means less chance of them finding Buff and Lo. Good thinking, Undertow.” I gave her a broad smile, which she started to return, but aborted midway.

“I am only looking out for my brothers.” Steel returned to her expression, and she focused on our lone colt. “However, I must caution that this playacting will only be done for targets of opportunity. Bosco’s Memory Orbs are still our primary concern, and I will not accept abandoning this matter.”

“Thanks, ‘tow.” Bosco’s cheeks dimpled in a way I hadn’t seen for weeks, and he looked as young as he did way back in the Snow Pegasus playpark. It froze me for a moment, as the contrast hadn’t seemed all that shocking until that moment. You’ve been unhappy, Bosco, even more than you let on. I really shouldn’t have taken so long to get around to your problems.

“Well, come on then!” Naiara’s enthusiasm was unabated. “Let’s go fool everybody into thinking Snow’s a criminal genius!”

“Don’t ask for much, do you?”

“Shaddup, Breeze.”

I swiped at the air, despite clearly being out of reach of the sassy Pegasus. “Had to get at least one jibe in, didn’t you?”

“If I didn’t, everybody’d be stuck waiting.”

“Yeah, real charitable. Lousy featherbrain.”

“A moment, dahlings. Now this is important, as we will need to expose Snowflake and Wings to Raiders, multiple times, to maintain the charade that Snowflake is still leading them, and Wings is stopping them. The rest of us will provide support from the shadows, but these two will put themselves in danger. If we are not careful, Red Ice AND Blue Fire may suffer.” Try as she might, Schwarzwald couldn’t keep her basic nature from showing through. “I do not wish for Snowflake and Wings to get all the fun, so let us do this right. There are plenty of Raiders to go around.”

Cassie mimed sighting down her rifle. “Then shall we keep score? First to twenty kills gets one hundred caps from all of the others?”

“Deal!” We chorused, friendly rivalry overriding the danger for a moment.

Still, I locked eyes with Wings as we set off, and I was sure she saw as much emotion in my eyes as I did in hers.

~~~~~~

“I see something.” Cassie called down from on high. The sniper pegasus peered through her rifle’s sights. “Yeah, it’s Raiders. They’re chasing some travellers.”

Breeze and Schwarzwald looked at Wings. Bosco, Undertow, and Naiara looked at me. Wings and I looked at each other. She shrugged. “Uh, showtime?”

I blew a little air from the side of my mouth. “It seems so.” I turned to Bosco. “Keep going, we’ll catch up. Don’t wanna slow you down. The Woodpecker village isn’t too far now. We’ll meet you there.”

Bosco nodded, but his expression softened momentarily. “Just be safe, alright? I don’t wanna trade your lives for a few minutes.”

“Do not worry, Bosco.” Cassie reassured him. “I will assist them in taking down the Raiders. After that, it will be up to the two of them.”

“Are you sure?”

“Go,” she confirmed. “we will follow shortly.”

Stoic, but satisfied, he nodded. Beckoning with a hoof, he spurred the remainder on. “Come on, let’s get going.”

With our sisters giving us one last look, our five friends left Cassie and I with Wings. “Okay, so then: Snow, you’ll go in first, act like the Raiders’ boss, and take out any who ‘disobey’. Then I’ll show up and take out the rest, with Cassie as sniper backup.”

“Leave it to me.”

“After that, Snow and I’ll have our little tussle, and she’ll be driven off. I’ll chase her, and when we’re out of sight, we’ll sneak back to the others. That’s when Cassie, with her wings covered,” the griffon passed over a light jacket at this point, “will show up and say that she saw the whole thing. The travellers find out it’s Red Ice and Blue Fire, then spread the story when they reach… looks like Vanchoofer.”

Cassie eyed the jacket with some reservation. “I do wish unicorns and earth ponies didn’t distrust we pegasi so much.”

Wings just shrugged. “Well, they do. Nothing we can do about that now. Just go with it. You’ll be wearing the thing for ten minutes, tops.”

“If you say so.” Cassie looked into her scope once more. “We should hurry. The Raiders will catch them soon.”

“Alright then, do your thing, Snow.”

I moved off, then stopped for a moment, looking back at the other pony. “I know I’ll be in among the Raiders, but don’t shoot me again, got it?”

With a dismissive wave of her feathers, Cassie took off into the sky.

“Greeaaat.” Let’s just get this over with. I took off sprinting in the direction of the Raider attack. I caught sight of the dust kicked up by the traveller’s wagons in around a minute or so, and the Raiders soon afterwards. As I got close, both disappeared behind a small rise. Storming up it, I reached the top as a lucky shot spanged off the wagon’s frame.

The Raiders were almost on top of them now, but were lousy shots. Still, the travellers had no chance if they were caught. Not unless I stepped in. Summoning my magic, I sent two slashes of ice racing down the slope. One barred the travellers’ path, while the other cut across behind them, momentarily separating them from the Raiders. I’d purposefully cut that one close, and was rewarded with the sight of the lead Raider, an earth stallion with a jagged knife, slam face-first into the barrier.

Taking a deep breath, I put on my best ‘Raider’ voice. “Don’t just stand there, you idiots! I stopped them, now take them down!” I strolled down the hill unhurriedly. Gotta make this look good.

Both the travellers and Raiders, besides the dazed knife-stallion, were staring at me in shock. One of the Raiders recovered first. “The hell’re YOU doing here, bitch?” He snarled.

A thin pole shot out from the ice wall and smacked him in the temple. As my horn’s glacial glow faded, I growled at him. “You don’t talk to Red Ice like she’s some damn one-night tramp, bastard! I am your leader, AND YOU WILL FEAR ME!”

The knife-stallion got to his hooves. “You’re not our fucking l-” Cassie blew his jaw off before he could get any further. A mare at the back cried out as Wings arrived, her flyby blowing out the mare’s knees.

Swooping gracefully around, Wings triple-tapped the remaining Raiders, grazing one and driving the others back. Landing crouched atop my ice wall, she rose to full height and spread her wings. “You and your Raiders stay away from these people, Red Ice! I’m here to stop you!”

Fighting to keep a smile from my face at her cheesy theatrics, I stamped a hoof. “Blue Fire! You won’t get in my way again! I’ll kill you here and now, and the whole Wasteland will know that nobody messes with Red Ice!” Turning, I used more ice poles to push the five remaining combat-ready Raiders forwards. “Don’t just stand there, you morons! Get me those ponies!”

Before they could even get their weapons up, Cassie’s second shot drilled the stallion who I’d slapped. His corpse fell into two of the others, knocking them off balance. Wings put a bullet into each of them.

Suddenly the Raiders were down to two. Suddenly I was their best friend. “Run!” I yelled. “I’ll finish her off!”

“Okay, boss!” They chorused, apparently changing their mind about my leadership.

Not looking at them, I crumbled the ice beneath Wings’ paws, sending her sprawling to the dirt. As I advanced on her, I heard one of the Raiders cry out. Damn, Cassie’s gonna win the caps for sure at this rate. That’s what, three for her already? Wings has three too! I have to step things up.

Forming an ice claw around my hoof, I raised it over the fallen griffon. “You won’t interfere again, Blue Fire!”

I hesitated just long enough for Wings to kick out at me with her back paws, sending me crashing onto my back, and dispelling my claw. As we scrambled upright, I shot hit the dirt where I’d been lying. Oh, crap.

Wrenching my head around, I dragged the crumbled ice into a new barrier between the travellers and I, just as the next shots slammed into it.

Wings bounded upright, calling out to them. “Stay out of this, she’s too dangerous! I’ll handle her, just get going!”

Letting out what I thought was a pretty convincing animalistic rage-cry, I spat. “Another day, Blue Fire, but you won’t get away from me forever!” Spinning on my heel, I sprinted back up the slope.

I heard Wings order the travellers to “Get out of here!” just before she she bellowed after me. “GET BACK HERE!” Wings cried as she ‘gave chase’.

I blindly launched flashy, but fragile, ice shards behind me. Her revolvers bark as she shot them out of the air. Nice touch. Out witnesses will be very impressed.

One final shot sounded out as we crested the hill, and a distant thud followed as a body fell to the dust. Now that’s four for Cassie, she’s on a streak!

“Too slow!” Wings landed on me, sending us both rolling down the other side, giggling as we did. We reached the bottom of the hill and came to a stop, Wings splayed out across me.

“You know,” I chuckled, “I just realised Cassie’s contest is totally rigged. If I have to act like I’m with the Raiders, I won’t even be able to get ten, let alone twenty.”

“Yeah, she’s got us by the lady-parts, alright. I have to spend all my time fighting you, so I can’t rack up the kills either.”

“And the others aren’t even here! She’s totally scamming us!”

“Seriously. We’ll leave her behind, next time.”

“Deal.”

Wings got off me, and flew up to the top of the hill again, looking back towards where the fight had taken place. While she was in flight, I leisurely rolled over.

Huh? I stopped as something dug into my shoulder as I put weight onto it. Getting to my hooves, I shook my leg, dislodging the impeding article. It landed on the ground with a tiny thud. Huh. I bent down and scooped the object up, now revealed to be a red and blue marble. “That’s weird. Where’d you come from? Did one of the Raiders have this?”

“Alright.” Wings returned from her short flight. “The travellers are away. No sign of more Raiders.” A red glint reflected off her eyes as she caught sight of the marble. “Where’d you get that?”

I could only shrug. “Dunno. Must’ve fallen on it during the fight. Perhaps it belonged to the travellers? Doesn’t really matter now, I’m not gonna get shot at just to give it back.”

Wings shrugged right back. “Meh, I guess it’s yours now. Free stuff, woo.”

I waved it back and forth, watching it catch the light. “Don’t be jealous, I can share my toys.”

We shared another chuckle, but Wings began reloading her revolvers. “Wish I could stay and shoot the breeze some more…”

I’m sure she’ll say something to warrant it eventually.

“...but I should head back to the others. I’ll go first, then you follow in a little while. We’ve still gotta catch up to Bosco and the others.”

I smiled helplessly. “Yeah, you’re right. Oh, hey, wait a second.” I held out the marble to her. “Take this with you, give it to Undertow. Just, y’know, so she knows we’re both okay.”

The chocolate-and-cream griffon did nothing but stare at the marble for several long seconds, before reaching out and taking it from my palm. “You’re gonna spoil her, you know.”

~~~~~~

I caught up with the others around an hour or so later. Everybody seemed to be doing their own thing; Bosco was sharpening his knife, Naiara was practising her forms, Cassie was cleaning her rifle, Breeze was tinkering with… something, Schwarzwald was reloading the belt on her gatling gun, and Wings was lazing in a dead tree.

“Good timing, Snow.” Bosco spoke up as I passed, but didn’t look up. “We’re moving out in a little while.”

“Alright.” I looked around. “Where’s Undertow?”

Wings cleared her throat, and then nodded her head at an abandoned well a short distance away.

Nodding back, I headed over to the well. Undertow had her back to me, levitating a tiny trickle of water from the well, letting it drop, and repeating the process.

Cheered by her presence, I walked up and wrapped my hooves around her leg. “Hey, xilia, come sit with me for a little bit, until it’s time to go.”

Her goggled eyes turned towards me for a half-second, before returning to the water. “I am fine, Snowflake. Don’t let me interrupt your rest.”

I stumbled slightly as she pulled her leg away. “O-okay. Um… oh! How about we do some magic training? We haven’t done any for a while. That should be fun, right?”

“Not right now, Snowflake.”

Undeterred, I pressed on. “Well then, how about-”

“I am busy, Snowflake!” Her whipcrack interruption stole the smile from my face.

Did something happen while I was away? “Undertow, what’s wrong? You’ve barely spoken to me since we found Al.”

Her bitter laugh brought back memories of Sombra’s Shadow lake. “Since ‘we’ found Al. A good joke.”

The unease I was feeling shifted to alarm. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Her shoulders bunched, and now she did turn around. “YOU found Al, not me.”

“What? We all found him. You were there.”

Her lips curled into a sneer. “Yes. I was. I was there when you found him. I was there when he asked whether you were still his sister. I was there when we all walked in silence for over one hour to reach Sprinkles Supplies. I was there when you left Al with Lexi. I. Was. RIGHT. THERE!”

“That’s…”

The water trickle exploded in mid-air. “One hour, Snowflake! For a whole hour we walked, and I waited. I waited every single second for you to turn to Al, your adopted brother, to tell him about me. To tell your adopted brother about his new adopted sister. But you didn’t. You stayed silent. For one whole hour, and longer, you stayed silent.” Her watery voice began to bubble. “Why? Why didn’t you tell him?”

Please don’t do this right now, Undertow. “I-I didn’t tell him because…”

“Because I am not really your sister?” She challenged.

“NO! Don’t say that! Of course you are!” My chest tightened at the very thought.

“Then what? Because I’m not from the Stable? Because having a Wastelander in the family would bring shame?”

“STOP IT!”

But she didn’t. “Or did you not tell your brother about me because you don’t need me anymore, now that your real family is here?”

I thought my heart broke at that moment, but it only splintered. It broke when she held up the blue and red marble I’d asked Wings to give her, and dropped it down the well.

As it so often did, breaking something led to anger. My heart was thudding in my chest, my breathing was ragged, and my eyes were burning. “How… how could you do that?”

She said nothing. Did nothing.

“How could you? How could you even think, for one moment, that you aren’t family to me? To Al and his brothers? How could you even think that, just because of one hour of silence?”

I tried to keep talking, but the words wouldn’t come. My breath caught in my throat, and my thoughts scattered and deformed behind my eyes. I couldn’t do anything. I could barely even look at her. Never, in my darkest nightmares, did I imagine you would say these things, Undertow? Do you think so little of me?

Utterly lost as to what to do next, I turned and walked back to the others. Undertow… didn’t follow.

As I reached them, Wings hopped down from her tree. “Hey, we’re about ready to go. You good?”

The answer was written on my face, and she didn’t ask again.

I forced out eight words, barely audible. “You’re Blue Fire, I’m Red Ice right now.”

~~~~~~