[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/1U4bQ50.png[/img][/center][hr][hr][sub][color=lemonchiffon]Location: Frostmoon Lake[/color][/sub][center][color=2e2c2c][sub][sub]…The firelight flickered like stars…[/sub][/sub][/color][/center]
Tia gasped back into a world of blinding white. Frigid air shocked her lungs. She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t see. Frozen needles stabbed into her hands, her cheeks, her legs where they kneeled in the snow, wrapped in the heavy fabric of her robes. She coughed, her frigid hand coming up to her scarred throat – only to meet the fabric of her scarf, coated in a thick layer of snow.[center][color=2e2c2c][sub][sub]It burned.[/sub][/sub][/color][/center]There was snow everywhere. It filled the air in a growing storm, already having coated much of Tia’s body. She was shaking violently as her body curled in on itself. Her mind fought to make sense of everything.

Dawnhaven. The lake. [i]A hand that was not hers[/i].

Tia blinked, frost coating her eyelashes. She looked down at her hand – it was pale, shaking against the winter cold. But it was hers. Instead of fire wisping off her skin, there was only snow. The ring was a band of ice around her finger. With clumsy, uncooperative hands, Tia removed the opal ring, only to fumble and drop it to the ground. She clenched her chattering teeth as she grabbed it, the snow feeling like daggers piercing her skin.

She looked out at the lake again. Her mind felt frantic and sluggish, all at once. But all she could think about was [i]warmth[/i]. Squeezing her eyes shut, Tia curled in on herself against the storm again. She couldn’t move. She couldn’t bear the thought of getting up and pushing herself through the storm, back to the heat of Aelios’ flame, back in the temple.[center][color=2e2c2c][sub][sub]A gaze as heavy as a brand.[/sub][/sub][/color][/center]Tia allowed herself another stuttering heartbeat in the snow. And then she pushed herself to her feet. She stumbled, falling on numb legs, back to the ground with a whimper. Her hand clenched tighter around the ring. She tried again.

When at last, she was back on her unstable feet, she turned her back to the lake. The footprints that marked her journey to the lake were long gone, hidden under a growing layer of snow. Some distant part of her mind realized that she’d likely missed the town meeting. It didn’t seem important at the moment.

Willing herself not to collapse, Tia forced her frozen body back towards the town, seeking the heat of her temple.