There was a rustle as Silver emerged from the nearby tress carrying fresh tea. Ghost recognized she was being polite. Silver only ever made a sound in nature when she chose to.
“Kayta was most impressed,” Silver began as she handed them the cups “you’ve made a lot of progress apparently.”
Amber actually blushed slightly at the praise, much to Ghost surprise. “Well she is, um, awesome”. The blush actually appeared to be travelling up to the tips of her elven ears.
“And I’ve got somewhere for you to practice that’s rather bigger than our spare room,” Ghost smiled. He shivered slightly. “Is it me or is it getting colder?”
Silver nodded. “I’ve been hearing jumbled reports of cold weather. People are actually talking about heavy snow.” She looked around at the trees, many of which were still covered in their autumn finery.
Ghost looked worried. In his poem the Waste Land, T S Eliot wrote that April was the cruelest month. It had turned out he was wrong. When you lived in actual Waste Lands, the winter months were far crueler. Snow and ice were silent killers and even if you survived, trying to keep warm when wrapped up in fraying clothes while the chilling wind howled around you was not at all pleasant. Travel quickly became a nightmare too. He was remarkably glad of the theatre. It would be much warmer and sheltered than their place at the graveyard.
“How soon ‘till it gets here?” he asked.
“Hard to say. Could be a few days,” she replied.
Thoughts raced through his head. If they were going to stay here they’d need provisions and that meant going back to the graveyard.
“The theatre comes with a supply of food,” Silver said as if reading his thoughts. “You won’t be able to host banquets, but there’s no need to worry about restocking the cupboards either.”
There was another look of delight on Amber’s face.
“Thank-you,” Ghost replied sincerely. He considered his options. They could simply stay put and ride out the weather. That was a tempting option. They could go back to the school and investigate that further, but if they got caught in heavy snow, things could go badly wrong. There didn’t seem to be any apparent rush, so maybe it was better to wait until after the snow. It occurred to him he should probably discuss this with Amber. It was an old habit though. He liked to gather his thoughts first to the point where he had a clear idea of where to go, but not quite to the point where he’d absolutely made up his mind. Flexibility was definitely a survival trait these days. He looked over at Amber and realised that between the promise of unlimited food, good shelter and a place to practice with her new whip, there was no real need to convince her. “C’mon on then,” he nodded to Amber.
“I’ll leave you two to it,” Silver said. “I need to make some preparations of my own. You know where to find me.” Gathering up the cups she quickly vanished back into the trees.
Next
