Frost and Flame

I woke that night with nightmares unlike I've ever had before. They were full of despair, malice, and destruction from things I'd never seen before. Magic created terror among the people, and all I could do was watch as it tore everything apart. But there was one thing that caught my eye. The one creating the destruction wasn't someone that I knew. It was a woman that I hadn't seen before.

She was ugly, almost looking like something out of the legends. Her face was an ugly yellow and her eyes a cruel, dark red. It was all I could think about the next day as I went about my normal routine and tried to ignore my mother.

I stood in my room the next night, my almost white hair curled and I wore a beautiful white dress. My betrothal ceremony was soon and I only had moments before I was tied to Saken forever. I gazed at my reflection and lightly touched my hair.

Why am I beginning to have doubts? Have I really let her get into my head that much? So much that I'm getting queasy about my marriage?

"No," I whispered, "I need to follow my duty to my family and my clan."

"Jasi?" a voice startled me. When I turned I saw my younger sister Mali standing in the doorway. She wasn't much younger than me at fourteen. She was just as pretty as my mother, with perfect golden hair and bright blue eyes the color of the lake.

"What is it?" I kept my voice soft. I'd always cared about Mali the most. Out of all my siblings, she was the sweetest tempered and, of course, was the closest to my age.

"I just wanted to see you," Mali wouldn't meet my gaze. Her eyes darted around, looking everywhere but me, "I'm going to miss you."

"I'm going to miss you too. And you know I'm not moving out yet," I smiled down at her, hoping to cheer her up and also hoping she couldn't see the anxiety in my face.

"But you're moving out soon," Mali sighed and turned, her gaze directed towards the window.

"You'll have someone soon," I encouraged her, "someone that you'll be betrothed to and to whom you'll get married."

"I don't want to get married," Mali said, "I want to live with Mother forever."

I desperately wanted to say, me too, Mali. Me too. But instead I simply said, "It'll be good for you, just as it'll be good for me."

"Will it really be good for you though?" Mali asked, sending a shudder up my spine. What if my sister was right? I tried to ignore the thought and just turned back to my mirror, my gaze on my reflection in the mirror. Was I really ready for this?

"It'll be good for me," I said, more to convince myself than her, "It'll be good. You'll see."

Mali sighed, "Mother wants you outside. She says she has something urgent to speak to you about," she shrugged nonchalantly.

"Ok," I tried to hide the irritation in my tone. I didn't want to speak to mom or see her at all. But sooner or later I would need to confront her about she'd said, and learn what she really meant about my father.

Hopefully I can get this over with soon. I can't believe that I'm letting her get into my head like this.

I donned my white veil and hurried outside. The air was chilly, but unusually warm. That was what send shivers up my spine, not my mother standing eerily in the cold. Her eyes watched me as I approached, piercing and observing.

"What is it?" I asked coolly, trying not to show the worry in my tone.

"I wanted to speak to you about..." she looked away slightly, "what we spoke of yesterday."

"But what if I do not wish to speak about it?" I asked, "I just want to get this betrothal over with."

"That's the thing," Mother hesitated, "I do not think you should go on with the betrothal."

"What do you mean?" I stared at her in shock and confusion, "This is my job; my duty, to our family. And you're telling me to ignore it? How would Father feel about it? You know he would never agree with you."

"I know," Mother agreed, "but there are ways of convincing him to agree. Going on with the betrothal would mean danger to everyone, mostly to you. Please," her look was pleading, "don't agree to go on with this. There are other ways to find marriage. Love is one of them."

"Love is not for people like us," I said icily, "You of all people should know that."

Mother flinched and for a moment I thought that I saw pain in her eyes. But the pain disappeared so quickly that I began to think maybe I'd imagined it. Mother was a calm person, never showing any emotion other than laughter and excitement. Showing pain or irritability was completely odd for her.

"That isn't the point," she replied calmly, "My point is that betrothals aren't right."

"You're prejudiced," I hissed, "because you once loved and now your love is gone. So you're trying to force me to follow your ways ."

"No, that's not-" Mother started but I interrupted her.

"I'm going on with this," I said to her, "whether you like it or not."

Mother gave me a look of sadness, then turned and walked away.

***

I stood at the edge of the walkway down the ancient building. Today was the day. It was about to happen. I'm going to become betrothed and there's no going back. Different emotions echoed around in my head. Was I ready for this? Could I do what I was expected to do?

"Jasi?" I heard the sound of my best friend behind me. When I turned I saw the familiar form of Maia standing there.

"I don't know, Maia," I said quietly, "Is this right?

"You're questioning what has been the customs of our people for generations?" Maia's eyes widened in shock, "You know what the elders would say if they heard that."

"The clans division hasn't been in the clans forever and yet everyone seems to want to be at war," I snapped, my tone sharper than I intended. Right now I didn't care, "Has it ever occurred to you that maybe the clans shouldn't be like this; that maybe the clans should work together instead of being divided?"

Maia clearly didn't know how to respond to what I'd said. Her eyes widened and she turned away from me. I could tell that she was embarrassed to be with me and I was embarrassed at the moment to be myself. How could I believe what my mom said? I knew exactly why. Everything she said made sense, no matter how much I wished that I didn't.

I ignored the look on my friend's dress and prepared to walk down the aisle. Everything seemed to be in slow motion as the curtains opened and I saw my betrothed for the first time. He stood at the end of the aisle, his eyes fixed on my face. In reality, he was rather handsome, but at that moment I was disgusted and had to do my best to hide it. I recognized the young man who spent a ton of time in the medicine shop, training to one day be one of our healers. He was rude and arrogant, not a man I would want to be tied to for the rest of my life. I swallowed.

My eyes darted around at everyone as I walked down the aisle. I kept my eyes away from the man at the end of the aisle that I would soon be bound to forever. Inside my chest I could feel my heart pounding.

When I reached the end of the aisle and the ceremony started, I went through the motions numbly, surprised at how much I hated the idea of this betrothal now that I knew who I was going to be betrothed to. The priestess tied a dark blue ribbon to my wrist and one to Halom's wrist, to signify our betrothal and nodded to us to let us know that we should kiss to seal the betrothal. That's when my entire life changed.

He moved in swiftly and I responded gently to his kiss at first, tentative and afraid. Suddenly my lips felt cold and I felt a shiver rush up my spine. That's when I heard the simultaneous gasp from everyone in the room and pulled away to see what it was about. And then I saw it. Saken was turning into ice from his face to his feet. Within seconds he was a frozen statue and when I looked down at my hands, I saw that they were covered in gloves the color of a fresh winter snow and realized that I was wearing a dress that was a beautiful light blue.

The dress was slim fitting and went down to my feet. A cape of pure translucent white sprouted from my shoulders and ice began to form underneath my feet. My mouth dropped and both my hands went to my mouth. What was happening to me?

"She's been cursed!" A woman cried out and suddenly the room erupted into a shouting match. My hands trembled and I only become more nervous as chains wrapped around my legs and hands.

"Take her to the chambers," a deep and familiar voice commanded, "and make sure that she doesn't escape."

I could already tell their plan wouldn't work because ice was starting to creep up the chains that were attached to my legs.But I was focused on the voice that I knew to be my father's. Tears pricked at my eyelids as I struggled to speak.

"Father?" my voice was no more than a whisper, "You're going to lock me up?"

"For the safety of the clan, yes," Father's dark green eyes locked onto my face and I could see the coldness in them, "You are clearly cursed, and I must make sure that your 'curse' does not affect others."

"Curse?" I stared in dismay at my hands, which were now free of gloves and icing up the chains that wrapped around my hands, "I don't believe that this is a curse. It's magic." I couldn't believe I was saying the words. But I knew it was true. Magic is real. And I can use magic.

"What we know as 'magic' no longer exists," Father argued, his tone icy, "Now, allow yourself to be taken in and there will be-" he didn't get a chance to finish his sentence. My chains broke and fell to the ground as a blast of cold wind erupted from my hands, causing me to fall to the ground. What in the world is happening?

"She is the 'Frost' in the legend that I've told the village many times about," my mother's voice rang out among the throng of people, immediately stopping the chatter, "She is not cursed. As she said, this is magic. Magic has always existed, but the chiefs decided long ago to banish it from the clans. And this is their consequence for it. The spirits are angry. Now you know why."

"The spirits were angry because there is one who is cursed among us," my father spat, "She is, after all, of mixed blood."

My head snapped up.

"You knew?" I blurted out.

"Of course," Father trained his eyes on me, "You think I wouldn't know when my wife becomes pregnant with a child that wasn't mine? Yes. I knew your mother had another lover and I knew that you weren't my child. And because of your mixed blood, you're cursed."

I couldn't stop the ice as it spread, covering both the walls and the wood floor. My father's eyes widened as he saw the ice and his eyes grew intense with anger.

"I will catch you," he said darkly as I struggled to my feet, "Trust me, I will catch you."

I gave him one last frightened look before sprinting out of the building and into the heart of the wilderness.