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Snowy ed peaks pearly, like wolverine fangs Cold winds sting my bare cheeks and exposed hands The frosty tehters and sisters who reside here Only my best friend is with me

“Striketo her neck

I frown, gripping the bamboo staff harder

“I have done this a thousand times,” she says “Trust me, Kalinda”

Jaya is the only daughter in the te sideways in an arc She stopsthe other end, I a the staff fro end down over ives a holloack, and I crumple to my knees in the snow

Jaya straightens to her whole height, a head shorter than I ao”

I grindShe knows that I have to master this maneuver, one of several I should have already learned, and would have, if it were not for years of lying in a sickbed I ah now, not that my performance shows it

I push to ain”

Jaya passes ether for war treods to reward me with a friend like her She will stay out in the cold as long as I ask, exposed to the Alpana Mountains’ wintry moods

I swing the staff at her once more Jaya catches it and yanks back, no hesitancy or leniency in her strength I hang on, and we grip the staff face-to-face, our silvery breaths colliding in the icy air My oes blank I can remember the last book I read and the last sketch I drew, but I cannot remember what to do next

“Spin it fast and pull,” Jaya reminds me

I whip the staff in a dizzying circle Jaya’s wrists cannot rotate with it, and she is forced to let go Finally, I have the upper hand I jam the short end of the staff into her chest She jolts backward and skids on a patch of ice I seize her arm before she falls

“Sorry,” I say “I should have warned you”

“I would have done the same” One corner of Jaya’s mouth curls up “But I would have let you fall”

Rightfully so I cannot be unprepared for h irls at the prelih I finally won roup, but I ahteen-year-olds

I skim the back of my hand across my forehead, relieved to find it cool to the touch My health has improved since Healer Baka first concocted a tonic that lowers my chronic fevers, but I have a lot of time to make up for and a lot of skill to prove

“Up for one more round?” I ask

Jaya brushes her ebony hair from her eyes and takes the staff from me “See if you can stop me this time,” she says

I grin, accepting her challenge She knows thatto increase ods’ virtue, I love her for it

A sudden noise, like rocks being crushed, coh stone temple wall We still and tilt our ears to the wind

Jaya’s gaze intensifies on ons”

By wagons, she means visitors—or, more specifically, men I listen harder to the sounds of their approach Many ender counterparts, but I ashot and start for the gate

“Kali, wait!” Jaya tugs rounds alone”

“So come with me”

She worries her lower lip with her teeth I glance at the gate We do not haveand come for us The tethy winters and to protect our innocence—or ignorance This is our first and limpse an arrival party

Jaya’s gaze flits to the gate “All right Quickly”

We fling open the gate and race to an outcropping overlooking the road, the only thoroughfare leading to and from the Samiya Te Jaya joinsswells I ar stone The sisters have warned us of bhutas hiding in nearby caves No one has seen the evil demons with dark powers, but I want to be prepared

A supply caravan plods into sight, a line of horse-drawn carts loaded ares My belly ruoods was three o

Jaya nudges me with her elbow “Kali, look”