Morning light filtered in through the window, catching dust in the air like it was trying to warm the silence.
Ilya sat on the edge of the bed, lacing his boots slowly, like if he moved too quickly the weight in his chest might follow him out the door.
Behind him, a soft rustle.
Arvid stepped into his room, carrying a folded bundle of dark fabric under one arm. He set it on the table without a word.
Ilya looked up.
"What's that?"
"Clothes," Arvid said. "You'll need them for the road."
Ilya stood and walked over, running a hand across the thick coat on top. It was warm, heavy, lined with wool. He could tell it was old, but kept with care.
"Is it yours?" he asked.
Arvid shook his head. "My brother's."
Ilya blinked. "Wait—you had a brother?!"
Arvid's eyes narrowed, just slightly. "I do."
"Seriously?!" Ilya said, genuinely baffled. "A brother? A human one? Not… like a second rifle or something?"
Arvid crossed his arms.
"I'm allowed to have siblings," he said dryly. "I didn't hatch from snow."
Ilya looked down at the coat again, still half-skeptical. "That's just… hard to picture. Sorry."
Arvid gave him a long, flat look.
"…Try harder," he muttered.
Ilya chuckled under his breath, shaking his head as he picked up the coat. It was too long in the sleeves, the collar a little stiff, but it felt right.
"Thanks," he said, quieter now.
Arvid only nodded, and walked back toward the stove like nothing had happened.
Ilya was still adjusting the coat when a voice rang out from outside.
"Ilyaaa! Hurry up!"
Anna's voice, bright and insistent. "Lilya says we're leaving in five minutes, with or without you!"
Ilya let out a short breath through his nose. Almost a laugh.
He looked to Arvid, who stood by the stove, his hand resting on the kettle, gaze lost somewhere in the steam.
Just as Ilya turned to leave, Arvid spoke quietly.
"Be careful."
Ilya paused.
Arvid still wasn't looking at him, but the edge of a smile crept faintly into the corner of his mouth, small, tired, and maybe a little proud.
Ilya nodded once, pulled on his gloves, and stepped outside.
The cold hit instantly, sharp and clean, not the biting kind, just the kind that cleared your lungs whether you wanted it to or not.
Anna was already bouncing on her heels near the Astra, her scarf flapping like a banner. She grabbed his hand the moment she saw him.
"You took forever," she said, grinning. "Come on, I want the front seat again!"
She dragged him toward Lilya before he could protest.
"I don't like how excited you are about flying on that thing," he muttered.
Lilya was stretching her arms like she was preparing for combat. "Nonsense. She's got the instincts of a falcon."
Ilya stared at the Astra. He already had a bad feeling.
He climbed on behind Anna, clinging to the side rail like a man preparing to die with dignity. The moment Lilya activated her Astra, the engine let out a shriek, and the world dropped beneath them.
He regretted everything instantly.
From inside the cabin, Arvid stood at the frosted window, one hand braced against the frame. He watched them lift into the sky, his eyes unreadable.
Just before the Astra vanished into the clouds, he exhaled slowly.
"Try to hold on, kid."
***
Crystalis was loud before they even landed.
The city unfolded across a series of cliffs and frozen terraces, carved directly into the side of a glacier-fed mountain range.
Sunlight shimmered off polished ice bridges, snow-covered rooftops, and towering chimneys that exhaled great bursts of white steam into the morning sky.
The air smelled like coal, bread, and something vaguely metallic.
From above, it looked like a great stone wheel with layers of rotating life, markets, rail lines, narrow alleys twisted through buildings like ivy. Fires flickered in every direction, not wild, but controlled, contained in rooftop burners, cooking stoves, smithy chimneys.
Lilya dove low into the main avenue, her Astra soaring just over merchant rooftops, kicking loose a few startled pigeons and curses from below.
"Is it always like this?!" Ilya shouted over the wind.
Lilya grinned back at him, her braid whipping sideways. "Only on weekdays!"
They weaved through a narrow corridor between warehouse stacks and a stone tower covered in chimes. Anna held onto the Astra's front grip bar, absolutely beaming, her laughter getting lost in the roar of the engine.
Ilya, wedged behind both of them, clung to the missile like a man being dragged to war by a cannon.
"This is not flying!" he shouted.
Lilya angled upward sharply to avoid a chimney stack.
"It's called arriving with personality!"
She banked hard left, enough to make Ilya's stomach hit his throat, then descended onto a wide landing platform made of stone and steel girders.
They landed with a low clang.
Anna hopped off first. "Can we do that again?"
"No," Ilya said instantly, voice thin.
He slid off the Astra, stumbled a step, and hunched over the edge of the platform.
There was a long pause. Then a very unpleasant sound.
"Oh no," Anna said, taking a hasty step back. "Ilya, not on the boots!"
Lilya tilted her head, completely unfazed. "I did warn you not to eat before takeoff."
Ilya groaned and wiped his mouth with the edge of his sleeve, face pale as frost. "You call that flying?"
"I call it efficient," she said. "One ride, and you lose dinner, fear, and your sense of control, all in ten minutes."
He gave her a long look. "You're a menace."
"Thank you."
They followed her down the platform, Ilya moving like an old man, and Anna skipping like this was the best day of her life.
Crystalis greeted them with a blur of color and noise. City bells ringing the hour, voices yelling over open carts, the clatter of hoofbeats and boots on stone. Steam pipes coiled up walls like vines, and glowing signage in silver script flickered across archways.
Anna spun in a circle, taking it all in. "There's so many people."
Ilya rubbed his temples. "Too many. Too loud. Too… spinning."
Lilya patted his shoulder as they entered the crowd.
"Try not to faint before we find your bed."
They turned into a narrow street packed with open carts and hanging steam lamps, the noise of Crystalis pressing in from every side. Somewhere in the distance, a bell tower rang out a high, shivering note.
Anna darted ahead to look at a vendor selling ice-glazed fruit.
Lilya was humming.
And Ilya?
He didn't flinch when a stray hawker tossed a fish into the air and nearly slapped him in the face.
He didn't react when a flock of carrier pigeons exploded overhead.
He just kept walking, dead-eyed, cloak dragging in the snow.
He wouldn't even be surprised if they fought a dragon next.