Winter's Ball, Giselle Ava [best books for 8th graders .txt] 📗

to which Alyos responded a simple, “You would not believe how many squats I had to do to achieve this look.” The man then offered them three scarves for the price of one and Alyos nearly bought them.

“Have you ever seen a polynka?” said a man by a large metal cage as he made large, sweeping gesticulations with his longer-than-normal arms. Tasha dropped an apple she had picked up and slowly drifted through the throng towards this man with the cages.

The man eyed her as she drew near. “Behold! Thought extinct until only nine months ago, the mighty polynka is the ultimate household pet! Yes,” he said, directed precisely in Tasha and Alyos’s direction, “believe me when I say you’ve seen nothing like it!”

Tasha flinched as the largest polynka leapt against the cage, causing it to rattle from its post, where it hung from a very thin, very icy-looking chain. The creature seemed innocent, a ball of fur with two tiny chicken legs, tiny wings, and small beady eyes that were stretched wide open but still quite tiny as well. Everywhere it touched, the ice began to melt. Steam vapor rose from its fur.

“A polynka is your own personal fireplace,” the man said as he touched the cage and shook it, causing the fat furry ball to tumble to the other side with a chirp. “The winter may last long, but with this ball of fire at your side, you will never know it was there!”

Tasha stopped in front of him. “You realize it’s the last day of winter.”

“Sorry? Oh.” He paused. “Yes. Well. Yes, I did.”

“It’s the last day of winter. Those things are useless.”

The man paused, then smiled and clapped his hands. “Well, as it would happen, I’ve just come from the north and a cold front gathers there, headed on a southwards trajectory. As winter in Lavus City abates, making way for the breath of spring, a second winter will crash through these city walls and bathe the great city in another blanket of frost! So, you see, my lady, my polynkas won’t be becoming obsolete any time soon.” He leaned in towards her, flicked his eyes towards Alyos, who stood rigidly, staring at the fluffy red creatures. “But when it does come and everybody else is battling frostbite and hypothermia, you will be warm.”

“I see,” Tasha said dryly.

One of the smaller creatures inside a little cage, which contained four of the polynkas, looked up at Tasha with those pinched eyes, but she felt nothing for it.

“They are not illegal creatures—” the man began.

“I figured not,” Tasha cut him off.

“They were extinct—”

“You don’t need to repeat yourself.” She lingered a while back, before walking off and eventually walking right into a bakery where they bought strawberry and cream cakes for lunch and washed it down with tea (Tasha) and whiskey (Alyos).

Sitting opposite Alyos in the street bar a short distance east of the castle grounds, Tasha found herself glancing towards Alyos’s ticking clocks. It was twelve twenty-five and the guests arrived at seven.

Tasha took a bite of her strawberry cake and drank it down with some tea. Alyos drank his whiskey. “The Challans are coming,” he said without much theatre.

“They have never attended a winter’s ball,” Tasha said. “Not since Vamith was king, perhaps not even his father.”

“The court is keeping it secret but I heard it from Oga, who was told by somebody working in the court, close to Lady Mithriv. She’s obviously not happy about it—the last time the Challans were in the west, it was because they were attempting to seize control of our steam cell blueprints. Worst of all, there’s been a shifting of power in Tenniva and Lady Challan now allegedly holds the most power there, even above her imp of a husband.”

Tasha thought about this. Any gossip surrounding the Challans was bound to be exciting, and almost always important. The Challans and Mithrivs tended to be reluctant allies, only because sometime in their history some foolish king signed a dumb treaty declaring it. Lord Pambi Challan was a fat man in his late fifties who had more fat than brains by a large margin but Lady Eveline Challan was his much younger wife, and she was a whole lot more worldly and politically aware. They had two children, twins, one girl and one boy, but both were quite young, nine years old apiece.

Tasha stored this information away.

“Who else?” she asked.

“The usual rabble,” Alyos said, before rattling off a bunch of unimportant names such as the Noviroths, Sharadevs and Ivalons. Tasha immediately discarded the information. “I am very much excited to continue with the baron of Toro our annual discussion of modern-day fashion and the depressing turn for the worse it has taken in recent times. That man has such an exceptional eye for it. Though, to my bitter disappointment, I have heard he became betrothed to some witch, and another excursion to Lavus City may be off the cards.”

“Shame,” Tasha said.

Alyos narrowed his eyes.

“He was a creepy old pervert,” Tasha said brusquely, ending the conversation right there.

The snowfall picked up again at around three o’clock in the afternoon, which was about the time when Alyos checked one of his watches and said they’d best be parting ways. Tasha returned to the castle with a half-full stomach and in good spirits, drawing up her hood so that it shielded her from the winds. She prayed last night’s storm did not return, but by the harsh howling of the winds, the plunging temperature, and the increasing hail from above, she decided not to let her good mood be dictated by that highly unlikely scenario.

Before stepping through the castle gateway, she stopped. She glanced over her shoulder, her hair blowing out from underneath the cowl and flapping against her red cheeks. Hazes of mist drifted across the ground like tumbleweed. Flags whipped about on straining wooden posts. A voice rumbled from the training grounds, easily distinguishable as the master of war, Nikolas. It was