Astrid makes a strangled disgruntled noise in the back of her throat.
“You’re from Rivain, right? I’d fucking die.” Odds are that Riftwatch will need some work done and she’ll go there sooner or later, but in the meantime. Every time she tries to sprawl against the bench and get comfortable with an arm slung over its back, they hit another pothole and the whole thing jostles and it feels like she’s going to get flung out of the cart. It’s different from the muscle ache you get from riding a horse too long. This is worse, she decides.
But what’s the coldest she’s ever been—
“Almost got frostbite once,” she muses, and there’s an incongruously wistful sound to her voice, thinking of it. “Was out hunting too late and got stuck out in a snowstorm. Weren’t any caves or buildings nearby, so I had to build myself a shelter. Dug out the side of a snowbank and used a tarp for part of the wall. Eventually got it in a good place where I could start a fire inside, but it was rough going til then.”
If she thinks about it real hard, she can maybe summon up that memory even in this heat: her numb fingertips, her clenched jaw, her body shuddering in cold spasms. Also bad, but in a way she can deal with. You can push through it and force yourself to keep moving for warmth. Here in the heat, she doesn’t want to move at all.
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“You’re from Rivain, right? I’d fucking die.” Odds are that Riftwatch will need some work done and she’ll go there sooner or later, but in the meantime. Every time she tries to sprawl against the bench and get comfortable with an arm slung over its back, they hit another pothole and the whole thing jostles and it feels like she’s going to get flung out of the cart. It’s different from the muscle ache you get from riding a horse too long. This is worse, she decides.
But what’s the coldest she’s ever been—
“Almost got frostbite once,” she muses, and there’s an incongruously wistful sound to her voice, thinking of it. “Was out hunting too late and got stuck out in a snowstorm. Weren’t any caves or buildings nearby, so I had to build myself a shelter. Dug out the side of a snowbank and used a tarp for part of the wall. Eventually got it in a good place where I could start a fire inside, but it was rough going til then.”
If she thinks about it real hard, she can maybe summon up that memory even in this heat: her numb fingertips, her clenched jaw, her body shuddering in cold spasms. Also bad, but in a way she can deal with. You can push through it and force yourself to keep moving for warmth. Here in the heat, she doesn’t want to move at all.