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Winter had finally arrived. A strong chill was in the air, and it seemed to not have any plans to leave. The first snow had fallen the day before, and Kremy and Gideon had been lucky enough to be inside, watching as the first flakes fell.
Their luck, as it usually did, ran out at the worst time. A tall, bulky half-orc had caught on to the con the pair were attempting to pull off, and, well, the results weren’t exactly good ones. So the Genasi and the Lizardfolk made the decision to take their leave. Except the town they resided in wasn’t exactly local to… anything.
With little chance of not being ganged up on by an entire town, Kremy and Gideon left. For a little while, they at least had the graces of a faint traveling path. That passed, though, when the snow covered the path and years of lack of use kept what could have been the trail littered with trees and nature’s debris.
That left them to fend for themselves. Kremy came through this way once or twice before, so they had a little leverage and weren’t completely traveling through the snowy woods blindly, but that was years ago, and as much as Kremy hated to admit it, he couldn’t remember every single detail of his previous journey.
So they were doing their best.
Snow began to slowly dissipate as time went on. The clouds above them, though, warned of even more snowfall.
At the evening’s arrival, the pair (or, rather, Gideon) set up the little campsite.
Kremy brought out his pot and had to rely on the Genasi to set fire to the frozen wood the alligator collected. It wasn’t easy working in the cold. Kremy’s hands shook with each movement and starting up his gumbo in this weather was no easy feat. The reward, though, was what kept Kremy from stopping and letting his hands warm up by the fire.
Gideon sat across from Kremy as the Lizardfolk worked to build his usual masterpiece. Unlike Kremy, Gideon seemed to have no problem in the cold. He’d rub his hands on occasion, but he was far from as shaken by the cold as Kremy. The Genasi’s focus wasn’t on the cold, instead it remained on Kremy, Gideon’s brightly colored eyes watching the alligator do his work.
Little words were spoken, yet it was a comfortable silence that sat between them. In a different scenario, Kremy would be humming to himself a light tune, and maybe Gideon would ask what song he was humming. But there was nothing of the sort tonight.
Gumbo was served at last. Gideon gave his thanks, and of course compliments, to the chef, before starting at the hot meal immediately. Kremy, for the moment, felt relieved to have something to warm his hands while he wanted for the meal to cool down enough to not burn him, and he sure was glad to not have to wait long.
The pair talked when they felt like it, overly enjoying the hot meal in the cold weather they found themselves in.
With some leftover for the next day, the gumbo was finished as it completed its task in providing warm, full bellies. The area around the pair had already begun to darken. After some time, the two agreed it would be best to get some rest. Kremy simply wanted to curl up beneath his blanket and get warm, even if his mind told him it was too early to sleep.
So they said a quick goodnight to each other and separated to their respective tents.
Kremy found no sleep. His blanket all of a sudden felt far too thin. He hated it. Kremy pulled the blanket tighter around himself, letting out a small, aggravated noise. He could feel his entire body shiver beneath the cold that laid around him. It felt as though the only sound he could hear was the sound of his teeth chattering. The warmth of his gumbo had long since faded, but Kremy clinged to the memory of it, silently hoping doing so would bring the feeling of warmth back.
Nothing of the sort happened. The lack of warmth only reminded Kremy of how cold he really was.
In the adjacent tent, Gideon found little sleep. Sleep caught up to him fast after shutting his eyes. Yet the dreams he had were filled with the sounds of a train whistle and the feeling of his own energy being taken from him. It was with another blasting, ear-splitting whistle that Gideon awoke. The Genasi huffed. It looked like he wasn’t going to be getting much sleep tonight, as it had been the majority of nights for the past couple of months. When the dreams— no, memories— of the train came, they were persistent. Gideon could rarely find a break.
So, like many nights before, Gideon looked up at the tent’s pointed ceiling and hoped that perhaps a dreamless sleep would find him soon.
What found himself instead, however, was whatever was making movements outside of his tent. Gideon caught sight of the faint shadow and had kept his eyes locked on it. The shadow seemed closer to Kremy’s tent, though it often seemed to be still and unmoving. Like a predator waiting for the perfect time to pounce. Gideon watched it for a few minutes, and it never really did anything. Until it started moving towards Gideon’s tent instead.
As it drew closer, Gideon started to make out the outlines and details of the shadow, as he recognized the familiar outline of a Lizardfolk. The shadow wasn’t a predator about to attack Kremy, it was Kremy.
The Genasi was already sitting up by the time Kremy opened the door to his tent.
“Hey, Gid?” Kremy’s tone sounded hesitant and unsure, and Gideon caught the look of brief confusion on the alligator’s face at the Genasi’s already alert form in the darkness.
Gideon responded, his voice on the gruffer side. “Yeah, Kremy? What’s up?”
There came no immediate reply, but Gideon took notice of the way Kremy had his arms wrapped around himself, the way the Lizardfolk shivered and shook. And, oh, that made sense.
“Why don’t you come in, man?” Gideon offered, scooting to the side of his tent to give Kremy room. It would be tight— it already was with just Gideon— but there could be room for the two of them. When Kremy looked relieved, Gideon felt he had made the right choice making that offer.
“You don’t mind—?”
“If you stay here?” Gideon finished. “Not at all. You look freezing as all shit, least I can do is offer you some warmth.”
Kremy smiled, and that made Gideon feel warmer than he had when eating the gumbo. The warlock entered the tent and slowly got comfortable at Gideon’s side.
“That any better?” Asked Gideon.
“Sure is” came the quiet response, and it sounded like Kremy was already falling asleep at Gideon’s side. “Merci, mon cher.”
Gideon didn’t even get the chance just what those foreign-sounding words meant before he could hear Kremy snoring softly.