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The room was growing colder, and the way the water lay on their clothes and skin, while initially a welcome sensation, now began to chill them.
Niko splashed their face with some of the water from a trickle in the wall, wiping at their eyes with their damp sleeve and taking an unsteady breath. Nashi’s shard wouldn’t hold, not forever, yet every time they tried to summon the strength to dissolve the shards and tell him, something tightened painfully inside them, and they couldn’t bring themself to do it. They came back to the bridge Winter was sitting on, sighing as they surveyed the room. The farther reaches were obscured by the mist kicked up from the falling water, but every now and then they caught shadows moving in the deep, its sinuous body just visible enough to unnerve them. They thought of Theros’ leviathans, of Koma and his coils.
Niko shuddered.
They reached into their pocket, their fingers brushing against the three shards containing Nashi and his friends. And then a fourth, which momentarily startled them. They’d forgotten that they’d brought it.
They drew this one forth, a gilded brightness spilling from it and casting its light onto them.
The shard exuded a gentle warmth as they held it close and shut their eyes, letting the sweet rays of sunlight wash over them in an infinitely soft caress. It summoned memories soaked in the golden light of better, safer, happier times. It eased their soul.
Niko cradled this sliver of the sun close, letting it revitalize them, chasing away the encroaching cold. Eventually they opened their eyes, rolled their shoulders back, and took a deep breath. It wasn’t a panacea, of course, but was nonetheless soothing. They suspended the shard in the air and rotated it gently, letting light this room had never seen dance over the Floodpits falls, highlighting the depths and making stray droplets glitter. The skull-shaped sconces otherwise illuminating the room seemed dim by comparison.
Its honey-hued glow dappled the rippling pools and brought new detail to the bridge beneath them, coaxing forth previously-unknown complexity to the sable wood as it cast long beams over the aged planks. Even the hand-shaped sculptures seemed less eerie when the golden radiance brushed against them.
This was the first time the House had seen sunlight since the Ascension, and it was positively baffled by the prospect.
“What… what is that?”
Niko tore their eyes from the hopeful luminescence and turned their gaze to Winter, who was watching the flaxen light with a mixture of caution and wonder.
”It’s sunlight. …I brought it to remind myself and my allies. To give us hope, or brighten the way if we needed it.”
“It’s incredible,”
Winter breathed. Niko held the shard out to him; his eyes tracked the movement. He took it carefully, as if it were a goblet brimming with the Cosmos Elixir, and was still for a long time. In the right light, they saw a tear running down his face.
“I… this is…”
His words trailed off into stunned silence. Niko nodded.
It was some time before Winter spoke again, in a voice so quiet they could barely hear it over the whisper of falling water.
“Thank you.”
Niko slid the shard of sunlight back into their pocket. The room became more ominous once again, the shadows suddenly deeper, with no telling what the water concealed. The temperature dropped further, draining the warmth the light had given with redoubled effort. Gooseflesh rose on their arms, and they pulled their knees to their chest as they sat.
“The House certainly knows how to make its displeasure felt,”
They mused. Winter snorted.
”It doesn’t take kindly to its rooms being destroyed. This is a warning. If we do that again, it will be… less polite.”
”We didn’t have a choice.”
”The House doesn’t care.”
“Sounds like it needs different priorities.”
That drew a faint chuckle from Winter, something mirthful flickering in his eyes. A small grin spread across Niko’s face.
The lull wouldn’t be forever; the House would reach the limits of its mercy, and only it knew when that threshold would be crossed.
But for now, at least, things were calm.