Book One – Chapter 15

But now, as she stood in the firelight and discarded both her cloak and the thin robe she wore beneath her armour, Yu understood why she had kept herself hidden: her exoskeleton was not raw bone, nor the rough, grey-white, matte material he had come to associate with the kyrthik of his homeland. No, Harrow’s body was made of the most startling crystalline substance. Her upper torso was covered in intricate, multi-layered structures, forming a seamless, natural armour. Her elongated body bore a shimmering, breastplate-like formation. Her multi-jointed limbs ended in sharp, claw-like protrusions that shifted from an almost transparent exoskeleton to the rough, matte extensions that formed her fingers.

In the fire’s glow, the crystalline surfaces caught the light, refracting it in shimmering hues. It was a sharp contrast to the brittle, organic forms of her kin. Yu stared at her from across the fire. Her body seemed to be wrapped in liquid gemstones.

Yu was captivated by her appearance. Where just moments ago he had struggled to keep his eyes open, now he could not look away. It was not that she was suddenly … beautiful — at least not in the way that Yu recognised beauty in fina, tairan or human women, or even in the borminna. No, she was not beautiful like a person was beautiful. She was beautiful like … a place. In the firelight, the smooth, crystalline structures of her body reminded him of a calm river catching the early morning sunlight, warm and tranquil.

“Yesss, what do you need, Yu?” she stared back, her gaze locking with his.

Yu flinched. He had been so fixated on her form that he had not realised she had caught his stare.

“Nothing,” he burstled out. In truth, he needed far too many things, but what was the point? Then again, what was there to lose? “What’s with your body?”

“What?”

“Why do you shimmer like that? This isn’t normal for a kyrthik.”

“Funny, you say that.”

“What?” Yu sat up in his sleeping bag.

She held his gaze with eerie intent, then very obviously looked him up and down, as if she mustered him through all of his blankets.

He stared, utterly confused. “So … is it normal?” he asked.

There was another long pause as she studied him. “No,” she finally answered. “Is not.” She gave a series of her many strange guttural sounds, none of which Yu could interpret, before some more actual words came out of her: “I am Witch-Blessed. Blessed, yesss, by frost.”