Moonstone Quarry The world that hardens as the harsher winter holds

The silence settled once more like snowfall; soft, but thick with meaning. His words lingered in her ears long after they were spoken, quiet truths laid bare in a voice that did not beg for pity, only remembrance. She did not look at him. Instead, her gaze remained forward, fixed on the path where light filtered dimly through the trees. But inside, something shifted.
How strange it was, to feel a flicker of warmth in a story that was not hers. Stranger still, to feel the ache of something familiar, though she would never name it. Bright, and warm; her thoughts turned to things she rarely allowed herself to feel; those brief moments in younger days, when someone’s presence had made her feel less like ice and more like water. Before the cracking, before the frost.
The frostmaiden said nothing at first. She didn’t trust her voice; not with feelings she had never spoken aloud, not even to herself. But after a beat, she offered something quieter than a whisper, something fragile but sincere. „Then you are not alone in remembering her.” It was the closest she could come to comfort, and more than she had given anyone in years.
Aneira’s gaze dropped briefly to the earth below her paws, the dirt and snow mingling like past and present. Her breath caught on something unspoken, and she let it go with a soft exhale; „Enduring…” she echoed, almost to herself. „It’s a cold thing. But you… you have warmth enough to carry her still.”
She didn’t look to see if he heard. Some things were meant to be given, not acknowledged. Instead, she pressed forward through the hush of the woods, carrying with her a silence that no longer felt so sharp.