Friendship in the Far South

Harkwin slumped back down on the rocky ground right next the hot spring, and Nacen leaned against his side. The two of them were completely enclosed by a thick dome of ice and snow, which entirely blocked out the storm and left them no view of the outside.

Inside they had several crates of food rations and water packs, along with sleeping bags and other miscellaneous equipment. And of course, there was that circular pool of water—the hot spring was still bubbling, but it was noticeably smaller than it had been before. They had partially drained the water to make their snowy hut, though the pool would slowly refill over time.

Leaning against Harkwin, Nacen rested her head on his shoulder. "Done. We're finally done. Is it enough?"

The air felt very humid but most importantly, it was warm. Harkwin unfurled one wing and used his wingtip to prod at the snowy walls, carefully testing their strength. Vapour from the bubbling hot spring was condensing onto the wall, and he could see droplets of water sliding down the surface. "Will the walls be adequate insulation? I don't want to freeze. But then again, if it gets too warm in here the walls might melt."

"Uncertain. It all depends on how cold the storm gets." Slowly dragging her paws, Nacen took the two sleeping bags and tossed them out onto the flat, rocky ground right next to the hot spring. These sleeping bags were large, proper pieces of equipment with a padded layer to soften the ground, and a thick but lightweight quilt layer for insulation. "We have shelter, and we have a heat source in form of that hot spring. It might be enough. I hope..." Nacen yawned widely, then she adjusted the sleeping bags to get them flattened out and neat. "Whew. I'm so tired... I haven't used that much magic at once for a long, long time."

Harkwin almost laughed. "I've been flying all day, racing against the storm! I bet I'm more tired than you." Lying down on one of the sleeping bags, he stretched himself out. His muscles felt so sore, all over his whole body from head to tail. Nacen's yawn had been contagious, and Harkwin found himself yawning too. "So much effort just to build some shelter. I really hope we don't freeze to death."

"I'm too young to die," Nacen muttered. "And I have far too many things I haven't yet done in my life."

"Yeah... I agree." Harkwin tried to swallow, but his mouth and throat felt very dry. "My throat's parched—I need a drink." Harkwin pushed himself into a sitting position and reached for the water packs stored in his flight harness, but they were all frozen solid from the time they spent working in the cold of the storm. "Oh, my water's all frozen up."

"We have a boiler here." Nacen got to her feet. "And a drink sounds like an excellent idea! I'm going to boil some water and make some tea." She trotted over towards the pile of equipment and supplies at the side of the snow hut. "We can have supper too, while we're at it. You must be hungry after flying all the way out here... and after all that cold we went through, building this shelter."

Harkwin nodded. "A meal would be nice."

Nacen took out a small boiler unit and filled it with a few water packets which had been kept inside an insulated crate and weren't yet frozen. The boiler was roughly similar in design to the oil lamp which was lighting up the hut, except that its flame burned hotter and was meant to heat up a tank of water. Then both dragons sat back and watched the small device as it slowly warmed up.

After a moment, Nacen turned back to the supply pile and started looking for food. "Now let's see what's on the menu today."

Harkwin walked over as well, and he used his tail to snag the oil lamp's carrying handle and bring it over for more light. Both dragons searched through a wooden crate which was filled with food rations. Some of the food had been freshly grown in the greenhouses at Central Camp, but mostly it was sealed food packets that contained dehydrated meals.

Looking through all the different meal packs, Harkwin picked a packet of beef stew, while Nacen grabbed a packet of steamed fish. The meals were all precooked within their respective packets, but then the water had been extracted to reduce weight. This dehydration, coupled with the extreme cold of the far south, meant that these meal packets could easily last through all the months of the expedition and possibly for years beyond that. The only downside was that this generally resulted in a lack of texture and taste, but bland food was better than no food. With their choice of food decided, they had nothing to do but wait for the boiler to finish its work.

Harkwin picked up a ration bar of compacted, dried nuts and fruits, and he gnawed on the snack as he waited. Meanwhile, Nacen took out an empty cylindrical metal drinking flask and scattered a few tea leaves inside it, taken from one specific pouch of her flight harness. The bubbling cavitation of the boiler sounded eerily similar to the rumble of the wind outside.

"Could we just use the boiling water from the hot spring?" Harkwin wondered aloud. "Or would that give us food poisoning?"

Nacen casually gestured towards the hot spring, and tendrils of magic extended from her paw towards the pool of water. A sphere of water lifted out of the hot spring, but then dropped back down as Nacen released her magic. "Using the spring water to clean scales is fine, but drinking? Probably not such a good idea. There aren't any germs—it's just too hot for that. However, the mineral content is so high that the water probably tastes very strange, and it might upset your stomach. I wouldn't recommend drinking it unless we run out of purified water."

"At that point we could just boil snow to get more water," Harkwin replied.

"True."

Once the water inside the boiler unit was vigorously bubbling, Nacen carefully poured it out into their respective meal packets, before adding the rest into her drinking flask to make tea. Harkwin swirled his packet around, getting the water to mix with the thick, sloppy brown mixture that was supposed to be a beef stew.

Even while it was still piping hot, Nacen took a bite of her steamed fish—which was also more like a stew as well, from the rehydration process. "Mmh. Not bad. How's your stew?"

Harkwin took a sip of his own meal, but he put down the packet and shook his head. "Too hot! I'm going to let it cool down for a bit."

"You don't like hot meals?"

"Warm meals are alright, but not hot. I don't like hot meals or hot drinks," Harkwin said.

"Really?" Nacen looked mildly intrigued. "But it's... we're in the polar south. You don't take hot things?"

Harkwin shook his head. "That's just a personal preference. I once scalded my tongue when I was young hatchling, and eating hot things was never very enticing after that."

Nacen chuckled amusedly. "Hmm. I don't judge! But I think it's nice to have something warm inside me."

Harkwin laughed too. "Hah."

As he waited for his meal to cool, Harkwin carefully refilled the oil lamp from a small metal fuel barrel that was amongst the supplies they'd carried over from Outpost 20. Oil was one of the resources that the expedition had quickly found here in the far south—it wasn't something particularly useful to bring back to the City of Wings, but out here in the far south, oil could be used to power lamps, boilers, and heaters for the expedition's use. Outpost 4 was a small mine which dug up the blackish liquid from underground, for use in other outposts and in Central Camp.

This oil lamp had lasted throughout the course of the construction of this snow hut, as he and Nacen had worked out in the storm, but now it was running low on oil and the flame was visibly weaker than before. As Harkwin refuelled it, the oil lamp burned brighter again and cast out its illumination across the inside of the snow hut. Nacen nodded approvingly.

Harkwin then started eating his food, which had cooled down quickly—it wasn't tasty, but it filled his stomach and would restore his spent strength. Just as that oil lamp needed its fuel, he needed food. Even as he slowly ate his meal, Nacen had been chowing down on her own meal and seemed to be almost done. She took a sip of her tea, then offered the flask towards Harkwin. "Want some?"

"I..."

"Or is it too hot for you?" Nacen lifted the flask to her muzzle and blew out a small jet of her own frostbreath. The magically cooled air washed across the flask, and ice crystals briefly blossomed on the tea's surface before melting away into the rest of the liquid. "Better now?"

"Probably. Thank you very much." Harkwin took the flask from her. He took a sip, and the warm liquid tasted fragrant as it slid down his throat. "Mmh. This is good tea. You must have brought the leaves yourself? This tastes better than the stuff they make back in Central."

"Oh yes. I can't stand that sweetened powder mix they use." Nacen took her flask and had another gulp of the tea, then she passed it back to Harkwin. "Alright then! Food and drinks—if not for the terrible storm raging outside, this would almost be exactly like just any normal meal I had. The company's infinitely better than usual, too."

Harkwin smiled. He enjoyed being with Nacen, even if it was a shame that it had been such harsh circumstance which had forced them into this scenario. "Until we freeze to death, we'll make the best of it."

"I like the sound of that. We have food, we have drinks, and it's just the two of us together. Let's just ignore the storm and pretend this is like... any regular day at the outpost." Hopping to her feet, Nacen shook herself all over, which dislodged a loose scale from a spot on her neck. "I need to... Hmm. Where's the toilet bucket? I need to urinate."

Harkwin raised an eye ridge. "Toilet bucket?"

"Oh yes. Outposts don't have fancy waste reclamation systems like back in Central Camp. There's always a pit latrine dug a short distance away from each outpost, along with a few bucket toilets as a backup." Searching through the pile of supplies, Nacen took out what Harkwin had assumed to be another cylindrical metal barrel—but instead this revealed itself to be a metal bucket with a sealable removable lid, half filled with some sort of clay or sand. "This is the real adventurer's life for you, letting yourself go into a bucket. Just make sure you don't miss, and don't tip over the bucket. And keep the lid shut after you're done, so that the clay inside will absorb the smell."

"That makes sense," Harkwin agreed. Although he had never actually spent a night out in one of the expedition's many outposts, they would obviously have fewer amenities than Central Camp, and sanitation was clearly one of those aspects. Being on an expedition required much sacrifice compared to the comforts of drakken civilization, and this one was just one small part of that.

Lifting the bucket by its handle, Nacen went over to the far side of the snow hut. The aerotow rope which they'd been using earlier was still connecting their flight harnesses, but the close confines of their shelter meant that there was easily enough room for them to move all about without even stretching the rope taut. Harkwin averted his gaze as Nacen relieved herself—partially to give her some privacy, and partially because he was still finishing up his food.

When Nacen was done, she sealed up the bucket and left it at the side of the shelter. She trotted back to the sleeping bags and lay down again, then she turned on her side and stared at Harkwin, who was still eating slowly. "So! Harkwin, let's chat. I've been curious. Tell me—why'd you come here?"

"Why did I come here? Hmm. That's a question." As he thought about it, Harkwin took another sip of the tea. "The sedentary life always seemed... a bit too ordinary for me. After I finished advanced vocational training for my air affinity, I heard about an expedition heading out to explore the far south and thought that it sounded exciting. So I applied, and got a job as a recon scout." Harkwin paused to slurp up another soft chunk of beef from his stew. "To come out here to the unknown, braving the dangers to search out new land, with so many new things we could learn and discover—I'm not quite sure why, but I find that deeply appealing."

Nacen's crest fin twitched, and she let out a giggle. "Haha. You've got hope! I admire that. The open sky called to you, and you listened."

"I guess so." Harkwin swallowed down the last of his stew, then he took the empty meal packets and put them by the side of the snow hut next to the bucket toilet. Given that they would be spending the next few days stuck in this tiny snow shelter, keeping things organized was essential, and waste ought to go with waste.

"But what about you? Why'd you come here?" he asked, nodding towards Nacen.

Shuffling her wings, Nacen scratched at an itch on her neck. "You know... Whenever anyone asked me why I came on this expedition, I have always told them some variant of what you just said. When the research team leaders interviewed me and asked about my motivations, I always talked about how I loved scientific exploration and learning. But honestly... that was only part of the reason why I came here. There were other reasons too."

"Such as?" Harkwin prompted.

Nacen laughed again, sounding slightly embarrassed. She let out a sigh and shook her head. "Huuuh... Honestly, it was money? Money! This expedition pays really well, and... uh... my clan is a... not a tier one clan, in terms of financials. Going on this expedition seemed like a good way to make contacts and advance my career faster."

Harkwin laughed too, but not in a mocking manner, but from amusement. "Haha, really? You came all the way out here, braved all the dangers of the polar south, and gave away more than half a year of your life just for the pay?"

"It's good pay! I do enjoy doing the science, and the landscape here is beautiful in a bleak way, but yes, it was the pay numbers which got me interested in this expedition in the first place," Nacen admitted. "Risk pays well. Of course, I guess that means nothing if we end up freezing to death in this storm. Good pay is only an advantage if we survive to make it back to the city."

Harkwin just grinned. "Interesting motivation..."

Nacen stuck her tongue out at him. "You judgemental, smug scout, you! I bet you come from some rich clan, and that's why you have the freedom to come here just purely for the adventurousness and the exploration and all those other high-minded ideals. I came here to do a tough, challenging job well, in return for proper compensation and advancement. I'm a pragmatist, and I don't apologize for that."

"I never said you had to. You're out here exploring the world and being a pioneer, and that's the important bit," Harkwin told her, and he honestly wasn't judging Nacen. Everyone was different and had different beliefs, and he couldn't fault her for having her own reasons for coming on this expedition.

Taking a deep breath, Nacen slumped back against the sleeping bag and wrapped her wings around herself. For a moment Harkwin thought she was going to sleep, but then she blinked her eyes open and stared at him again. "As enlightening as this conversation has been, you misunderstood my question."

"Explain?" Harkwin prompted.

"When I was asking you why you came here, I wasn't asking you about your reasons for coming on the polar expedition as a whole. I was specifically asking why you came here to Outpost 20." Nacen glanced away, and she used her paws to idly play with the tip of her tail. "This whole... coming out here to get me... thing. Why'd you do it?"

Harkwin replied instantly, because this seemed obvious to him. "I came because I had to. The storm was coming faster than expected, so all the outposts had to be warned."

"But did you know of the danger? I was thinking about it, even as we were building this shelter—when you flew into the outpost and told me to evacuate, you sounded scared."

"Because I was," Harkwin admitted. "Back at Central Camp, Legrane—the scout leader—didn't want me to come here after we got the updated weather data. He said it was too risky, but I said we couldn't just assume you would have seen the storm coming." Shrugging, Harkwin stared at the oil lamp's flickering flame. "I just... Someone had to come warn you about the storm. I knew it was a danger to me too, but I came anyway. I suppose that makes me foolish."

"That's not the word I would use." Nacen's gaze was distant as she stared at the shelter's wall, looking contemplative. "I would call it brave. Maybe heroic. Thank you for that."

"You're welcome," Harkwin replied. He wasn't sure what else to add to that.

Nacen shifted her gaze to watch him—just staring at him with an expression he couldn't quite read. "If you weren't here, I would probably have frozen to death in my sleep, back in that tent. Even if I'd woken up as the winds tore apart the tent, I wouldn't have been able to build this whole snow shelter on my own—not fast enough before the storm froze me." Their gazes held for a few, long seconds, then Nacen blinked and shuddered all over. "I don't want to die. I want to live, and Harkwin I... um... hmm." Shaking her head, Nacen walked over to the messy pile of equipment and supplies and began organizing them.

"No use worrying about the storm. Just make the best of your life, for as long as you can." Lying down on the sleeping bag, Harkwin lazily pulled the release straps of his flight harness, and he rolled his shoulders to let the gear slip off his body. He put the flight harness aside, with all its various pouches still intact. It was more comfortable to lie down now, without those straps and pouches all held against his body and getting in the way. Idly, Harkwin noticed that that rope they'd been using for the aerotow was still connecting both his own flight harness and Nacen's flight harness. Why hadn't they disconnected that before they'd even landed here? Pushing himself to his feet, he strolled over towards Nacen.

Nacen was still organizing the supply pile, but she froze up as Harkwin approached her. She watched him with her wide, dark eyes, going completely still except for her crest fin, which perked straight up off her head. Harkwin even noticed that she shivered slightly when he reached his paw towards her. Nevertheless he didn't think much of this odd behaviour, and simply unclipped the shackle from Nacen's flight harness. Going back to his own sleeping bag, he lay down again and started coiling up the tow rope to put it back in its pouch. "Are you cold? You're shivering."

Nacen's crest fin drooped, and she shifted her weight between her paws. "I'm not shivering. I was trembling. I thought you were going to... well... hmmm... Ah, whatever. If we're going to freeze in the next few days, why am I even hesitating?" In a quick motion Nacen slipped off the shoulders straps of her own flight harness and shrugged her gear off. After impatiently kicking the harness aside, Nacen hesitantly took a step towards Harkwin, then she darted forward and dragged the other sleeping bag over so that it was right next to the one Harkwin was already sitting on. Then she lay down right beside him and leaned up against his side.

Noting the beige-scaled female pressed right up against him, Harkwin raised an eye ridge. "You... are very close now. Are you sure you're not cold?"

Nacen giggled, and she shifted her weight to rub herself against his side. "Hehe. Do I feel cold?"

Harkwin had to admit that she did not. Nacen's scales felt warm and smooth as they slid against his. "You feel warm. This is... actually very comfortable."

"Ohhh yes. Yes it is. Hmmrrr..." Nacen made a pleased, rumbling noise from the back of her throat. Reaching around, she grabbed Harkwin's wing and unfurled it so that it covered her back like a blanket. "Hug me, please."