Blue Solstice

When the first true snow of winter came, the years lessons came to a close. Hundreds of wealthy children, and many times their number of loyal servants loaded into ornate carriages and left. They went to see their families over the cold winter months, they would be back on the first day of spring to begin their next year of lessons at the mages academy, located on the mages guild grounds in the corrupt city of Iacet.
Many of the guild mages stayed, the seer of this guilds chapter rarely left his tower room, the brooding  and bald chancellor of the academy likewise stayed. A few servants, and most of the local guild members lived in the tower year round. The masters and mistresses from the four elemental students dorms locked their doors and left to live in the city as soon as their last students had left.

Amalie was the only student to remain behind. She had no carriage waiting to take her home, and not enough money to afford a place in the city with coal to last the winter. But she had master Zahid, the guilds blacksmith, she was his part time apprentice and he was letting her stay on a cot in the workshop.
The fires burned year round and even the coldest winter night could not penetrate the warmth in the building.
Amalie was happy, though the first day had not started well.

On the last day of lessons the chancellor had come down to see her.
He had confronted her as she was leaving for her morning lessons, he shooed master Gerald and Mistress Chancey from the dining area so they could speak in private.
“I had hoped you would have left long before this time. You have no idea the trouble you have caused me girl. Every day a new message arrives from a noble family demanding I remove you, or even kill you. They are all threatening to pull their children, and their money, from my academy and send them to one of the other academies.” He told her, his voice quiet, but seething with frustration.

“My own teachers threaten to have me removed as chancellor, it is only through the word of our seer that I can avoid open rebellion from them. Soon enough he will tire of the novelty of having a bloodless peasant child here and then I can remove you, and I will enjoy removing you from here.” He said.

Amalie was stunned into silence. She had no idea that so many people hated her, people who had never met her wanted her gone. The chancellor continued.

“But you will make a mistake long before that, I can guarantee it. Your kind cannot help their incompetence, their corruption. Oh I see the servants drinking in my halls, stealing their masters belongings, gossiping and lazing about. The lot of you deserve your place at the bottom, pretenders like you who think they can climb above their station never last.  Sooner or later your true nature will reveal itself and I can kick you out, and hopefully throw you in jail too. Oh, how fortunate that would be.” He smiled and absently wiped a bead of sweat from his bald pate.
He poked her in her shoulder.
“You will not last a second year girl. I will make certain of it.” With that, he turned and left the dormitory. Chancey and Gerald poked their heads trough the office doorway, they gave her evil, knowing smiles. Amalie left before they could do something bad.

Amalie had finished her last days lessons without further incident. Then, when everyone else seemed to be packing up to leave, Amalie had gone to master Zahids workshop, her meagre belongings clutched in a bundle under her arm, her friend the blue jay flying behind her.
Zahid welcomed her in, he set up a folding cot and then he had begun instructing her on the fine points of making jewelry. Her blue jay found a perch near the roof and was content to stay out of the way and watch, his little blue bell tinkling as he fluttered in the rafters. Zahid tolerated it, mostly he would simply frown at the bird, but he said nothing unless he was shooing it away from his tools or his supper.

The two of them quickly fell into a pleasant rhythm. In the morning Amalie would fill the coal hoppers, stoke the fires, and ready the tools. Then a light breakfast and she began whatever lesson Zahid had laid out for her, whether it be making chains, creating wax moulds, or polishing gems.
While she worked, Zahid would set about completing maintenance work for the guild, he would sharpen spears and swords, make armour pieces, and repair old hinges and the like, stopping only to check on Amalie.
Then, after a break for tea it was back to work, Amalie would study Zahids books on gems, or jewelry making, and he would work on his commissions, usually pots and pans or ornate fence toppers and door knockers. Zahid, though he moved slowly, planned his work well enough that he could have three jobs going at once.
Amalie would sometimes stop and simply watch as he glided about his workshop, even when smoke and cinders filled the forge and blinded him, he never missed a step. This was his place and he knew where everything was by heart. His focus was absolute, and it showed in his handiwork.

After the days work was done, Zahid would open the back door, for an hour customers, and guild guards and servants would come to retrieve their commissions, or request new ones. Amalie would take this time to clean up and put tools away. Then they would sit down to a hearty dinner.
Zahid would have a drink and sometimes tell stories of his life before coming to Iacet city to work for the guild.
At first he was reluctant to say much of his time as a master jeweller in a southern town at the edge of the greater deserts, or of his lost wife and daughter. But as the winter months dragged on and the snows piled up he began to open up. Amalie was fascinated by his life, and the exotic culture he had grown up in, he was patient enough to explain every strange new thing she asked about. Eventually he was speaking freely of his wife, who had been a priestess, and of his daughter, who had idolized him and his work making beautiful things.
Amalies own stories were not nearly as exciting, or fascinating as his. But he seemed to enjoy hearing about her small peasant town at the edge of a large forest, of the simple people who worked for the local baron. He even liked hearing about Amalies own family, her older sister, and her mother and father, he said he liked to know some families were still happy and together somewhere.

Then Amalie would work on focusing and projecting her magic before settling into her cot between all the fires for the night.
For the first time since arriving at the academy Amalie had no nightmares, no voice whispering for help as she drifted off to sleep. Her days and nights were pleasant, and almost fun.

Their rhythm was interrupted only twice. Once on the eve, and day of, of the winter solstice, Zahid surprised Amalie by closing his shop.
"My people have no special rituals for this time of year, but at the peak of the summer heat we are expected to come inside as a family and do no work, have no quarrels, and enjoy a feast equally, servants and masters alike in gratitude and friendship, then retire to our faiths to pray and practice our worships. The summers here are not so hot, and strangely your year begins in the biting cold of winters night, instead of the cleansing warmth of summers day, but little work may be done in both cases, so I think it is almost the same." He said with a rare smirk and a deep belly chuckle.
"I think we can embrace a bit of both cultures today. For the first time since I arrived, this truly feels like the beginning of a new year." He said as he hung the closed sign.
"I do not worship Gods, but my dear Diya became a priestess because of her love of the new year. We will celebrate it in the old ways for her, and for you so far from your family."

They played card games, ate candy and drank tea, for supper Zahid cooked a whole chicken, a pile of sliced potatoes, gravy, fresh rolls, a heaping salad filled with odd vegetables Amalie had never seen before, with a deliciously nutty oil drizzled on top. They ate until their bellies were ready to burst, Zahid even had a bag of mixed nuts and seeds for the blue jay. The rest of the night they snacked on strange dried fruit, sweeter than any candy Amalie had ever tasted long past their usual bed time. Zahid Insisted they eat, and though she was full, the fruit was no real chore to consume.
 Late into the evening, Zahid insisted that they begin a fast from midnight to midnight, all day they would take short walks into the courtyard, Zahid would stomp down the snow and Amalie would follow along in his boot prints. The snow wasn't deep, but it wasn't pleasant when it went down the tops of her shoes. They would for many walk for many minutes, until the heat from the forge was gone and they could feel the chill bite of winter, Zahid always felt cold long before Amalie.

After a few forays Zahid laughed, but would not tell Amalie why, he simply grabbed her hand and they ran back to his shop. He pulled out a ladder, normally used for cleaning out the chimneys, and told her to climb to the top.
Amalie looked out on the courtyard, she saw that their steps had formed a rather obscene symbol, one that spanned the entire courtyard. Amalie almost fell off the ladder she was laughing so hard.
Zahid told her that the fast was for spiritual renewal, a fresh start to a new year. But the rituals said nothing about obscene symbols tracked into the snow. They spent midnight together staring up at the stars and shifting lights as Zahid told the legends behind the few constellations he knew this far up north. They then lit cleansing incense and snuggled in to their respective beds to reflect on the old, and dream of the new.