Dawn came, its gentle fingers caressing his skin, melting the dewfrost that had formed over his cheeks from his icy breath. At night, though he subdued his element, as he rested it seeped through his control. Caelus arose, the thin layer crackling around his joints and he shook, glittering dust falling from his hair and mirror-like pieces shattering off his skin.

His ice was alive in his veins, and without a regular outlet to expel the build-up of energy, it was harder to control. He sat, gloomy now, thinking of the many festivals and games his people would run to serve this need. He thought of the laughter, the dancing, the food, the tournaments and quests. His heart clenched.

Everything was lost to him.

The humans he lived with had their own festivals, and he attended them to quench his need for home, but they weren't the same. Like salt water, it only seemed to make him crave more. Caelus fought the gloom that threatened, like it had for many, many decades, to overtake him. Loss was supposed to be easier with time, and in a way, it was. But with his world so close to his reach, yet so tantalizingly impossible, the loss lingered.

All he could do was move forward. But after so long, it was difficult to hope. He had almost found peace in this world, almost been able to accept his fate. Then she was gone. The warm sunlight she gave him to melt his frozen heart was gone as quickly as it had come to him.

Caelus collected his belongings, shaking himself. He had a lead - one in a million over the years - but he couldn't desist. There was nothing tethering him to this world to tempt him out of his reverie, his odyssey. So he would follow yet another bread crumb.

It took him the better part of the week to travel from town to town, freezing those sickly creatures as he encountered them, keeping the humans a little safer. It was the least he could do: they were a hospitable race and it was no struggle at all for him. To him the fiends were simplistic pests. They didn't thrive back in his world like they did here. In his lands, the creatures didn't even have a name, and Caelus did not know whether the humans had one for them given how seldom they were able to see the creatures.

Once he arrived at his destination, the capital of this particular human province, his heart sank for them. He stalked the main road, his footsteps heavy. They were everywhere here. In every alley he spotted their nauseating gaze as they peered out from the shadows, hungry, giddy. The humans were cheerful, oblivious, busied with final preparations for their sun festival in two days. Any of them left out after evening would likely meet these creatures.

Why were there so many? In all his years here, he had never seen this. It was so early in the day for them to even make their presence known. Unsettled, he pressed on, wondering if it could be connected to his next lead.

The ice hummed in his veins, his breath a cool fog. While his heart was pained, his element was thrilled. He clenched his fists to wrest it back under his command as little icy scales formed along his skin.

He spotted The Olde Crone, the pub he was meeting his informant in. He entered, finding the furthest corner. He waited. And when his contact arrived he shot to his feet: it took everything in him not to snatch out her throat and end the woman then and there.

She grinned at him, all but shivering in pleasure at his rage, "so you do remember, Ice Wraith." With a flourish she sat at his table, posture proud, hands clasped delicately in her lap. Her hood covered much of her face, but he could never forget her features. She looked young, very young. But this old hag could never be forgiven for what she had done to him.

"One reason. A good one."

"I do beg your pardon, Ice Wraith?" She tilted her head in false confusion, but that grin remained. The very one seared into his memories for eternity.

"One reason not to end you now."

She blinked, the smile vanishing, then she laughed, "manners, Ice Wraith. How can you still not have learned a single one?" She stopped laughing, leaning forward, her voice hushed, "or do you wish me to go, and your kingdom to remain forever barred from you?"

He sneered at her, "I will not again fall for your lies."

She grinned anew, "oh, I never lied to you. I did tell you, Ice Wraith, of the consequences of your choice. Why don't you sit back down, child?" The memories tugged at him. They burned him. They festered: old wounds, never to heal. The rage rose. "Were you planning to kill all these poor souls here, Ice Wraith?"

His breaths came out as frost, the icy scales growing down his arms as he trembled. His fury seeped from him, a fog of ice crawling from his pores. He closed his eyes, pulling his thoughts back to the present and away from the past. As he calmed, he dropped into his seat, still as a frozen statue.

After a long silence, she coaxed him softly, "I told you the truth, back then. I always speak tru-"

"Half-truths are still lies, hag," if he kept his eyes closed, if he didn't look at her, maybe he could control the urge to take her head. He clenched his fist. Breathed. Unclenched. His heart beat painfully, the ice in his veins shivering, anticipating its release.

She scowled, "manners when you speak to me, child."

Caelus did not reply, did not open his eyes. He found his centre of stillness, of calm. They were silent for quite some time before he finally pinned his clear, white gaze to hers, "I still need that reason."

She grinned again, a natural Cheshire Cat, leaning forward, triumphant. She breathed one word, and his heart held its breath.

"Her."