The people that live in the Berin Mountains believe that if you want good luck for the upcoming winter, you must catch a snowfke in your hands before you see one touch the ground, and it's been a tradition of the Denholm household for as long as I remember to try their luck at first snow. Standing outside the entrance to the Citadel, the trio of Denholms held their hands toward the sky as the first fkes descended, their eyes closed so they don't spy a wayward fke drifting past. They stayed silent, focused on their task, until a voice called to them from down the road.

  "Do you have so little faith in how I trained you? You're turning to superstition now?"

  Janine opened one eye, spying a grin below Warren's moustache as he approached. The elder Passguard carried a backpack filled to the brim with supplies strapped to his back, ready for anything the weather might throw at him.

  "I trust your training plenty, but I'll take every bit of help I can get," Janine said. "It just... feels overwhelming, I've never even been on a patrol and I'm already leading one. I know you've shown me a lot, but I still don't know what to expect."

  "You'll be fine, Janine. you've known how to survive in the snow longer than most of the other recruits. I doubt we'll be drawing our swords this go-around anyway, so just focus on being a leader and making choices for the squad."

  Throughout an abbreviated autumn season leading up to today, Warren had worked with Janine on the skills a Squad Leader needed to make sure a group functioned as an effective team. Passguard life in general had quieted down—with no new schemes from the captain to eradicate the Py'riel from the mountain, the protectors of the Berin range settled into regur routines to clear trails and restock outposts, keeping an eye on the weather as the nights grew shorter and temperatures dipped. With Rufel's departure from the Passguards, threats from the other mercenaries died off, and for once, Janine worked as an equal alongside the other guardians. I fell back to my easy role as a spectator, able to enjoy the sights of the forests dotted with yellowing conifers and other flora and fauna preparing for winter's imminent arrival.

  Tobias was the st to complete the ritual, but once a fke nded on his rge palm, everyone could once again go about their business. "You be careful out there too, Warren," Tobias said as he hugged an arm around his daughter, both bundled up in yers upon yers of wool and down in contrast to the Passguard uniform's minimal winter cloak. "When you're back, we'll throw a retirement party, how's that sound? Evelyn will make a cake and everything."

  "I will?" Evelyn said, scrunching her nose at the responsibility before her eyes flooded with mischief. "So then I get to choose all the ingredients?"

  "...And we'll pick up a second cake from the bakery, just in case."

  Everyone ughed, savoring those few moments before the st goodbye. Even if the patrol would only st a week, the Denholm trio had never been separated for so long, and each worried about the unknowns that waited for the Passguards on patrol. Evelyn pulled Janine into a hug with her and Tobias.

  "You'll be okay on your own?" Evelyn asked her cousin, her fingernail clicking against me as she tapped my metal exterior. "As in, really on your own?"

  Janine nodded, perhaps able to mask her uncertainty from Evelyn, but I could still sense a hint of it. "Yeah... yeah, I will. Having Viridian always puts my mind at ease, but I've got plenty courage of my own to work with. Sure, it'll be strange, but I've got the rest of my squad to worry about first."

  "Spoken like a true leader," Warren said. "I'll be at the gates when you're ready, Ky and Forde said they'd meet up with us there. Don't be long with Galen, this weather's only going to get worse so we should try to get ahead of it."

  Everyone said their goodbyes and went their separate ways, leaving Janine and myself the st ones standing. She turned to face the Citadel, a hand csped around me as she deyed our parting, if just for a moment. A week in solitude awaited me, and a little part of me hoped that we could think up a better st-minute pn than the newly-constructed vault—but nothing came to mind. As a rger snowfke nded on her forehead to remind her of the urgency of her departure time, Janine stepped into the Citadel.

  We descended down a flight of stairs to a hall below the Citadel, an area usually off-limits to unauthorized Passguards, but the guards stood aside for us. Orange enchanted gems lit the hallway, casting the stone walls in a warm glow, illuminating storerooms along the path with emergency food and supplies for the town. At the end of the hall stood a massive steel door with glowing blue glyphs dancing along its surface, contained within tiers of circles and geometric patterns slowly rotating around one another. Whenever certain shapes and lines intersected, a pleasant tone rang out, reminding me of wind chimes in search of a melody.

  "Impressive, isn't it?" Galen said as he approached us from behind, startling Janine out of her focus on the shifting symbols. "It's the best protective ward the town could afford. Siren spells like this doesn't come cheap, but the Swanfire family promised that no battering ram or ward-breaker magic can overwhelm their premium Soundlocks."

  Janine gnced at the captain for a moment before returning to inspect the glowing magic circle's drifting symbols. "I've never seen Siren magic before. How does it work?" Janine reached up to touch the symbols, but when she made contact with the door, the shapes converged on one another, turning red as a pulse of energy shoved Janine backwards.

  "Don't you live in a magic shop?" Galen frowned at the stumbling Passguard before him. As his patience waned, he walked past Janine to stand directly in front of the door, looking back over his shoulder. "It's responsive to only specific sounds, and repels any other interaction. See those dials within the circles? They move in response to the sounds they hear, and will only form the correct configuration with an imprinted voice and the correct phrases. Observe." The captain cleared his throat, turning back to the swirling ward before us. "Soundlock, hear me. I, Captain Galen, now have the eyes of a stranger to you. Transfer all authority to the next voice to speak."

  Galen stepped back, handing a piece of paper with a list of the spell's phrases to Janine before motioning for her toward the door. The circles froze in pce, listening for a new voice.

  Janine examined the paper for far longer than she needed, until she heard the impatient tapping of Galen's foot behind her. "Soundlock," she said, "I am now the one you know. I am... Squad Leader Janine Denholm. You will obey only my instructions from this point forward." The circles chimed in unison. "Unlock the vault door."

  The Soundlock ward spun until each of its tiers of magic circles aligned, before new lines of light traced their way out on the door toward the handle. The handle turned on its own and the door groaned open, revealing a rge room filled with boxes and shelves containing important historical documents for Quinn's Peak. Maps and letters littered the table at the center—maybe this wouldn't be so bad, at least I'd have some reading material. And with all this open space, maybe I could practice some shapeshifting and surprise Janine with a new sword design upon her return!

  But before Janine could set me on a shelf, Galen stepped in our way, holding up a thick leather bag. "One more thing, if you'll please indulge me."

  "What's this for?"

  "It's a precaution," Galen said. "I commissioned your uncle to make it for me, in fact. This bag is lined with yers of magic-dampening cloth. We don't know what your relic's magic might do to some of the more delicate historical documents we're keeping in here. Even just its idle radiation might be enough to irreparably damage something important with enough exposure. It's not going to do anything harmful to your relic, Tobias assured me as much."

  Janine sighed at this new wrinkle in the pn—though I think I was the source of her sigh, as Janine had no reason to care how I might be stored within the vault. Even though I'd lose access to all this reading material, I had to py nice—if Galen's concerns were valid, resistance on my part would only compound our problems when just a week of patience promised us a better fate.

  "We'll be back together in no time," Janine whispered to me as she uncsped me from her neck. She held me above the bag's opening and let go, sending me tumbling into the darkness.