POV: Zephryn Kaelstrom
Winter does not bite someone like me.
I have walked through darker nights. Hidden beneath storms that swallowed entire battalions. There was a time when I could stand between two armies and neither side would ever know I was there.
I have watched wars start, kings die, and secrets buried in snow without ever leaving footprints.
But today I felt cold.
Not from the air.
From the boy I followed.
Kel von Rosenfeld.
The letter warned me he might be different.
It did not warn me how.
The Duke's seal was unbroken when the envelope arrived at my traveling post three months ago. I recognized the signature before I saw it.
Arcturus Von Rosenfeld
Duke of the North.
One of the Seven Pillars of the Empire.
My old friend.
That alone was enough to make me slice it open before the ink chilled.
I remember the first line as clearly as I remember every kill.
"Zephryn, I write not as a Duke, but as a father."
I frowned then.
Arcturus never writes like that.
I kept reading.
"I request your presence, not for war, but for a journey no scout should be asked to make. You are the only one I trust enough for this task."
I expected troop surveillance.
Border infiltration.
Perhaps assassination.
Instead—
"Follow my son. From a distance only. Do not reveal yourself unless he would otherwise die."
I paused.
Kel von Rosenfeld.
The boy cursed since birth.
Weakest among the high lineage. Barely more than a shadow in the halls, they whispered. Mostly expected to die before reaching sixteen.
Yet Arcturus… asked me to follow him?
And only intervene if death was certain?
The next lines were written with deliberate precision.
"Do not guide him. Do not protect him from the path he chooses. Only prevent that path from ending prematurely."
Then—
A sentence I have read more times than I care to admit.
"If he will survive, he must do so by his own will. If he will die, I would know it was after he tried to live."
There was something else.
A paragraph inked harder than the rest.
As if written after hesitation.
"Be warned, Zephryn—Kel is not as others. I fear whatever curse he bears does not only touch his body. I cannot read his future. And yet… I have seen a resolve beyond death in his eyes. If that resolve breaks, do not interfere."
I lifted my eyes from the paper.
The winter wind outside my tent howled.
There was more.
"Should he ever look at you without fear, step aside."
"If he looks at you with resolve—follow him."
"And should he one day look at you without pain…"
The ink faded slightly here, as if the quill shook.
"…recognize him."
The letter ended as strangely as it began.
"Until that moment, watch him. He is my son, but I do not know which direction he walks."
— Arcturus V. Rosenfeld
I folded the letter once.
Only once.
My fingers are trained not to betray my thoughts, but I found I was gripping it too tightly.
It is rare for Arcturus to sound uncertain.
It is even rarer for him to sound afraid.
For the past weeks, I followed Kel from the shadows.
I saw him in the border village, handling hunts with quiet precision.
I saw him among the barbarians.
Laughing not joyfully—but as if victory were nothing more than postponing something that waited for him.
Yesterday…
I saw him walk into Scarder Lake.
And emerge without his curse.
When he stepped from the water, his silhouette held not the posture of one freed—
but one unveiled.
Even from afar, I felt something shift in the world.
As if the snow itself held its breath.
When he confronted me today inside the Domain…
I had expected aggression.
Or fear.
Or the arrogance nobles often have when cornered with power.
I did not expect his eyes.
No tremble.
No surprise.
No hesitation.
He already knew where I stood before I stepped forward.
He did not ask if I had followed him.
He asked why I had not interfered.
We spoke few words.
His final statement cut sharper than any blade I've carried.
"Tell my father… that I am surviving. By my choice."
Now I understand what Arcturus meant.
If he ever looks at you without pain—recognize him.
The boy I watched from distance—
is no longer walking to escape death.
He walks to force life to answer him.
His eyes no longer carry resignation.
They carry decision.
As I watched him return to his companions, I caught the faintest flicker of something impossible.
When he walked ahead of them…
Winter itself seemed to shift.
As if a piece of it now walked with him.
Not against him.
I retreat deeper into the trees now, aligning my steps so none will hear.
I will continue to follow.
But tonight, I write this into my record for the Duke.
Because I believe he deserves to know.
Kel no longer walks as someone bearing a curse.
He walks as someone who has realized what he can become without one.
And for the first time since I began this task…
I fear the Empire will not understand that difference.
But I do.
I am Zephryn Kaelstrom.
Shadow of the Northern Winds.
And for the first time, when I looked into Kel von Rosenfeld's eyes…
I stepped aside.