Rin/Girey/Reiassan has a landing page here. The prompt was “something hot;” I ended up with something cold. Whoops!

“Remind me again why we’re up here?”

It was snowing; it had been snowing since they left the capital – no, in truth, it had been snowing since before winter had properly arrived. Southern-born Girey was miserable in the cold; Rin’s first tour of duty had been further north than this, and she was in her element.

“Well, we’re up here to check on a few problems that have been brought to the Emperor’s attention. And we’re up here because it’s harder to assassinate us on the road.” They were on one path out of seven to their destination, neither the most obvious nor the most hidden. “Ah, here.” She tilted her head. “A way-station. We can thaw out your bits.”

“My bits?” It was impossible to see his eyebrows through the layers of hood and scarf Girey was wearing, but Rin could hear the raised-eyebrow tone in his voice.

“Your bits.” She stifled a chuckle. “It’ll take a while to heat up, but it looks unoccupied.”

Half an hour later, they were down to three layers of clothes, their coats and hoods dripping dry by the doorway. The fire was burbling along merrily in the fireplace, and the tiny cabin was warming up quickly. “So.” Rin raised her eyebrows. “How are your bits doing?”

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