Free Ice Burns by Charity Ayres

shed drops of water all around the room.
    "Watch it!" she called with a startled laugh as cold water sprayed her. Chandra laughed harder when she looked at Frostwhite, who had gotten all puffed up from getting the water off. He looked like bread dough before the cook beat it down to bake it. She shook her head and went over to the wardrobe.
    "Silly bird," she clicked her tongue at him and dug around in the drawer at the bottom of the closet until she found an old, tattered blanket. When she pulled it out, the smell of cedar wrapped around her, and she inhaled deeply.
    "I saw this at the bottom when I got put in this room and thought it might come in handy," she said as she brought it over to Frostwhite. When she reached him, she paused. What had she been about to do? Had she actually thought she would walk over to the hawk and wrap him in a blanket to dry him off?
    Frostwhite watched her internal struggle for a moment before doing an awkward hop toward her on the table.
    Okay, let's see if this works.
    Chandra steeled herself with a deep breath, opened the blanket and held it in both hands before taking a small step toward Frostwhite.
    "I'm going to dry you off with this blanket," she told him, taking another step. "I don't need you dripping all over the place, especially on the books. Master would not be happy if that happened and I doubt he would accept the explanation that a wild bird came in and dripped all over them."
    Frostwhite bobbed his head for a moment and then lowered it a little. Chandra nodded and stepped forward to put the blanket around the hawk and patted him with it. She wasn't sure about the best way to dry him off. He wasn't a person who you would wipe off and go, and squeezing the blanket around him would not likely make him happy. She continued to pat at him with edges of the blanket until she thought she had gotten most of it. Then she bunched the blanket around his feet to form a sort of nest for him. She stepped back, and he bobbed his head a couple of times before settling into the blanket "nest".
    Chandra nodded and walked over to sit down in the chair. She picked up the top book on the stack, moved it aside, pulled the two out of her shirt, and grabbed the one she had gotten from the top shelf. She realized she had enough reading for several days, heaved a sigh and opened the first book.
    Frustration and a hawk were her company in hours of solitude. Chandra looked up at Frostwhite, who perched on the window sill. Frostwhite had wandered freely around the room. He had flown out the window around mid-afternoon but had returned to reside on the sill. His presence in no way alarmed her anymore though she wondered what had become of its Master.
    Chandra looked up to watch the bird.
    Frostwhite turned to look at her with one luminous, colorless eye. He made no other movement but waited.
    "I can't imagine that you're from around here," Chandra speculated. "With your coloring, there is no way you would ever blend in enough to be a good hunter in the forest."
    Chandra tapped her chin while she looked at the hawk. Frostwhite was the same color that the rabbits turned when the weather grew cold. They didn't get a lot of snow in Malofa, but it happened now and then. When it did, the rabbits were able to camouflage themselves entirely.
    “I’ll bet you’re from the North, aren’t you?” she asked him. “You would be a magnificent hunter there, with your coloring.”
    The bird cocked its head at her and eyed her steadily. It felt to Chandra as though he were looking at her with an arched eyebrow at the implied insult.
    “Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure you’re a magnificent hunter anywhere, but your coloring would surely be an asset in the North.” The hawk shook its feathers and resettled in its roosting posture.
    Chandra rested her chin on her hand and looked back to her book. After a moment, she reached over to pick up her goblet and the pitcher of water. She found both to be empty.
    “Were I in the