“What do you intend to do now?” he asked.
“I will arrange for her to find me.”
“And then?”
“Well – I will finish my assignment. That is what my family should have done many generations ago.”
“And take revenge for the death of your father?” He sounded disappointed.
Tamsin took umbrella and suitcase, but stayed standing before him. “She wants the ice-heart back. And she knows that only I can give it to her. Therefore, she will come to me.”
“You want to set a trap for her?”
Tamsin gave no answer.
“What a stupid, stupid idea,” he said.
“What a stupid, stupid idea,” he said.
“Take care of yourself,” she told him as a farewell.
“Wait!”
She turned her face to the ground, then looked at him.
“You should know something else.” He let out a deep sigh, like that of a grown-up speaking to an unreasonable child. “This sudden onset of winter, all the snow, this cold…it has to do with her.”
“And?”
“You believe that she brings all this with her, like a trail of winter weather, don’t you? But it is not so simple. What is here is a different kind of cold. And only a taste of what is to come.”
Tamsin looked at him questioningly.
“Ever since you stole the ice-heart, her power has been fading,” he continued. “The cold of the Beginning that was there before the world is flowing out of the Queen and reclaiming the place that once belonged to it.”
“Then it will get worse?”
“Much worse,” he said grimly. “Only if the Queen gets the icicle back and regains her old power can she put the cold back in its place. Otherwise, a winter like no other threatens us. Not even I would stand against that for long.”
“How much time do I have?”
“To return the icicle and stop the cold? Or to destroy the Queen?”
“How much time?”
“A few days. At most.”
Tamsin’s hand closed tighter around the rainbow umbrella. In her battered suitcase, something moved, rumbling quite softly.
“I thank you,” she said, and left.
Father Frost sadly opened up the pouch and carried on feeding the snowflakes with forgotten magic.
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