He stepped out of the building and pulled his hood up.  The cold bit at his nose and ears and a scarf soon followed, lifting into place to cover most of his exposed skin.  The snowfall had started the evening before and ran through the night.  A foot or more hid even the path before him, the drifts pushed up in mounds against buildings or the break walls that separated the yards of the village’s homes.  Keto had not been at the barn the town had offered up to them.  Not much of a shock, while the animals gave it some warmth it wasn’t particularly comfortable.  He looked up and down the lane, eyes squinting against the dazzling light of the snow.

With a breath that emerged as a plume even through the scarf, Quartes trudge down the lane.  Maybe she had taken up residence with the elder for the day.  The man had a small collection of books and, more importantly, a fireplace.  A tavern would’ve been the most likely but, as demonstrated by their use of the stable, the town lacked a tavern.  There was a communal hall, and he’d check that after talking to the elder.

He had only made it part of the ways to the elder’s home when his searched resolved itself.  He had reached the open field at the center of the village when he spotted her.  Her red hair, freed from whatever confines it had started the day in, was a stark contrast against the white of the snow.  She was doing her best to run through the snow, bounding up a step, her boot trailing white until it broke free, lunged forward and held for just a moment on the crust of the ice before she plunged down into the snow with a stumble.  It was a slow going way to move and as Keto spotted him she gave a smile, her cheeks red with the cold and exertion.  Before either of them could say anything though, the bard looked over her shoulder, gave a shout and then dove behind a snow drift besides the Landian.

Quartes looked at the trio of shouting kids nearly swimming their way through the snow and then down at Keto, barely more than her blue eyes visible in the clumps of snow that had consumed her.

“What are you…” he started but she reached up and grabbed him.  He stumbled down, catching himself before fully falling.  It was then that the Landian noticed the kids had stopped, scooping hands forming projectiles.  He dropped fully behind the drift as the snowballs passed over their heads or collided with their makeshift barricade with scattering of ice and light.

“I’m at war,” Keto exclaimed as he pushed him out of her way, rolling up onto a knee, and answering with her own volley of hastily prepared snow.  The kids fell back from the barrage, taking cover behind snow banks of their own.  “Are you gonna help or not?”  She exclaimed as she crouched back down, building a supply of snowballs, while watching the kids.

Two more were joining the fray, shouting to their companions as they hefted crudely lashed shovels and brushes.  Snow was piled high, kids carving battlement and digging trenches.  With a echo of giggles, another group of kids were bounding through the snow and before beginning to set up their own fortifications.

“You got them all allied against you.”  Quartes commented.

“I may have promised them a fight against a worthy opponent,” Keto responded, pushing snow to cover her newly exposed flank.  With a sheepish grin she looked up at the Landian.  Quartes’ stoic gaze held until she returned to crafting snowballs.

Then with thuft of snow, the Landian left his pack on the ground, the cloak and scarf following.  The Shield of Keid was shoved down into the snow, a solid barricade on their flank, as with a pop of his knees the Landian settled in by Keto.  “Keep me armed, if they rush us I’ll let you know and we’ll both push them back.”

“Aye aye Master Landian,” she answered, a huff of a laugh escaping Quartes as he reached for a snowball.

Keto supposed she shouldn’t have been surprised as his accuracy.  The throw caught one of the children before he could drop his tool and take cover.  Aware now, the children each ducked behind their fortifications and opened fire with their own return salvo.

“Are there rules to this we agreed upon?”

“They get three hits,” Keto answered, Quartes glancing her way as he shoved up an armful of snow to reinforce their embankment, the thunk of snowballs soon following.  “You get one.  Last one standing wins.”  The Landian sighed but nodded.

The battle began in earnest.  A few choice snowballs finding their mark, but as the kids grew more cautious, the attacks became misdirections.  a snowball lobbed and a volley followed as a distraction until the arcing projectile found its mark.  Eventually the children, a some watching from the side of the square now where even a few parents had joined to watch the spectacle, worked up to the idea that a rush was in order.  Sounding a battle cry, the kids emerged from their fortifications and charged, snowballs in hand, some with sheets of bark as shields.  The ferocity of Quartes was displayed as he reached down into the supply of snowballs Keto had dutifully built.  The bard herself joined in with the counterattack but her role seemed largely unnecessary.  Quartes launched sphere of ice after another, the snowballs exploding against their targets in puffs of ice that dazzled in the slanting sun.  In one moment she swore she him strike a children’s snowball in midair, countering the attack in an explosion of flakes.

The children fell back and then Quartes was moving.  The shield came up from the snow, their remaining snowballs hastily piled onto it and, the shield braced upward against his hip, the Landian chased down his foes.  Screams of delighted fear erupted across the square as Quartes hunted down his remaining assailants.  He gave the last child a spectacle.  Each taking cover and trading throws, a snowball nearly catching the suddenly slow moving Landian before he caught the child in the chest.  The child threw down her readied snowball in defeat.  Cries going up from around the square.  To his credit, Quartes approached hand outstretched.

Which is when the snowball hit him in the shoulder.

Keto waved when the Landian’s gaze flashed to her, giving a smile and a wink, before she raised her arms and gave a shout of victory.  The crowd soon joined in, full of laughs and calls for a new battle.  By the end of the day, as dinner bells rang and the sun was making its way near the horizon, the remnants of walls and redoubts, of snowman, and the outlines of Fey in the snow, littered the square.  Her face and hands numb but with her smile still bright, Keto walked back with the Landian to the barn.

“Traitor,” he uttered after a moment, giving a shove but also catching her before she could stumble over into the snow.  She laughed as she righted herself and moved in close as he looped an arm around her shoulders.