Azura and Embry saw droves of Yukingawari arriving. They came by way of chariots drawn by beasts called worgen, which resembled dogs that were five feet tall on all fours and had white leather skin with several spines on their backs. The sleds were adorned with ice decorations of various animals that they had never seen. Several of them were carved and had leather banners. Each chariot had a woman carrying a child wrapped in a fur blanket.

  "What do those banners mean?" Asked Embry. "Tribes?"

  "They represent families. All those Yukingawari that you see accompanying them are their cousins and such." Explained Sid. "There isn't much room to accommodate all of us here. Only the immediate family is allowed to take part in the festival."

  "It's still a big family." Muttered Embry under her breath.

  Azura scanned the expressions of the women holding the babies. They seemed troubled and scared. The men weren't any different as they stepped off the chariots and greeted Sid.

  The mothers unwrapped their babies and presented Sid with their fur blankets. The blankets had some type of tapestry stitched onto them. Sid examined the first blanket presented to her. She took the child in her arms and wrapped them up in the blanket. She kept going until she came upon a woman who seemed resistant to letting her child go. Sid looked at the man who had an arm wrapped around his wife. The man took the child from his wife's arms and presented the child to Sid. The woman was distraught and seemed to weep as Sid inspected the tapestry.

  "Do you have any idea what's happening Azura?" Asked Embry.

  "Only an inkling, but I'm not sure." Replied Azura as she scanned the women again, looking for any hints as to the purpose of the festival.

  The women all gathered in a circle around a massive pile of wood. As they gathered around in a circle, they removed the blankets covering their children and tossed them into the pile of wood. Sid then tossed some dust onto the pile before igniting it. The fire was unique, as instead of burning red and orange, this fire was white and blue.

  All the women holding their children started to weep.

  "Azura, you don't think..." Started Embry.

  "Shit, I dunno." Responded Azura as she looked at the women desperately cradling their infants.

  One of the mothers hesitantly threw her child into the fire. The child cried as it landed in the bonfire. Sid growled as she pulled the child out of the fire and handed it back to her mother.

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  "No burns on either of them." Said Embry as she scanned Sid and the child.

  "Clearly that's no ordinary fire, but what is it?"

  "It's called frostfire... Well, we call it that. The Yukingawari call it something else." Said Baphomet as he joined the duo.

  “And it doesn’t burn?” Asked Embry as she looked at Sid’s arms that lacked any burn marks.

  “You’d have to ask Sid about that. A fire that doesn’t burn seems impossible.” Said Baphomet as Sid cast more children into the fire.

  The mothers wept, and their children cried as they were cast into the frostfire. Sid pulled more children from the frostfire and returned them to their mothers. Only two children remained. Sid called for the mothers of the two to stand before her. The two women then presented Sid with icicles that were carved. Sid inspected the icicles and looked towards the two remaining children. Sid pricked each child with their mother’s icicle. Finally, Sid made her choice as she raised the child above her head. The mother fell to her knees and cried. The rest of the Yukingawari celebrated as they all began to dance around the frostfire while the mother wept.

  “How cruel.” Muttered Azura under her breath.

  Sid walked past the crowd with the child to where they were. The mother was still on her knees crying as her husband tried to console her.

  “Do you all wanna stay here for a while longer or…” Sid began as she cradled the baby in her arms.

  “No.” Stated Azura plainly. “Will you be staying Baphomet?”

  “No way. I wanna see the old gal one more time before I croak.” Said Baphomet as he wrapped his arms around them both. “I wanna see if she’ll remember me.”

  “What’s the festival called?” Asked Embry.

  “The Festival of the Weeping Mother.” Said Sid as she put the baby to sleep. “It begins today and lasts for several days when my successor returns here. We give Yiriv a child to raise, and then when that child comes of age they return to us.”

  “The timing seems a bit off though isn’t it?” Asked Embry. “I imagine there are others that were also raised by Yiriv that are still around if the cut off is just adulthood.”

  “Very astute this one. Yeah there’s others but they’re all from different tribes. Each tribe offers Yiriv a child, and they all have their successors.”Sid then finally put the child to sleep. “Well in any case the two of you should go eat while I prepare the child for the journey. I’ll have some people prepare a sled and the Amgarrak for us.”

  Sid

  Sid walked inside her home where Onyx still rattled in his chains. “Don’t you know it’s bad manners to make so much noise when a baby’s sleeping.”

  “Was he here?” Asked Amgarrak.

  Before she could answer Sid looked at the idol that Baphomet had brought. She grabbed the idol in her hand and examined it. The idol was half black and half white with an eye in its head aligned vertically. She did not know much about the idol or why it looked that way. All she knew was that it made her uneasy to look at. She cast the idol into the fire and watched it burn.

  “Yeah he was here, but that was a lifetime ago. Before I was sacrificed to Yiriv.”

  Amgarrak snarled. “Did Yiriv make a deal with him?”

  “You’ll have to ask her.” Said Sid as she blew some powder on his face. “Go to sleep son of Zephyrus.”

  Amgarrak then fell asleep. The Yukingawari then came to pick up Amgarrak while Sid was preparing her bag for the journey. As she placed the last items she saw the idol there on the table. She glanced back at the fire and saw that it had disappeared. The idol had no scorch marks on it, or signs that it had been damaged.

  As she gripped the idol tightly she felt a strange warmth around her and a soft whisper in her ear that uttered two simple words.

  “Thank you.”