The little elf hunkered down against the stone as firmly as he could, but eventually he began to lose motor control of his muscles as his body began to shiver violently. His teeth chattered and his voice grew increasingly hoarse as he cried out for help. He was sure it would never come. But then . . . What was that? He could have sworn he’d seen a silhouette marching towards him. The whipping winds and the white powder that flew through the air obscured the image of whatever approached, but if it was something lethal Nikodem didn’t truly care -- death would have been preferable to the misery he was experiencing in that moment. The little creature began attempting to stumble up to his feet, calling out with renewed vigor to whatever was approaching him. Each time he managed to move his back from the rock he collapsed mere moments later, his body have more or less gone completely rigid in response to the frigid cold.<br/><br/>Niko blinked rapidly against the storm as he watched whatever creature was approaching lumber into view, and not long after he recognized it to be a thickly built bay horse with a man hunkered down on its back. He heard the low rumbling of Malta’s voice, though he wasn’t entirely sure what he said as he slid from the back of his mount. He moved slowly, and all little Nikodem could do was let out an agonized groan as he took his sweet time. The pain was intense, his skin felt as though it had been set aflame though the temperature had plunged well below zero, and every muscle in the elf’s frail body was stiff and aching terribly. As his saviour moved and ordered his hands up, the young man did so as well as he could, though he couldn’t stay still on account of his shaking body and seizing muscles. He wasn’t necessarily the type to give into orders, but then it wasn’t as though he had much of a choice at that point in time.<br/><br/>“I’m t-t-traveling . . . D-Doing s-studies, l-looking for ing-g-gredients” the young man stuttered out as Malta patted down his person, on which he had nothing aside from a small dagger that he used to cut up various fruits and vegetables and to butcher small animals he’d caught along the way. “C-C-Came north . . . B-By mys-self.” As he was answering the strangers second question he was hoisted up off of his feet, but he didn’t offer any sort of resistance, not that he could have seeing as he was quite delicate in comparison to Malta. As soon as Malta was situated behind him, Nikodem pressed his lithe form back against him firmly, not quite caring if he seemed pathetic in the moment. The warm that the man’s body provided was sweet relief, despite the fact that it caused his skin to burn even worse with all of the sharp temperature fluctuations. Already he began to feel a bit of relief. The freezing of his flesh hadn’t progressed to the point where any tissue damage had been done, thankfully, only far enough to cause some fairly severe discomfort to the frail elf, which he could handle. He’d experienced the pain of having his flesh carved before, and so he knew he’d get through this misery without much of a hitch as long as he was kept warm by the man that held him now.<br/><br/>The young alchemist’s brow furrowed deeply as Malta ordered that he tell him everything he could. He lifted his eyes slowly, though he didn’t have the range of motion to look up at the man at his back in that moment. “I've t-told you everything . . . I-I’m here alone, s-s-searching for i-ingredients . . . I’m an a-alch-chemist,” he said in a breathy tone of voice, his fingers reaching down and curling lightly into the man of the horse beneath him, just so he had something to grip to hopefully stop the twitching of his muscles.