Inktober 2025 - 19 - Arctic

God, it was cold! And not just out on the deck, anywhere on the boat. It did not matter what you were wearing, what you were doing, or where you were aboard. Even without any wind, this was the type of cold you could not truly escape, something that seeps deep down to your bones through every layer of clothing you put on, the kind of cold that doesn't just bite but creeps up on you, freezing you through and through. It felt like your breath crystallised the moment it came out of your lips. Blowing in your hands somehow seemed to do more harm than good, and rubbing them together or hugging yourself was essentially useless if not sometimes actually counterproductive. 

Even deep into the Amazonian forest, the photographer had never experienced such brutal weather. And yet, he would not have traded it for anything.

When he had first started to seek passage to the Artic circle, he had found his hopes of success quickly dampened. Not only did very few vessels ever venture that way, but those that did, did not appear inclined to take the risk of transporting anyone untrained. For obvious reasons, this part of the world had not exactly been a priority, during the reconstruction of human civilisation, and now, reconquest was slow and careful. But it was precisely due to the diminution of human activities in the past decades that the photographer wanted to check out the area. Rumour had it that these conditions had allowed it to completely re-flourished, and that was what he was hoping to document on this journey. Eventually, Captain Powell had only agreed to take him aboard his ship - one of the few refurbished icebreakers in the entire world - if he promised to stay out of his crew's way, and never expected them to take on extra risk for him. He had sworn on his cherished photographic equipment, and they were now steadily approaching the North pole.

The landscape was even more breathtaking than he had imagined, even with past photographic evidence, from before the cessation of human activities. The sunlight reflecting on the ice and snow was just as blinding as it was when looking directly at it in the clear sky, and the blue of the water, where it was visible, was unlike any he had ever seen anywhere else. It all made the forced cocooning and permanent shivering worth it. Even without scientists by his side, he could tell the ice floe had regained much territory from its previously shrunken state. Amazing things really did happen when we let them.

He almost felt sorry for disturbing the peace once again, but he observed that all the sailors had a very strong respect for where they were traversing. He knew balance was possible. It had been possible everywhere else, and this would be no different. They would not let it get as bad as it had been. They had learned their lesson.