“Oh, and please don’t do anything stupid,” he finished with a wave before shutting the door.
I gave a silent nod as I heard him trundle down the stairs. I guessed he didn’t want to have a repeat of my brother.
I slung the pack across my back as I readied myself for the journey. My dad was already in the kitchen, whipping up breakfast for our guests. As I headed down the stairs, I took a peeking glance at Aria and Caen’s room. Number seven was open; I guess they were already packed and ready to go.
As I continued down the stairs, a loud groan rang through the inn. I had stepped on the eighth plank in my morning stupor. Caen’s eyes snapped open. The old man had been napping, sitting up on one of the shaky front chairs. He looked like he wanted to strangle me for waking him up.
“Uh, hey.” I waved while sweating bullets and scuttling down the stairs.
His shout rang across the entire inn. “Girl!” There was a pause as I froze on the spot, before he cleared his throat.
“Charlotte. Snow’s falling.” His statement implied much. He expected answers from me, and one way or another, he would get them. I rushed over to placate his worries.
“I’ve got a plan!” I panted, whipping out my pack and frantically searching for my chart. He raised a hand, signaling for me to stop.
“I don’t need no chart. Ran through the whole thing last night with Aria. Tell me a plan.” Being put on the spot like this…I swallowed the butterflies in my stomach and tried to do my best.
“Well, we’re going to rush our way to Oakhenge, before the first storm but…but if it does come, I can find our way by the longer side trail. It leads to the same place.” I tried to not sound like a nervous pile of reactions, but it wasn’t working.
“Why not take the long trail and not risk it?” Caen’s voice broke through my nervous thoughts. Right! I haven’t explained why.
“Well, you are on a time limit, right? So the more snow falls, the more trails get buried. Fast ones first. So if you’re in a rush, always go fast.” I tried a confidence-inducing smile, more for myself than him, but I don’t think it worked on either of us.
“Just my luck. Nothing works,” Caen mumbled, as I scratched my head, unsure what to say. After a long pause, Caen waved his hand, beckoning me to continue. “And?”
“Y-Yes! So after that we pick the path that we can best manage. Usually the middle, unless magic or church or something happens. We’d have two weeks if everything goes right to get to Mithil.”
“That’s assuming if everything goes right,” he pointed out, and I nodded.
“Yeah, why?”
“Take the path that gives us the most time. Something will go wrong.” He pointed and I looked out of the window. Aria was outside, trying to catch snowflakes with her tongue. Yay, for her sake then.
“All right, we can do that. Gonna take longer though,” I pointed it out as Caen nodded.
“Fine by me.” There was another lull in the conversation as I began shifting away from the table. I did want to see Aria’s reaction to snow outside, but I felt he had more to say.
“Oh, and by the way. Thanks for sticking around.” I was not expecting Caen to say something encouraging. “She hasn’t been cheerful like that in a while. You coming along will be good for her.”
This time it was my turn to collect my thoughts. I knew from the talk last night that Aria didn’t exactly lead a normal life, but I had assumed that her being happy was the default. She sure gave me that impression.
“I didn’t know you cared,” I blurted out before covering my mouth. “Sorry! I…” I began but he cut me off.
“It’s hard to not care about kids when you get to my age.” He folded his arms again, leaning against the wall. I could swear he was smiling a little.
“Do…Do you see me as a kid?” I asked. He gave a nod before changing the topic.
“This much traveling ain’t good for a kid like Aria. She needs company of her own age, not some old geezer who doesn’t know half of what’s going on.” This time it was my turn to nod in agreement. I didn’t think I understood everything either, but I was at least her age. A bit older, but the point still stood.
“I’m going to head out.” I gave him a parting wave. When I opened the door, he responded:
“Try not to tease her too much. It’s her first time seeing snow. South, remember?”
Snow had always been such a key part of my life. My family and I would glance at it from warm windows. Our childhoods were filled with moments of being covered in heavy clothing and throwing snowballs at each other. We planned our lives around it, seeking to travel before the first snowfall hit and covered the path. It was weird to think of a world without snow.
Aria was right there, tongue outstretched and catching snowflakes. Her face was lit by childlike wonder, a wide smile against the morning sun. Snowflakes drifted onto her tongue, melting before her entranced eyes. I couldn’t help but smile as I leaned back against the inn, watching her giggle as a snowflake drifted onto her nose. She made little squeals and squeaks every time she caught a large snowflake. Then her eyes locked onto mine before she turned into a pile of embarrassed reactions.
“Gah! W-What are you doing here?” she yelped, hoping that I wasn’t watching. I could see her cheeks were ever so flushed, and definitely not from the cold. Actually, she was still in her fall garb.
“Nothing…Aren’t you cold? You’re still wearing fall stuff.” I pointed at her complete lack of mitts and hat as the snow blended into her silver locks.
“You mean the weather? Yeah, I guess it would be pretty cold!” Aria gave a playful nod as I scratched my head. That’s not what I meant.
“No, I mean, don’t you feel cold? You aren’t wearing mitts, or a hat. You have your hood down and it’s filling up with snow.” Aria turned over to her hood, a look of surprise before emptying the snow-filled hood.
“Oh it is! Guess I have to watch for when that happens.”
I was flabbergasted. There was no way.
“Do you feel cold? At all?”
Aria turned back to me, head tilted as her silver eyes stared up at me as if I was talking to her in a foreign language.
“What do you mean ‘feel cold’? I feel the same as I always have.” Her voice was so matter of fact, so completely honest yet so completely alien. I couldn’t help but instinctively recoil towards the door frame, terrified.
“Is that not normal?” Her expression was as endearing as ever, but I was creeped out.
“No, it’s fine…it’s just that we normally feel cold or hot.” I began to collect myself as my composure returned. I could feel her relax as she sighed in relief, relieving her unspoken fears. Then I felt a hand on my shoulders as I almost jumped onto the roof.
