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TWENTY-ONE

TARVER

THE MORNING DAWNED CLEAR AND PROMISING, and I had let myself hope a little that the ascent wouldn’t be as bad as I had anticipated Streaut-achingly cold, I never lack soher we cliht feels pale and cold, but I know it’s the only thing standing between us and a er problem A problem we’ll face when the sun starts to sink

Lilac works stubbornly to keep up, and s at me to slon and let her rest But I press on, up past the boulders and the thinning tufts of grass

As we climb, my mind circles back to how utterly alien this must be for her--as far from her experience as her life is froroith your face on the cover of every gossip alaxy?

I can’t stand to think what the paparazzi would say if they heard her mutter one of my curses under her breath, or saw the way she nestles in close to th

I can s to the crash site, and the difference between slowing down and pushing on

It’s a few hours after we split a ration bar for lunch that the first flakes start to fall, so tiny at first that they almost look like a mist Behind me Lilac makes a soft sound, and I realize she’s probably never seen real snow before She’s had more reality since we crashed than over the rest of her life put together Part of me wants to stop and appreciate the start of the snowfall with her, but I knoon’t be long until it’s co thick and fast, so I park her in the lee of one of the huge rocks that litter our path and scramble up over it for a better view We need a cave, or at least an overhang The twisted trees up here have bare, spindly branches, and they’re useless for shelter I’ve never seen trees like this--combined with the thick, pale

I used to do a lot ofwith Alec when I was a kid Me andabout him as we climb, and about my parents By now they must think they have two dead sons He’s one of the voices inwhen I want to stop A line of sergeants and coet tired--big, wild men from the frontier who screasure I take the extra minute to make the bed as co and turning all night But Alec’s voice is quieter, patient, the way he used to sound when he cas he’d learned

It doesn’t take long to find a cave The entrance is barely more than a space between two rocks, roofed over with earth and stone, but it extends farther in, and it’ll do

The cold cuts intowind pulls at my coat as I work my way across the ainst the rock, and her hands are freezing as I guide her up the slope toward the place I’ve found

We make our way in past the first twist of the cave It’s dark, but we’re sheltered froht, her gaze is dull and hopeless

I wish she’d co my faults for me I bundle her in blankets and build a fire with deadwood piled by old snowmelt at the mouth of the cave, then crawl inside the blankets with her She’s too tired to resist, ainst me and rests her head on my shoulder "Don’t drowse," I say quietly, my voice hoarse frorees, drawing the blanket in tighter around us "Why am I always the problem? Just once I’d like to be the useful one"

"We happened to get stranded on oes, so coh "Well, I suppose I wish a lot of things"

"Me too," I say quietly to the girl in my arood cup of tea," she says, with a sigh "And some scones, jam, cream"

"I wish I had a steak" We both dwell on that for a uy inHe boiled up a shirt ere in a tight spot on Arcadia But he says it’s got to be a general’s shirt, because they use a better quality dye on those"

"Major" She sounds like she doesn’t knohether to giggle, or chastise nia first Otherwise it would be disrespectful"

Talking again after the day’s silence is like a truce after a long can As we settle in to wait to war toward the people she saw by the river All of the this way, at the mountains, or the wreck, perhaps But why? I don’t want to talk about it, don’t want to think about it For noe’re allies again, and I’m not about to mess that up

My internal clock tellswakes me The fire’s burned down to e in the way only a blizzard in full swing can But we’re wearing everything n, including our boots, and I’m warm