Frosted Dreams (NaNoWriMo2020)

Kanakolu kūmāwalu

Hika frowns, poking her head into Jaak's room. He isn't there, but something is. There is a smattering of white dust on the fabric of the bed. Snow, she thinks. Why is there snow on Jaak's bed? It seems like a rather odd place for snow, even with Jaak's gift. Hika moves to touch the snow and send it steaming from the surface, but at her touch the snow lifts up and hovers in front of her face before it swirls out of the room.

She follows it instinctually, letting the snow lead her through the crack in the wall and outside. The night is windy, air whistling past her and shoving her against the wall. But it isn't as strong as it was a few days ago, she can forge through it. The snow manages to hold itself together and points her farther up the ledge.

Hika follows the slight slope, wincing when the slope steepens. Without this wind, it would be easy to traverse. It's even fairly easy even with the wind, her progress is just slow. At the top of the slope the snow turns sharply, towards a section of rocky ground that leads straight up the mountain.

The wind is pushing against her back here, aiding her as she clambers over the boulders in her path up the mountain. When she reaches the top, she finds Jaak leaning against a boulder, its hard surface softened with a layer of snow. She tilts her head at him, frowning.

"Are you okay?"

Jaak nods, leaning his head against the cold stone to stare up at the sky. "I'm just thinking."

"Okay . . . why did you summon me?"

Jaak laughs. "I didn't actually. The snow was just to show you where I was if you were looking for me. What did you need?"

Hika shrugs. "I'm not sure. Something felt wrong with my starlight. I felt like I should find you."

"Really?"

She nods and moves to sit beside him. The clouds above them are pretty thick but there are some patches of starlit sky peeking through. She smiles up at the unfamiliar constellations and pulls a band of starlight down, wrapping it around herself in a ribbon. The starlight curls around her shoulders and dances over to Jaak.

It skims over his skin, exposed to the elements. He has a thin layer of snow lying atop his arm, unmelting. The snow melts beneath the gleam of the starlight, sliding off of Jaak's arm. He lifts a hand for the starlight to weave through, smiling. After a moment of hesitation, Hika moves to lay her head atop Jaak's shoulder, but she quickly lifts her head back up when he suddenly stills. The only movement in his entire body is the slight lift of his shoulders when he breathes.

She can feel her cheeks warm in embarrassment, and she can see a hint of pink on Jaak's cheeks as well. He turns his head to look at her, sending a snowflake to fall onto her nose, kissing her with cold. She gapes at him with mock disbelief and tosses a pinprick of a star at him. He laughs at her, grinning with wicked mischief.

"You don't know what you've just started!"

Hika laughs. "I don't need the specifics!"

She scoops up a handful of snow as Jaak pulls some snow of his own into the air. It moves over to Hika and dumps itself onto her head as she tries to pack her own snow into a ball. Her mouth falls open in disbelief as the snow piles onto her, and Jaak takes the opportunity to to toss a snowball right at her face.

He's a good shot, it goes sailing right into her open mouth. Hika splutters at him through her mouthful of snow and sends a ribbon of starlight to lightly hit his arm as she tosses her own snowball at him. It hits him solidly in the chest, but he just repacks it and sends it flying back at her. She dodges, but the snowball comes whining back around to hit her in the back. Hika holds up a hand.

"If we're doing this, there are rules!"

Jaak retorts, "Says the loser!"

"Says the one who doesn't have the unfair advantage. No magic!"

Jaak laughs, shaking his head. "Fine, fine. But that means no stars for you either."

Hika shrugs. "That's fine by me!"

She bends down to scoop up a handful of snow and quickly begins to pack it together into a ball. On her way back up, a ball hits her in the face. She glares at Jaak.

"Did you cheat?"

He bends to scoop up a handful of snow and taking no more than a heartbeat, he compresses it into a ball. Jaak grins at her and tosses the ball up into the air. He raises an eyebrow at Hika, his face still stretched in a wide grin.

"No, I didn't cheat. I'm just fast."

Hika sighs and shakes her head, muttering, "And I thought I was fast at creating snowballs."

"You'll never be able to beat a boy who's been doing it for two centuries."

"I beat my 'Anakē."

"I'm sure Poli'ahu wasn't raised making snowballs, hers may be a recent development. But mine? I've been making them my entire life."

Hika laughs with a shake of her head and pulls together a large pile of snow from the ground. She quickly amasses a considerable pile of snowballs and rapid fires them at Jaak. He dodges them all, laughing, and sends some back at her as she tries to create some more balls of snow.

She backs up against the stone in an attempt to move out it Jaak's range, raising one of her snowballs to lob it in his direction. She stops at the expression on his face, one of dread, and a sudden feeling of creeping cold shudders up her spine. She whirls around and gasps as an ice-cold dagger slices into her stomach.

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kanakolu kūmāwalu = thirty-eight, when counting

'anakē = aunt

Oh no! What do you think just happened? Who do you think stabbed her? What's going to happen next? Tell me your thoughts!

Happy reading, and I'll see you next chapter!

~ Goddess of Fate, signing out