House of Winter

Chapter 20, Part 1

Sanna spent the morning brushing Sigrún's coat. The wolf had joined the dragon to catch fish in the sea, and now her coat was tangled and matted. Sanna lovingly combed through each tangle, pulling out seaweed and stroking her wolf's ears, while Ari cooked fish on a fire she had built with driftwood.

Down the beach, Jinni was chasing crabs along the rocks. Every so often, when he wanted to swipe at a crab, he would put his whole weight on his back feet and momentarily stand tall like a human, before diving down toward the crab. Sanna couldn't help but smiling at his antics.

It had been a few days since they'd seen any fire army patrols in the skies, and now that they were well clear of Singtsu, they were brave enough to sit out in the open, enjoying the what little winter sunlight could make its way through the grey clouds. They'd left Pythos Savvas at the stolen boat, and made their way on alone for days now.

They'd slept every night on a different, uninhabited island, and every day flying Dorth, away from the suns and towards Sredsibirsk. They had eaten nothing but fish, and the only baths they'd had were in the sea.

The first time they'd bathed like this, it had been clear that Ari had felt awkward about it.

"You go first," Ari insisted, sitting on a rock and watching as the suns rose over the dotted islands behind them. "I'll find wood for a fire."

Sanna had walked into the water fully dressed - her Kaio dress clinging to her legs and weighing her down. She pulled the dress over her head and held it under the water to soak it, then tossed it back to the shore. The dress made a wet slap as it hit the rocks.

Then she pulled her hair from its intricate braid and submerged it fully under the water. When she raised her head again, she could see Ari on the beach, hugging her knees, and looking pointedly towards the sunrise and away.

"Join me!" Sanna called out.

Even this far away, Sanna could see Ari swallow.

Ari had always been like this: nervous and terrified of making some mistake. She was a rule follower, while Sanna liked nothing more than pushing against the boundaries.

The water lapped gently around her chest. She spread out her arms, leaning back to float like she did in the summer on the lake near Vulfholm. She wondered if she would ever see that lake again. Would she see her father again? Or would this wild goose chase through Sredsibirsk with an orphan girl be the undoing of Sanna van Dael?

She had thought what she wanted was the title. She had thought it was everything that Tai could give her, like a crown. She thought she had wanted her mother. So desperately she had wanted her mother. And yet Sanna still wasn't ready to face just how much of a disappointment it was to find all her dreams coming true.

So she would run away with a scrappy orphan to Sredsibirsk, on a wild goose chase to find a princess and deliver a tiger, because she couldn't bear the idea of returning to the mother and seeing the lack of love in her eyes.

Oh, there was something in her eyes. It was triumph and justice, to have her daughter returned to her. But it was never love. And Sanna had thought that those very same emotions would be enough to tide her, but it couldn't be. She had discovered she wanted love.

She wanted Ari to step into the water.

She wanted to watch as Ari, with her anxious energy, let her clothes fall away. She wanted to see the depth of brown of the skin of her back, and how it shone in the sunlight. She wanted to see a nervous smile as she swam towards her, growing confident in the water because it is where she spent years of her childhood, just like Sanna.

She wanted to see the depths of Ari's dark eyes, gaze darting where it shouldn't. She wanted to see the tremble of her lip.

But Ari had stayed on the beach, and Sanna had eventually walked into the shore, to stretch out her soaking wet dress over a rock and let it dry. She changed into the one spare dress she had, and rung out her hair.

That had been the first day they'd bathed, but every day since they had continued the same, and every day Ari had grown a little more confident, until this morning the two of them had stepped into the water together. Sanna had felt such a rush of excitement and she'd been overwhelmed with the desire to hold Ari's hand and pull her into the water, but instead she had dived deep under the surface.

"I think Jinni wants you to brush him, too," Ari said, and Sanna almost jumped. She'd been so caught up in remembering their morning swim and had been brushing the same spot on Sigrún's coat for too long. She hadn't even noticed that Jinni had approached them, and was eying the brush warily.

Sanna raised one eyebrow. "Well, Jinni, I've never brushed a fire tiger before, so you'd do best not to yowl at me if I accidentally tickle you, okay?"

Sigrún huffed as Sanna stood up and approached Jinni, whose dark golden eyes were fixed on her. She held out the brush slowly, allowing Jinni to sniff it first, and then brushed him once along his neck.

Not five minutes later, Jinni was on his back, exposing his belly to Sanna she could brush it, with his eyes closed in pleasure. Ari was laughing, and Sanna delighted in the sound of it. She hadn't heard Ari laugh since before Ari's sister had died.

If they hadn't been laughing, maybe they wouldn't have been found.

The fire soldiers descended quickly from the clouds - three tigers in a tight spiral. Jinni flipped onto his front and knocked the brush from Sanna's hand so that it clattered on the rocks. She had no time to grab it, or the dress that was lying out on the rocks to dry. And Sigrún, who was sulking because she was no longer being brushed - was too far away.

"Jinni," Sanna said, and without even thinking, she was pulling herself onto the tiger's back. "Go!"

Jinni launched into the sky, and as he did he let forth a roar of flame towards the fire soldiers on horse back. Sanna tried to send shards of ice towards them, butshe was too far away from Sigrún and her power wasn't strong enough.

Sigrún was also flying now, and Sanna turned back to make sure that Ari was on Warrah. She knew that Warrah's protective instincts were strong.

But to her horror, she realised that two more fire soldiers had appeared from nowhere, and were surrounding Ari, while the other three were keeping Warrah from taking off.

"Turn around, Jinni," Sanna cried. "We need to save Ari!"

"Go!" Ari screamed. "You can't fight them all."

Maybe if Sanna had been on the back of Sigrún she would have been able to fight more, but she knew she was no match for five fire soldiers on tigerback. She wasn't a fighter like Pythos Savvas, or Tomas Wilder. She used her magic almost exclusively for show.

"Go!" Ari yelled again. "Leave!"

Sanna didn't want to leave Ari, but Jinni was giving her no choice. The fire tiger put on a burst of speed, while Sigrún followed close behind.

Sanna turned back, but it seemed the fire soldiers had decided not to split their forces in pursuit, because they were too busy trying to contain Warrah. The dragon was fighting valiantly against the fire tigers.

Sanna had no choice but to hold onto Jinni as he chose where to go.

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