The Fox Princess And Her White Dog

20: The Eternal Queen

Princess, wake up. You have to let me out, Snow heard Chow Chow say in her head. She mumbled unintelligibly and turned the other way with her blanket pulled over her head. Princess! he urged, poking her in the back with his snout. I can't work the door handle in this form, I need you to open the door.

"Okay, okay, I'll get up. . . in a minute," she said groggily, her eyes still closed. She had drifted back to sleep for all of seven seconds when she suddenly felt the blanket yanked off her. "Hey!" she said, covering her eyes with her hands to block out the sudden brightness as she sat up.

I'm sorry to have to do this, but I have to leave. Err, Qara is going out with her sheep soon, I cannot be late, he said with one end of her blanket between his teeth.

"Okay, okay," she said, getting out of bed. She stumbled to the door while leaning on Chow Chow for support.

Bye! See you tonight! Chow Chow said before he shot out the open door.

Snow watched him leave through bleary eyes. The sun had already risen higher than she anticipated, and other people were already out on the plains or at the animal enclosures. The sky was turning a brilliant blue, heralding good weather for the rest of the day.

I want to go out. I've been cooped up at home for the past few days, and today's weather is too good to pass up, she thought, glancing down at her foot in the brace.

Surprisingly, her foot did not hurt at all; in fact, it felt like how it did before she broke it. But not even a week has passed yet, has it healed already? she thought. Erden's mother had said it might take a month or two, and she said to rest for at least two weeks. I'll go out, but I'll pretend it's still healing, she decided.

After a quick breakfast of hot milk tea and clotted cream, Snow peeped outside her door. Seeing that the coast was clear, she snuck out of her yurt with her crutch under her arm. The last person she wanted to bump into was anyone from Erden's family – or worse, Oyunchimeg herself, who might give her a tongue lashing for disobeying her orders to rest – so she crept in the opposite direction of the Khan's yurt.

What am I doing, sneaking around like a thief? I'm not doing anything wrong. I'm just going for a short walk to get some fresh air, she told herself. She was about to make a clean break for the grasslands when she heard someone calling her.

"Big Sister!"

Rats!

"Erhi," Snow started to say as she turned in the direction of her sister-in-law's voice, and froze like a statue. Erhi bounded over to her, looking like a small child balancing a large eagle on her forearm.

"Are you better already? Want to see Geriel in action?" the young girl said, bursting with enthusiasm. Geriel responded by spreading her wings over Erhi's head and shoulders.

"E-err. . ." Snow said, her mouth gone dry, unable to tear her eyes away from Geriel's black talons gripping Erhi's leather sleeve. Cold sweat had broken out on her brow, and she didn't know whether to run away or be sick.

"Little Sister, can't you see that your eagle is making Snow uncomfortable?" said a male voice. She turned around and saw Oktai walking stiffly towards them. Oh no, not someone else from Erden's family, she groaned to herself.

"Not everyone is as good with animals as you," he said with a shake of his head, causing his turquoise earrings to sway from side to side.

"Huh? But Big Sis was alright with Geriel before this – oh! Where are you going?" Erhi said when Geriel flapped her wings and suddenly pushed off from her arm into the sky. "She's never flown off without warning like that before," she said as she stared at her disappearing eagle in puzzlement. Snow silently thanked the Heavens and breathed a sigh of relief.