Fall Into Me

~.XVI.~

Slowly, awareness returned to Minerva. The last thing she remembered was Mona snuggling into her chest. Stretching out her limbs and arching her back, Minerva's eyes opened. There was a few minutes of bliss as she came to, which was shattered by a sharp stabbing pain in her temple.

Minerva had been expecting the headache at some point. Not willing to sleep with a single window open in that caravan meant she was at a danger of them. Their security was paramount, and it didn't matter how close to a cabin with her security team she was, or how deep in the forest she put them, Minerva would not be risking it.

The best she could do was have the air con blasting her, a poor mimicry of a gentle breeze, but it had to do. Until it didn't. The van was suddenly too stuffy, too warm and Minerva found herself pushing the duvet away and stumbling off the bed, fighting with the door to get it open and to just get out.

The second the door lock gave way, she fled into the chilly air, feeling it like razor blades against her burning skin. It was sharp, but it felt good against her body, cold air skipping over and soothing the heat, against the pounding forming across her temples. She would have to take some medication for it, but the bitterly cold, fresh morning air would certainly help.

"Miri?" Mona called from inside the van, "everything okay?"

Minerva couldn't call back but also couldn't stomach going back into the heat of the van, choosing to lean against the outside of it instead, back pressed to the ice cold metal. Mona's head to appear outside, her breath misting in front of her.

"Fuck, ain't you cold?" She asked, shivering. Minerva shook her head slightly, reaching a hand out to touch Mona, who was quick to shove her hand off, "why the fuck are you so hot?" She demanded, "are you sick?"

"Headache," Minerva replied.

"Where are your meds?" Mona asked her.

"Shelf in the closet," Minerva managed through gritted teeth. Talking hurt more, but she did not want to go back into that van, so she'd suffer it to tell Mona where her meds were.

"Got it, don't go anywhere," Mona told her in such a stern way it would've made Minerva laugh had a sharp spike of pain not radiated inside her skull.

It didn't take Mona long to reappear with the medication box in her hand, along with a glass of water.

"Here," she said, far gentler than she'd been talking before. Minerva took the box and pulled out a packet, popping two pills and swallowing them down with water. Mona took everything away, and came back minutes later with one of Minerva's jumpers on, sitting on the floor of the caravan and patiently waiting.

Closing her eyes, Minerva took in deep breaths, feeling the ice air burn her lungs. The cold had never bothered her, not even as a child. Many times Moira had to herd her back inside when it was snowing. The older she became, the more her obsession with winter grew.

It was her favourite season, with Spring coming in a fast second. One of her favourite things was to walk through the forest on the cusp of spring, when the trees were beginning to leaf, the ground was beginning to recover and the wildflowers in the fields were budding.

Opening her eyes, Minerva looked out at the wildflower fields now. They were nothing but a frozen wasteland, the sight rather depressing. Because there was no leaf cover, if Minerva looked carefully, she could see into the next field, where the apiary was.

"We'll come back here in spring," she decided, able to speak without a shooting pain in her skull.

"Why?"

"Because it's prettier. These are the wildflower fields, the apiary is just over there," she pointed to their right.

"Apiary?"