Stormbringer | Jon Snow

Chapter 14

Arusha was glad of their adventure.

Each time they stopped to make camp, she gained a great amount of energy, sprinting back and forth while Melyse and Jon set up tents, Ghost bounding into the trees to look for a rabbit or two. Arusha was no help, rolling around and even kicking snow in their faces. Melyse apologized profusely, but Jon didn't seem to mind.

"She's certainly happy," said Jon once Arusha had calmed down, biting at the snow between her paws while Ghost extended his judgment. He reached a hand out to Arusha, who immediately leapt at him, nuzzling into his arm and throwing her body onto his lap, demanding to be caressed.

"Arusha," chided Melyse, embarrassed at the fox's behavior. She seemed to like Jon very much, and often forgot her courtesies.

Jon smiled, rubbing between her ears. Arusha seemed to smile, tongue stuck out as she looked to Melyse for approval. Melyse narrowed her eyes to demonstrate the opposite, for Arusha should not be flinging herself at people who'd been so recently dead. The fox paid her no mind.

The first days of travel were nothing short of awkward for Melyse. Either Jon didn't notice it or he didn't comment on it. Alone, they could talk about anything, and often did to pass the time, but things felt different once they were camped beneath the trees for the night. Taking turns keeping the watch and sharing the tent, it was strange to Melyse, and she didn't understand why.

No comment had been made about the fact she'd run her fingers through his hair to put him to sleep after he'd come back. Nothing was said about the way he'd tried to cup her face to examine the blood then quickly moved his hand as if it were nothing. Lately, she'd see his hand reach for hers, as it happened so often, and would watch him recoil as if thinking about it again.

She didn't know why it kept happening in her mind, the same image over and over, the moment she made the choice to comfort him like that. She'd wanted to make him feel better and somehow felt she might've made things worse between them. Traveling with only each other, it meant a sure confrontation of these inexplicable interactions, yet no explanation was given, which left her more confused about whether she was losing her mind or not.

If she dared to think of it further, it would surely bring her to that point. Jon was someone she trusted and admired, a friend. She had to tell herself he was only comforting her and she was only comforting him, it didn't have to be so strange, and yet it still felt that way, for she'd never done that with any other friend.

Melyse remembered having a similar crisis when she first met Matthos, with all his flirty comments while he followed her around most of the day. From the first moment she met him, she knew she found him attractive. She remembered thinking about what she felt for him and knowing it wasn't safe to pursue– Matthos might've accepted her fears but didn't understand them in the same way. She recalled the day she kissed him, the same day she realized how afraid she was of continuing any further.

This was a crisis far more difficult to understand. Jon didn't flirt with her and she didn't flirt with him. He hadn't tried to kiss her nor had she tried to kiss him. But there was an awful lot of touching that she'd never had with Matthos, touches meant to soothe but, she worried, held some underlying meaning neither wanted to admit to. Jon was handsome, she'd never been blind to that. But she swore she'd never had that at the forefront of her mind. How could this have crept up on her?

"You doing alright?" asked Jon, watching her poke mindlessly at their small fire. "I can take first watch tonight."

"Doing fine," she said, not looking at him. If she looked his way, all it would do was bring back those confusing feelings. "How many more days to Last Hearth?"