Rebel

The Outskirts

It snowed.

The little white flurries quickly flying down from the heavens made me look up twice in confusion. The first snowflake that fell on me was beautiful. I was no stranger to snow, considering all of the travels I have done all of my Nomadic life. 

But each time I would see snow, we would pass by quickly to warmer parts of the region. We never had the pleasure to stop and wait for it to snow. I continued to stare at each snowflake that landed on me. Each snowflake kept me in shock. I noticed the different designs and multiple shapes and sizes.

             I flexed my fingers as more snowflakes tickled my hands. I glanced at Hussain with a grin. He looked fascinated with the newly falling snow as I was. Eugene had a small smile tugging his lips as he watched us. Bo was stomping ahead quietly, not pausing to look at the beauty around us.

       Jako gazed lazily over his shoulder ahead of us as he realized we all had paused behind him. He frowned. "You all haven't seen snow before?" Jako huffed. Esmeralda glared at him from on top of Aspen. "They're Nomads, Jako." She snapped defensively, leaning forward in the saddle. "We all have different experiences."

Jako's eyes slid over to Esmeralda. His expression soften, I guessed probably by remembering that Esmeralda has been with us since we first began to be romantically involved. She is the only person for the past week he hasn't snapped to or even rolled his eyes.

               Hussain straightened, lifting a brow in challenge. Jako pressed his lips together before swinging his head back forward. As soon as he was far away enough, we all continued walking. Eugene shook his head. "I don't know why he hates us so much. I don't like that guy." He muttered. Hussain nodded in agreement.

     I bit my lip, not even bothering to join in their conversation. A small prickle of guilt pierced my heart. It wasn't fair for them not to know why Jako disliked them. I owed it to them to give at least a small explanation. But ever since we left Polis nine days ago, I hadn't have a personal moment with them.

Besides, they didn't need to focus on that. Jako was insignificant, I wanted to use my time wisely with them both and not waste it by mentioning him. I now knew time was valuable around them both.

We were lucky we hadn't encountered any soldiers since the day two soldiers tried to attack me. We had found a small camping site of the government. But the grounds were littered with dead soldier bodies. It seemed someone had done the job for us. I saw the blood written marks smeared on the tents.

                         The marks on the tents were three horizontal squiggly lines. It had a dot right underneath the third line. It reminded me of what Hussain had told me. There are other rebel groups.

         Maybe we really weren't the only ones. I still didn't understand. We were still in the province of Tycen. If there were more rebel groups why hadn't we heard from them? Surely they would like to form alliances with us.

I tightened my cloak around my chest.

     Maybe it was the mysterious people up in the north. I shook my head. It wouldn't make sense to have the northern people help us and not present themselves. I thought of the Nomads down in Sura. Where Marehk was. Hopefully nothing bad was happening to them.

And I hoped for Marehk to safely arrive there.

           We kept walking throughout the incoming snow for a couple more hours. Esmeralda insisted on walking a mile or less on foot. She smiled at the snow around her, or even touched the dying bushes around the whitening forest. She soon climbed back on Aspen. Jax remained at my side, always preferring me over Hussain.