On Thin Ice (Prequel to Guild)

Chapter Nineteen: A Broken Bridge

        Morning's light melted the last of the snow. It thawed out the gardens and warmed its ponds, invited back flowers and birds and adorned the cherry trees in pink buds that turned to pale blossoms and dropped petals that fell like the past winter's snow.

And though this snow on her face felt as soft as silk and scented the air with sweet perfume, Yuina knew she had to bundle up. Knew that she'd only miss the spring for a day or two.

Because in less than a week, she'd be home.

Home.

The river's song wove through the trees, the silver beads in her hair singing with it. Home. Home. Home.

Yuina Mongonai was going home to her people.

And for the first time in years, she wouldn't have to hide it.

Not from her birth family... and not from her new one.

A few steps more and she could hear their voices on the trails of the mid-April breeze.

Dai's voice kept low to the ground, quiet and blunt. So scathing that she could name his audience before she parted the hedgerow. Before she stepped out of the sakura grove into the sunshine and all three of them went silent.

Her beads? Her footsteps? She didn't know what gave her away. But she didn't care.

Cutting tension like bit of string, Yuina folded over laughing.

"What! What is it? What's wrong? What's-"

"What are those?" she wheezed, hardly able to catch her breath. "What in the name of the gods and spirits are those?"

"Are what?"

She pointed.

"My boots?" Dai's face was white as the parka she wore, white as the frozen tundra they'd cross this morn. Black brows formed a line. "What's wrong with my boots?"

But once again, she couldn't speak. Pain shot through her sides, sprouting branches that jabbed at the rest of her body.

"It's not like yours are any better," Jia snorted, brows lifting as he indicated the princess's traditional Shirub boots. Ones that would keep her locked in Komet's saddle when she rode, faded against the northern snow. Long ago, they had lost their patterns to time and use and love. The empress's nose turned up at the same angle as the boots' curled toes. "They're ridiculous."

"They're warm," she answered, rolling her eyes. "And they're functional. Which is more than can be said for yours." Risking another glance at her friends' feet, Yuina put a hand to her mouth and tried to stifle her laughter.

...And failed.

Tears squeezed out her eyes. Dai put a hand on her waist, trying to steady her. Trying to keep her from stumbling into a tree or laughing herself into the dirt. Reminding her to breathe. "The best use for those would be..." she tried, "...feeding those to my horse!"

It got worse.

She fell, and only her husband-to-be kept her from falling.

"Yuina!"

"Gods and spirits, what possessed you to wear..." A warning look from her promised. Not amused.

But she was.

"Why... straw?!"

"Insulation," sighed Dai.

"Insul-"

"They work!"

A beat. Yuina just met Dai's stare as he dared her to continue. As she met his challenge head on. Yuina Mongonai grinned. "...In aiding digestion?" she asked, and Dai pulled away to cover his face with his hands.