Astrila is a normal girl in her Inuit tribe, but is left alone by her mother's death. She runs to the cliffs that overlook the sea and grieves, before she slips and falls off of the cliff into the icy sea. Something saves her, but what is it? Join h...
Astrila bounds up to meet him at the top and looks out over the village below. She can see about thirteen igluit scattered among the snow, her keen eyes seeing the shadows that reveal them among the pristine snow, fresh from the katiyana. Farther out on the bay, she can see an assortment of dark shapes running to and fro across the ice.
"Are they ice fishing?"
Kōri nods, smiling. "Yes, they are."
"What happens if someone falls through the ice?"
Kōri frowns slightly. "We know the ice well enough to not fall through, but if it does happen, the selkie who fell through will just shift." Astrila frowns again, about to apologize and fret once more, but Kōri stops her. "Astrila, stop worrying about it. Just stop."
Astrila nods, but the frown stays on her face and she looks away from him in shame. She hears a sigh from Kōri and the slightest bit of movement. He lingers in his new position for a moment or two and she hears the snow crunch beneath his feet, followed by a whistle through the air. She is hit by something cold, wet, and hard in the side of the face and her mouth drops open as she raises a gloved hand to her cheek. Something falls into her palm and she brings her hand down again to see snow sitting in the palm of her hand, sparkling innocently in the dim light of the arctic sun.
She turns her head to look at Kōri, astonishment and anger glittering in her eyes. "Did you-" She shrieks as Kōri hits her with yet another ball of snow. "Hey!"
She ducks his next missile and scoops up a handful of snow, rapidly packing it together into a hard lump. She sends it whizzing towards him and he tries to dodge. It hits him in the stomach, and he doubles over slightly with the force of it before grabbing a new handful of snow. She sends her next one shooting towards him before he can finish packing it together, hitting his hands and crushing the forming ball within. He gapes at her.
"Did you just . . ."
She grins at him and sends another one, hitting him square in the side as he tries to dodge. They throw a couple more snowballs each before Kōri raises his hand, stopping her next missile.
"As much as I want to continue this, we really should go check out the bay before it gets to close to dark."
He turns to head down the hill and Astrila takes the chance to slip one last snowball into her glove, holding it for later. She follows him down the hill, skimming along the top of the snow layer like she's wearing snowshoes in contrast to Kōri's path of deep footsteps in the snow. She skips past him and turns slightly when he makes a sound.
"What is it?"
He is gaping slightly at her tracks in the snow. "Are you even walking? This looks more like you are flying over the snow."
Astrila laughs and shrugs. "I told you, I've always been light on my feet."
She reaches the bottom first and steps into the shadow of an iglu to wait for him. He has to wade his way through the last bit of snow, piled up to his waist by the winds. Just before he steps out from the pile, Astrila sends her hidden snowball right into his face, causing him to fall back into the snow, leaving a gaping hole of snow above him. She holds a hand to her mouth as she giggles, her eyes shining with tears of laughter. At last, just before Astrila was about to start worrying, Kōri pops up out of the snow, his black hair littered with so much snow that his head looks like a cloud. This causes Astrila to laugh even harder, and Kōri frowns, his eyes lit with his own laughter.
"What? What are you laughing at?"
She has to force the words in between giggles. "Your hair . . . it looks . . . like . . . a cloud."
He reaches a hand up to his hair, undoubtedly starting to feel the melted snow seeping through his hair to touch his scalp with cold tendrils. He pats the pile of snow sitting on his hair and forcefully brushes it all off, shaking his head to fling away the last little clumps of snow. He tries not to smile at her, but the corners of his mouth tilt up.
"Were you planning to do that?"
"Not in the snowbank, but . . . the opportunity was too good to pass up."
He sighs, shaking his head, but his tiny smile broadens into a grin. "It was a good plan, and certainly a surprise to me."
Astrila grins at him in return before she steps forward to help him to his feet. He grabs hold of her hand and she yanks, pulling him up and out of the snow. He stumbles a bit as he emerges from the snowbank, but quickly regains his footing. He raises an eyebrow at her.
"Strong, aren't you?"
"I followed the hunters around, and picked up some things."
He smiles again. "Well, it paid off. You're stronger than me."
She raises an eyebrow. "I'm not sure I believe that."
Kōri laughs. "You don't particularly need to believe it. I just can tell that I'm not that strong." He shakes his head. "Come, let me show you around the bay and its village half."
Astrila grins at him. "What is there to see?"
"Everything." ________________________________________________________________________________ Well this chapter turned into an impromptu snowball fight. Not what I had planned, but . . . *shrugs* It was fun to write. What do you think the bay will look like? Tell me your thoughts!
Now here is a map of the island at last! There is an approximation of where the island is in the world as well. What do you think of it?
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Happy reading, and I'll see you next chapter! Oh, and Happy Easter guys!
