The Kingdom of Eternal Winter (Divergent Fourtris Fanfiction)

Chapter 24

By the time Tris returned to Christina's home, everyone was fast asleep. They had left the door open for her to come it, at least. Nonetheless, she felt like an intruder as she tiptoed inside and looked for some bread in the kitchen. She knew Christina's mother would probably be alright with this, but it still felt as if she was doing something forbidden. Yet her stomach was rumbling, and she wouldn't be able to fall asleep this hungry.

When she finally climbed into her makeshift bed on the floor beside Christina's, exhaustion took over fast. She had known she was tired before, but now that she got to rest and relax her aching legs, it washed over her like a giant wave she couldn't stop. She welcomed it, for it allowed her to fall asleep soon instead of spending half the night awake. Most of her nocturnal worrying turned out useless anyway.

Christina shook her awake the next morning.

"Tris, I think you have to get up. I let you sleep for a while, but if you want to make it to the fountain today, I'm afraid you have to get out of bed."

"I'm so tired," Tris mumbled, wishing she could at least stay in bed a little longer.

"I know you are, and it's not surprising after your trip to the library yesterday. You could still take a break today and go to the fountain tomorrow, though. In that case, you can sleep all day if you need to."

What? Sleep all day? She never did that, except when she was sick, and even then, it wasn't something she liked, for she knew there were others she burdened with having to take care of her or her chores.

"No, it's fine. I'll get up, just give me five more minutes, please," she sighed, knowing she didn't want to take a day off.

If she came across any kind of obstacle on her way to the fountain, she wanted to have as much time as possible to try again and complete the task. She explained it to Christina over breakfast. They could speak freely, since her mother and sister had already eaten and left the house.

"Fair point, and actually very smart of you. I admire how resolute you are. The last two weeks have been so draining and I'm so thankful I can rest now. I can't remember going to bed as early as I did yesterday," Christina said between spoons of oatmeal.

"I'd love to take a day off to rest, but I can do that when I'm done with this task. Or all of the remaining tasks. It's only three more weeks."

"Oh, so you're optimistic you'll make it to the final one and complete that, too?"

"I guess I do."

Tris was a little surprised that she unconsciously believed in herself like this. She hadn't at the beginning, but now that she knew what lay ahead of her if she won this competition, or rather who she could be with then, she had more reasons than ever to hold on to the idea of getting through this successfully.

"I'm going to spend the day with Will," Christina changed the topic.

"Are you? Again? That's a good sign, isn't it?"

"I hope. He didn't have much time yesterday, since he had to work. But today he can take the afternoon off, and we're going to the lake together. We'll have more time to talk today."

"I'll keep my fingers crossed."

"I'll keep mine crossed for you, too."

***

The lake lay calm and sheltered between snowy hills, its frozen surface reflecting the clouds in the sky like a giant dark mirror. It looked otherworldly and surreal, unlike any other landscape. The sheer size of it stretching out towards the horizon was impressive.