When I slip into my room, the woman is fixated on a book in her hand. Her legs dangle on the shelf she sits on. She startles from my sudden appearance but calms down after noticing it’s just me.

“Ah! You are early!” Her eyes light up. “The sky has still not darkened.”

The woman has this grin on her face that makes me think she’s going to hop up and twitter around me like a passerine bird. I’m pretty sure I know what she’s expecting, and I’m so not prepared to give her an answer. Oh well. I need to get it out of the way, anyway.

“I didn’t find your ring.” I leave out the part where somebody else took it.

“Oh. . .” Her eyes droop.

So much for her jovial mood.

I shrug. “Is it important to you?”

“Very.”

“Can you live without it?”

“Well, it is not like I cannot . . .” She keeps sighing incessantly as she speaks.

“Well, then it can’t be that important, can it?” The thought of her bawling her eyes out flashes through my mind, and I correct myself, “Hey, that doesn’t mean I’m going to stop trying, okay? However, I need you to tell me one thing.”

“Yes?”

“You know about the vault, don’t you?” I try my best to keep an interrogative gaze.

“W—what?” she stutters, covering her mouth with a tremulous hand. Numerous dead giveaways. “Vaults? Y—yeah. I know what vaults are. I know how to use one.”

“Is that so?” I raise my brow. “You don’t have anything else to tell me?”

“I have told you everything.”

“No, you didn’t. I don’t know what you know since you don’t seem to know much at all.”

“Sorry for not knowing much!” She glowers, and her expression is of one who’s had enough. “Then tell me what I ought to know instead of telling me I lack knowledge!”

“Wow. Feisty. I didn’t mean anything by it.”

“You say that, but you will keep on ridiculing me about everything, will you not?”

Her attitude surprises me. She’s probably still disappointed about the ring. Or maybe she’s trying to distract me?

“Focus on my question, please. Do you or do you not know about the vault? That vault.”

She turns away. “Mayhaps . . .”

“Great. They told me people usually keep valuables inside vaults, but I didn't know they’re used to keep goddamn women!”

“I didn’t say I was inside the vault!” she says, wrinkling her nose at me.

“Ah! So you do know!” I throw my hands into the air, “So, where did it come from?”

“I—I said I would tell you if you could find my ring! We had an agreement!”

Now it’s my turn to sigh. “Sure, whatever. Not like I care or anything.”

I have shit-tons of things I need to ask, especially about the probability of her ring being a weapon of mass destruction, but it’s best to not open that can of worms now. When I have better leverage in our negotiation, like when I actually get that ring for example, I can make her spit out the truth much more easily.

I lean against the wall, trying to concentrate on wiping snow off of my rifle. She seems to be keeping herself busy too; her eyes are fixed on the book again. It’s one of those manuals about how to operate war tanks. She still looks kind of pissed (although she has no valid reason to), but it seems like she’s also avoiding conflict.

After a long while, I test the waters. “Did you have fun reading?”

“I am not planning on reading anymore,” she replies. “It is too dark now.” Judging from her casual expression, she doesn’t seem the type to hold grudges.

“Don’t lie. That shit’s boring as hell.”

“It seems captivating to me. Alexei, may I ask you something?”

“Go ahead.”

“Why did the State of Sakha declare independence when they would have gotten a massive subsidy by remaining a vassal state of the Republic?”

I was going to ignore her question, but she looks as though she’s gonna die of disappointment. So, I start talking.

“The way I see it, it’s all a political game. If you read on, you’ll notice many other states openly defying the Republic of Moskva afterward. It was something of a chain reaction, you get what I mean? The State of Sakha and five other states, 1932. Yanamo-Nenets and seven others, 1933. Komi Republic, 1936. And this one”—I point to the ground—“the State of Tatarstan, 1937. There’s a little map at the end of the book so you can see where the states were in 1967. Many of them are now long gone, merged again with the Republic. Sucks to be a mapmaker in this day and age; you finish your map then, boom, the Komi Republic is now a tower of ash.”

She squints at me, wrinkling her nose again. “You are mean. I assume that is why you are not popular.”

I sigh. “I know I’ve failed you, but you don’t need to be so nasty. I didn’t bring the ring back, but I got you something more useful.”

She leans herself closer to me with curiosity, something I anticipated.

“I guess you’re wondering about the sack in my hand.” I pat on the sack.

“Yes, I am. What is it for?”

“See for yourself.” I find myself room and sit down. “Stop peeking at it like that; come down here and have a look.”

I start pulling loaves of bread out of the sack as she approaches, muttering as I do so. “Those damn guards, I would’ve gotten more if it weren’t for them . . .”

“What about them?”

“Nothing. I wanted to fetch a few more loaves, but then the guards came, which basically means ‘piss off’.”

“Did you ask them nicely?” She has the silliest look on her face as she asks.

“Yeah. They said ‘piss off’.”

“Did you not say you can only have one per day?”

“Yes.”

“Four loaves is not one loaf of bread.”

“Thank you. I, too, can count.”

“Then you would understand four loaves is not one loaf! They did not give you more because you were too greedy.”

“Oh boy. You don’t understand, do you?”

“Understand what? How come you got so many?”

The blank look on her face tells me she doesn’t get that I stole them. Best if she doesn’t.

“We celebrated our successful attempt to fight back. Everybody got a sack. I tried to get another sack, yes, but I guess I was indeed too greedy.” I hold a loaf against her face. “Now put that book down and start munching. Not hot and buttery, but this is still food.”

“That is fine.” She gives me a small bow as she takes the bread. I have no idea why she feels it’s needed. “Is it poisoned?”

“Huh?”

“I remember the first time you gave me your bread. The possibility of the bread being poisoned had never occurred to me until you said that. Do they put poison in bread so often up here that you have to warn me?”

“No. It’s just that you didn’t seem to trust me at all.”

“You bite first to see if this sack is poisoned.”

I groan. “Seriously?” I grab a loaf of bread and take a bite. “Happy?”

“I was joking.”

“Hilarious.” I take another bite. “I haven’t dropped dead yet. Your turn.”

She gives me a silent chuckle. We move in closer to each other, until we are a rifle’s length apart, and start eating.