When morning finally came and the others started stirring from they sleep, Snow felt even more tired than he’d felt before he went to sleep. His body still ached all over and the chill cold air of the morning made him wrap himself tightly on his cloak. With a second thought he took a peek towards the big rock next to him, but the dark monster wasn’t there anymore. In fact, he was nowhere to be seen, he concluded looking around the camp.

“Good morning, Snow! Sleep well?” a loud voice asked him, and Snow looked up to be greeted by MenTar’s bright green eyes and an even brighter smile.

He blinked and nodded, obviously lying.

“Good. I’ll help you fold your blankets!” he went on, offering him his hand to help him to his feet, and Snow quickly leaned back, away from his reach. MenTar also seemed to notice it, his smile losing its glow, becoming extremely similar to his brother’s, and Snow quickly stood up on his own, wincing when he straightened his back and it hurt.

The sound of laughter startled him and he suspiciously glanced at MenTar, still standing beside him.

“Yeah! You’re bound to have a few rough days until you get used to it!” MenTar stated, still laughing, the previous awkwardness completely washed away. “It looks easier that it actually is, right? Riding an entire day. Once, back when I was a kid, my uncle forced me to seat on a horse’s back for four whole days! Can you imagine? Day and night, day and night! I couldn’t even go to the latrine. And I tell you! It’s not easy relieving yourself while sitting on a saddle. I literally thought I would die!” He laughed again, making Snow stare at him in bewilderment. What he described didn’t sound like a pleasant experience at all. But that strangely cheerful man kept on laughing to the point that bright tears appeared at the corner of his eyes. “I practically had to learn how to walk again, when I was finally allowed off the damn horse!”

“And you’ll have to learn how to walk again, after I break your legs for loitering around!” ZenTar barked, making them both jump. “Move it, you two! Or I will have you skip breakfast!”

“Yeah, yeah! We’re moving, we’re moving,” MenTar replied with a sigh and winked at Snow, shrugging. “Don’t mind him. He’s usually in a bad-mood early in the morning,” he told him, lowering his voice so ZenTar wouldn’t hear him, and bent down to pick-up Snow’s blankets. “Not that he’s mood improves all that much during the day. So, yeah. Just ignore him. I tell you! It’s his fault that our Calzai always has that sour expression on his face. These things are contagious, you know? So you better stay away from them,” he added with another wink, and hummed his way back to the horses, carrying Snow’s blankets as if he didn’t have a care in the world.

Snow took a deep breath and pulled the hood of his cloak over his head. The monster had been right. The morning air felt cold against his practically bold head. The warm hood not only shadowed his sensitive eyes, it also offered him warmth and a pleasant sense of comfort.

Even though he wanted very much to do as MenTar had told him, and keep away from them as much as possible, he’d long learned that wishing had nothing to do with reality. And so, the sun had yet to rise from behind the huge mountain range in front of them, when they were back to the road, the monster sitting right behind him, so close to him that he could feel his back becoming warm.

And yet there was a kind of relaxing quietness about the early hours of the morning. The air, although cold, smelled fresh, most of the world still slumbering. The only sounds he could hear were the horses’ hooves and their breathing, as they calmly followed the dirt road. Gently swaying from side to side, Snow’s tiredness finally caught up with him, his eyelids becoming heavy, his sight unfocused. Shaking his head, he tried his best to remain awake, reminding himself of what would happen should he fall asleep and fall of the horse. But eventually his eyes just wouldn’t obey him anymore, and his brain completely shut down.

Something warm fell softly against his chest and, in the next second, the brat’s head lolled to one side, his entire body following it dangerously, forcing ZaiWin to release Black’s reins and wrap an arm around the kid’s waist. Still the brat didn’t wake up, he noticed with a scowl, looking down at the head now nestled against his chest.

The damn brat had really fallen asleep!

He’d noticed his hooded head lolling back and forth like it belonged to a disarticulated doll for a while now, and so he had known that he was feeling sleepy. Which hadn’t surprised him at all, since the damn brat had spent the entire night tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep. If he hadn’t known better he would have thought that he was some lordling, too used to the comforts of a soft bed to be able to sleep on a hard floor. But this was the brat that felt safer sleeping on top a pile of straw in the stables, than in the luxurious bedroom that had been assigned to him. And there was also the fact that he’d been a prisoner most of his life, his scrawny body living proof that he hadn’t been treated kindly, far from it. He doubted his beds had been much more comfortable than a patch of grass, if there had been any beds to begin with.

“As to be expected, he did end up falling asleep,” ZenTar noticed in the soft voice of one who didn’t want to disturb someone else’s rest.

ZaiWin didn’t reply. The fact that ZenTar had also noticed it didn’t surprise him.

Snow’s head slid to one side and he gently adjusted his hold on him. The brat felt so small and frail against his chest he feared he might fracture one of his bones should he squeeze him to hard.

“I’d offer to carry him for you but you’d probably kick me off my horse, so I’ll abstain from doing that. At least you’re not throwing him off your saddle,” he observed, an amused smile tugging at his lips. In fact, if it weren’t for the eminent and unavoidable catastrophe that that kid’s existence meant in all their lives, ZenTar would have found the whole thing extremely funny and entertaining.

As before ZaiWin ignored him, his blue eyes looking straight ahead, his young face a mask of cold indifference. And what a shame it was, that such a young man should be so used to wearing such a heavy mask all the time.

With a sigh ZenTar lowered his head to take a peek at the boy. Yup, he was deep asleep, he concluded. And, even though he was sitting, his body swinging from side to side, he looked rather comfortable, taking into account how afraid he looked every time ZaiWin talked or even looked at him.

“You know? I think it was all the sounds,” he offered and finally managed to engage ZaiWin’s attention, even though his blue eyes told him he didn’t understand what he meant. “The sounds. The night sounds. You still remember, right? How it felt to sleep outside, in the beginning. All the strange sounds coming from the unknown darkness. I know they kept me awake for quite a few nights, back when I was kid.”

Now that ZenTar had mentioned it, ZaiWin had to agree with him. He too recalled a few bad nights of sleep, remaining most of the time awake, fearing what might jump out from the darkness ready to attack him. He’d been twelve, when ZenTar had forced him to attend the Seventh Year Gathering of Wen, which had entailed sleeping outside, with no tents, and on his own for the first time. If he recalled correctly, he had ended up preferring to sleep up, above the ground, sitting on some tree branch, than remain down below, with everyone else.

Sighing at his own memories, ZaiWin looked down at the head leaning against his chest. All he could see was the dark hood he wore but, even through his clothes, he could feel the uncomfortable sensation of someone else’s body leaning against his. The fact that he’d probably have to stand it for the entire morning annoyed him beyond limits. And the fact that he couldn’t bring himself to simply let him fall off his horse as promised, pissed him off to the point that his stomach was burning.

He cursed the damn brat! Cursed even more the damn link that, even without his consent, bound them together. But he still made sure he carefully held him and that the brat leaned back against him so that he might finally get some rest.