It was cold.
That much could be said for any winter's night, but this was the cold before the first snow had fallen – when it wasn't cold enough, but still bitterly icy. It was the rare moment of the year when you knew exactly what was coming, yet you didn't know when, or how long it would take to get there.
And perhaps that was the exact reason she had been drawn to her window tonight, staring out into the darkened skies from her window. The moon glinting distantly, too far away to do anything beyond glance by.
Vasilissa Dragomir.
That was who she had been born as. Her Royal blood was as certain as the inevitable snow, as certain as the fact that she and Rose would get caught at some point, and dragged back to the Academy by the Guardians – who should have better things to do than chase after some runaway Princess, especially with Strigoi running around by the dozens.
Lissa could see the brightly lit trees and doors from the window, their colours shining brightly as if hoping to help light up the night. It was beautiful in its own artificial way, but that was all it would ever be – fake, but it showed that they were trying.
Just as Rose was. Lissa turned to glance at her sleeping best friend. She had been on high alert ever since they had left the Academy, and that was probably why they had lasted as long as they did. While they hadn't met any Strigoi, there had been many close calls. For all of Rose's bravado, even she knew that they would be severely outclassed if they met a Strigoi, and if they won it would be purely out of luck – not that Rose didn't try.
Every place they settled at had Rose taking martial arts classes, and signing up for the gym – forcing Lissa to as well just to make sure they were fairly close together. Even Rose's usual late mornings hadn't happened since they had left. Lissa had never seen Rose as determined as she was now – at the Academy Rose had always just been laid back, taking everything light-heartedly and, perhaps, Lissa had known that Rose took her Guardian training seriously but to actually see it made it more real than it had ever been.
And Lissa appreciated that more than Rose imagined, or perhaps Rose did know, and that just made her want to fight harder, learn fast, protect her that much more. Lissa didn't know.
But she was glad for it. Just as she was glad for her friendship with Rose – she doubted anything could change that. They had been friends for far too long for that to happen, and they were each other's family. Lissa knew that she would do anything for Rose, just as Rose would her.
That would be enough, Lissa could tell.
With a small smile on her face, Lissa left the window to crawl back into the bed next to Rose's, allowing sleep to envelop her again.
Written for Advent Calendar 2015: write about a winter night