Sensing eyes on her, Elsa gulped down her tea...just in time to shriek and tumble forward as Ryder called out from just outside the tent.
"Yo, Maren!"
Honeymaren did a triple take at Elsa's clumsy somersault as the tea mug rolled away. Elsa warbled bashfully, flopped onto the cot, and wriggled her way as far underneath the simple fur bedspread as she could.
Giggling affectionately, Honeymaren patted the Elsa-blanket-lump, before shuffling her way to the tent flap. She pulled the flap back, glanced down at the bitty bow Elsa had tied the quilt-ends into, and let out an embarrassed chuckle. "I'm here, Ry. What's going on?"
With a lantern at his side, Ryder arched an eyebrow and smirked. "Breakfast tomorrow is fish jerky and root surprise."
Honeymaren nodded slowly, eyes narrowing as she poked her head out of the tent. "Uh...yeah, I know. I helped prepare it. You know. This morning."
Ryder stroked his chin stubble and nodded intently. "Oh yeah, now I remember." A little smile, and he shuffled his boots noisily in the mud. "That was before it started to rain...right?" His smile grew until his dimples showed.
Elsa's muffled, consternated whine traveled the few feet to Honeymaren's ears, and she bit down on her tongue to keep from laughing. Instead, she summoned a daggers-glare and a threatening grin. "I will hide a snake. Somewhere. In your tent."
That made Ryder pause, and he chuckled weakly as his face paled. Not one to easily be outdone, he shrugged and waggled the lantern. "Actually, I was just looking for Elsa. See, she wasn't in her tent, and me and Blaine are going out for a night-ride. So, no lesson tonight...can you let her know for me?" He gently dragged his fingernails down the side of the tent, and his knowing smile returned. "I mean, if you happen to see her around tonight."
Feeling her cheeks gradually warming, Honeymaren grasped either side of her tent flap and drew them to her cheeks. "Feel free to slip on all the reindeer poop you see." She blew a raspberry, then began to shuffle back in her tent...but paused.
"Hey." Ryder's voice softened considerably, and he stepped back as he held out his lantern. His smile settled somewhere between reassuring...and amused.
This time, it was Honeymaren who looked away, gaze dropping to the twin muddy boot-holes just outside. She grumbled, and glanced back up with a furrowed brow.
At that, Ryder shook his head and guffawed. "Aw, man. Get it, sis." He made it five steps away, before a glob of mud splattered against his back...but he kept right on laughing and trekking through camp.
After several more seconds of relishing the cool, night breeze on her face, Honeymaren went back inside. Her face brightened again the moment she spied Elsa, back by her bedside and fussing with the fur sheet. Still flustered and fumbling for words, Honeymaren stacked both tea mugs by Elsa's muddy boots...and promptly froze, when Elsa broke the silence.
"Sometimes, Anna used to sit outside my door...and read stories." A dry laugh. Elsa shook her head and carefully smoothed out the bedspread's wrinkles. "Out loud." She sighed, then turned around and eased back against the low bed. "To me."
Honeymaren nodded slowly, then gulped as she spied Elsa's finger tracing small circles on the fur floor next to her. Honeymaren wordlessly inched back to that spot, drew her knees to her chin, and nodded again.
"I loved when she'd read about wild horses. Far-off lands. Dark, dangerous dungeons...and dragons with their immense treasure troves." Elsa giggled shyly, drawing comfort from running her hands along her fur-lined breeches. "And the magic...of course."
Honeymaren intoned encouragingly. "Of course." Her hands worked of their own accord as she carefully unwound the blanket bow.
Elsa shook her head, her smile matching her exasperated tone. "But...a king? A prince?" She pressed a hand to her forehead, slid it down over her eyes, and hung her head as her cheeks blazed. "She read. She spoke. She...rambled." Several quick breaths followed, and Elsa swallowed thickly, before letting her right arm fall to her side. A heavy shrug. "And I didn't get it. Never did. Still don't. Not like…" She trailed off with a dizzy, perplexed warble...and stared dumbly at the blanket stretched over her shoulders. "Not like…" Warmth flooded her face, even as snow flurries fluttered around in the tent.
Rubbing her shoulder against Elsa's, Honeymaren gulped, and turned her shaky hand palm-up. Everything in her ached to move. To touch. To affirm. Instead, she trembled and croaked hotly. "You are...the bravest."
Under the blanket, Elsa's hand found Honeymaren's...and the latter shuddered, with a pleased sigh, at the touch.
Swallowing thickly, Elsa laid her head on Honeymaren's shoulder, and murmured with a shiver. "Lubię cię."
A moment later, both women shrieked, as a great gust of wind blew into the tent...and carried with it, a hastily-folded paper plane.
'You know being out in the rain all afternoon is just gonna get the both of you sick, right?'
