A shorter chapter… because I kind of got stuck.
Chapter 3
Rapunzel couldn't deny that she was slightly in awe of the way Jack moved. Not only the fact that moving through the deep snow didn't seem to bother him in the least. But his strength was mixed with a grace that she found she wanted to watch. Whenever they reached a decline in the ground, he didn't even seem to step. He used the sliding snow to his advantage to glide down.
Admittedly, that made it harder for her, since there were no steps for her to follow. And sliding down as he did was definitely beyond her ability.
She braced herself as she took her first step down the slope.
"Do you want some help?" Jack asked. He had come to a full stop and turned back while he waited for her again. She couldn't tell if there was any annoyance or condescension in the offer. But it still didn't make her feel better.
"No," she said.
She took the first step, and cried out in surprise as her foot slid down even as it slid deep into the snow.
"You sure?" he asked. Maybe he wasn't annoyed at the delay, but he was obviously amused.
Which also did not make her feel better.
She shook her head.
Her ears rang with memories of her mother telling her she would never be able to survive outside the tower – never be able to handle herself.
Rapunzel was determined to prove to herself, and to everyone else, that that wasn't true.
"Do you want some advice?" Jack asked, when her second step was much like the first, only without the "eep" of surprise.
She looked over at him reluctantly. "Yes, please."
He grinned. "Relax. The snow is going to move. If you're more relaxed, you can move with it. And don't step straight down – let your foot slide over the snow."
He made it sound so easy.
Taking a deep breath, Rapunzel willed her muscles to relax. Though the thought of another step into the shifting snow made her want to do the exact opposite. Still, what he said made sense.
Once she had relaxed as much as she could, she took another step.
As he had said, the snow still moved. But with her muscles relaxed, it was easier to shift her center of balance and let the sliding snow carry her down. She knew she lacked his grace, but it was considerably easier.
As the bottom of the incline she stumbled trying to get her feet back under her. But Jack placed a hand on her arm to steady her.
"See?" He grinned, hand still on her shoulder. "Not that hard. With practice, you'll get the hang of it."
Her heart stuttered at the touch, so she barely registered the words. No one had ever touched her except for her mother. And she didn't know why it felt so different. Just that it did. And she kind of liked it. She glowed under his grin, too.
"Thank you," she said.
"No problem." His hand returned to his side. "Let's keep moving. It'[s a few more hours to the inn."
"I thought that's what you said when we left the cave," Rapunzel said, trying to keep her disappointment from showing. Her muscles were already aching from their journey so far, and she had reassured herself that they were getting closer.
Jack had already started moving again, but he paused to look back. "I normally move faster."
Her heart sank a little. Both at the fact their walk would keep going, and at the thought of slowing him down.
After a moment, she took a deep breath and forced herself to keep moving.
For a while longer she was able to ignore her sore muscles to keep up the pace Jack set. But after a while, she found it becoming harder and harder to do so. She pushed herself to keep going, but eventually she found she couldn't push when she didn't have anything more to give.
Her steps started to falter, and she occasionally missed the tracks he left. She huffed every time her foot sank into untouched snow. The sound caused Jack to glance back, but she did her best not to show how much she was struggling.
And she succeeded… right up until the point her foot sank into the snow again, and she lost her balance. The next moment she found herself sitting in the snow.
Jack stopped and turned back.
"I'm sorry," she said, trying to get up. But her legs trembled and refused to take her weight.
Jack came over and crouched down next to her. "We can take a break, but let's get under one of the trees."
She didn't want to take a break, but it looked as though she needed to. She accepted his hand and let him help her up. He rested his other hand on her back, guiding her under the branches of a massive pine tree whose branches extended more than ten feet in any direction. The snow tapered off under the branches, until they were walking on packed dirt and pine needles.
"Isn't it dangerous around trees when it snows?" she asked.
"That's only a problem when the snow is a lot higher," Jack said, leading her over to the tree's thick trunk. He sighed as he slid his pack off, rolling his shoulders.
Rapunzel sank to the ground, relief flooding through all her muscles.
"If you needed a break, you could have just said so," Jack said, crouching next to her once more.
"You said there might be another storm," she said. "I don't want to slow us down."
He frowned. "Sure, but we're going to have bigger problems if you wear yourself out."
Her cheeks were already bright red from the cold, so thankfully he couldn't see her embarrassed blush.
He shook his head. "Sorry. I should have thought of it."
She wasn't sure if that should make her feel better. She was coming to the conclusion that falling behind, and slowing him down, were not her style. More than anything, if frustrated her. It didn't matter that she had no experience walking long distances.
Opening his backpack, Jack handed her the last chunk of bread.
"Just take it," he said, before she had a chance to argue. "You need your strength."
"And you don't?"
He gave her a "don't argue with me" look. Not cruel – but not one she felt like challenging.
Sighing, Rapunzel accepted the bread.
While she ate, Jack clambered up the tree. Rapunzel tilted her head back to watch in wonder at how easily he pulled himself up among the branches. Tree climbing was something she had always wanted to try. She had looked out the window of her tower at the trees, but they had been completely out of reach.
A ways up, Jack crouched on one branch, perfectly balanced. She glanced up several times, but he didn't seem to move at all – like some kind of bird of prey taking in everything.
She was just finishing off the bread when he came back down, dropping down beside her easily.
"We need to keep moving," he said, gathering his things. "Another storm is brewing."
"Are we going to make it to the inn?" she asked.
He nodded, holding out a hand to help her off the ground. "It's a ways off. I just want to make sure we beat it."
As they stepped out from under the boughs of the pine tree, Rapunzel looked up at the sky.
Yesterday, she had seen the storm coming in the form of dark clouds so low they seemed within reach, and the wind had picked up. Now, the cloud layer was heavy, but not nearly as dark. And there was only a small breeze. If there was a storm brewing, she couldn't detect it.
#
The storm wouldn't hit until evening – the late afternoon at the earliest. Several hours off, at least. But Jack wanted to make sure they were out of the cold before the wind picked up, since this one would probably be stronger. At the rate they were moving, that was still up in the air.
On his own, he alternated between walking and running. The inn was three or four hours from the cave that way.
Walking the whole way, trudging through the snow, took a lot more time. Which meant there was too much time and space to think. At a time when he would have loved a break from his thoughts – and everything that he knew needed his attention.
This time of year was generally his favorite. The cold season meant only the most basic relations with Spring, if any at all. And only a few imports with Summer, though Merida was never interested in creating trouble where there wasn't any. (He got the impression that running her kingdom over whelmed her enough that she didn't care what the others did, unless it was something unforgivable. His personal actions were another matter.)
There were social events at the palace – some he was required to attend. But for the most part, his time was his own. That meant there was little he had to worry about. Nothing that affected all four kingdoms, certainly; so he could take a break from the politics he so despised.
As tensions mounted between the kingdoms, he had been looking forward to this cold season. For the break from his duties.
This was the exact opposite.
His soul mate.
The girl walking behind him was his soul mate.
He glanced back, as he had been doing every few minutes, to make sure she was doing all right. She was obviously tired, but she kept moving without complaint.
All things considered, Jack was impressed at her perseverance. For someone who had never walked through snow before that morning, she was doing admirably.
Looking forward again, Jack's mouth pursed as he tried to fit things together.
Nightlight had met Katherine when he was seven, and she had been three or four. Their marriage was currently just waiting for her to come of age. Jack couldn't remember a time before the glow of his brother's heart.
When Jack had reached sixteen with no sign of a glow from his own heart, he had become convinced it was never going to happen. And he had been fine with that. Where in his life did he have time for a soul mate, anyway? It was one more responsibility that would drag at him, along with all the others that already chafed at him.
It had been naïve to be so convinced – people had tried to convince him of that. He was still young. And he was somewhat anti-social, especially when it came to people of the female persuasion.
Most people at court experienced it at young ages because they met everyone else in the court while they were children. There had been plenty of speculation as to what his soul mate would ultimately be, since it obviously wasn't one of the women at court. A commoner? Someone from one of the neighboring kingdoms? (He was pretty sure there was a common theory that it would be someone from Autumn, which would help further cement the treaty between them.)
Still, it seemed unreal that it had actually happened.
But all the questions it raised were all convinced by one conviction.
He couldn't shake the belief that she was Spring's Lost Princess. He had tried to brush it off… but he was fairly certain. Something about her just screamed at him that she was. He needed a second opinion, but for now he was operating under the assumption she was.
And he couldn't think of a single way that this situation could have been worse.
Thomas had never forgiven his childish comment. And it was all coming back to bite him now. He just knew it.
Why couldn't he have been one of the rare people who didn't have a soul mate? He was perfectly content being single. He knew people who wanted a lover. But he wasn't one of them. And if he had to have one, why wasn't it someone from Autumn? (Someone from the Winter Court was beyond him. He was very grateful being spared from that.)
Still…
The sound of snow crunching under her feet caused him to look back just in time to see her huff in frustration. She blew her hair off her face (all that hair!), pursed her mouth and went back to following his tracks. He grinned a little at the expression. At the child like determination written all over her.
She was cute, he had to admit. Her face was beautiful, but her personality was cute.
If he was wrong, and she wasn't the Lost Princess…
That wasn't a good path to let his thoughts wander down. He wasn't sure why it seemed dangerous just to think about, but it did.
All of this was too much for him to process.
He needed someone else to talk to. Nightlight was an odd combination of responsibility and romanticism, so that was less than ideal. He wanted to talk to Hiccup,. But that wasn't an option for at least two more days. So for now, he was stuck trying to figure things out on his own.
That was dangerous. He never did well trying to figure important things off on his own. It was why no one trusted him with himself.
He glanced back, sighing in frustration.
And now he was entrusted with her.
How was he supposed to handle all of this?