Janner stared out of his tall and dark window, watching the snow whistle by in large white drifts. He was restless, unable to sleep after the terrible cliffhanger in the book that he had finished hours before. The night hours were pulling at him, drawing him out of his thoughts and wanting him to explore Castle Rysen. What else was he to do, wide awake and unable to sleep in the middle of the night while everyone else slumbered and a whole castle awaited for him to explore?
The Throne Warden crept out into the hall with his softest slippers and padded by Kalmar's room. Should I wake him up so that he can join me? No, Kal would probably cause a ruckus and accidentally wake up everyone. Though he would be very envious that Janner was out and about at night in the castle . . . alone.
Or perhaps not alone.
"Janner?" Asked a demur voice behind him. He turned to see Sara in her doorway, her nightgown rumpled and her hair askew with its tumbling dark curls. Her eyes were bright in the dark of the corridor.
"Oh, hi . . . Sara," Janner whispered, stepping closer so that his voice would carry to her. "I couldn't sleep, so uh, wanted to explore the parts of Castle Rysen that we haven't been to before."
"Ah, sounds fun. Is Tales of a Dragon's Daughter what's keeping you awake?"
"Yes! It's terrible." Sara had been the one to tell him to read it, and while the story was wonderful, the cliffhanger was not. Sara laughed at him. "Anyways, want to join me?"
"Sure," Sara said, and stepped towards him. "Any particular place you want to explore?"
"I kind of feel like going outside," Janner admitted, his desire to explore the innards of the castle gone. "Even though it's blizzarding—if 'blizzarding' is a word." He snorted, his stomach feeling peculiar and warm.
"Blizzarding is a word tonight!" Sara declared, and they swept quietly through the floors of the castle to one of the secret exits that Kal, Leeli, and them had found a few weeks ago. After bundling up with jackets and coats and scarves and boots, they snuck outside, feeling deliciously sneaky and giggly. The outside air stuck them with its ferocity, but somehow that seemed to make their smiles all the wider.
"If we get caught, I blame you, Throne Warden," Sara teased. Snowflakes were accumulating in her hair, on her lashes.
Janner grinned down at her. "Oh really? Can't a Throne Warden have some fun with his favorite person in all of Aerwiar?" My favorite person. Those small words made the world to them and almost ached to say, after all that they had been through. He rolled up some snow in a gloved hand and tossed it at Sara before she could react.
"Janner!" she said in shock as it exploded into white powder on her heavy maroon dress, but before he could respond, she was flinging a tightly packed snowball at him.
And so began a white dance, in the raging winter storm, of a snowball fight at the wee hours of night. Janner and Sara laughed and dodged and threw snow at each other relentlessly, until finally they collapsed in a tired, giggling heap of snow angels and down jackets. Sara's face was flushed pink with happiness, and her eyes mirrored the winter sky above. Janner smiled at her and began moving his arms through the soft drifts to perfect his snow angel.
Unbeknownst to the happy young pair, above in the eaves of Castle Rysen, a lamp flickered on, and a mothering face looked out down on Janner and Sara with a soft smile.