Revamped!

[I had a dream with Cress in it once … it was nice]. [2020: I have no memory of this dream].

Winter's Melting: Part Ten

This is the first time Winter is in her backyard meadow that just starts the border of the forest. She crouches with her floral skirt billowing out at her feet as she picks a multitude of colourful flowers for the many vases she will set up inside in every room except Cinder's since she doesn't want anything floral in there. Winter hums, keeping her rhythm with the light breeze.

Looking ahead, she sees a shadow coming from someone approaching her from behind. Thinking it's only Cinder or Levana, she continues humming and picking flowers. Then she notices the shadow stop right behind her. It belongs to someone bigger than Cinder and Levana. Winter shivers and tenses so she stops humming and pulls her hand back from the flower she wants to pick. She should make a fist or use her nails as claws.

Winter turns around to see who's there but the sun hits her eyes and she screams. Taken by surprise, the other person screams too as he falls to the ground. When he attempts to sit up, Winter takes another look at who it is, this time blocking the sun from her eyes with the bouquet she picked. She calms down once she sees her blond boy in his cadet uniform.

"Jacin?" Winter questions. She knows that it's him but she just needs to make sure that it's really him.

"Hey, Trouble," Jacin greets with a smug smile coming from the corner of his mouth.

Winter screams for joy as she throws her flowers in the air and lunges over to him on the ground. She forces him to stay on the ground. Winter takes his face in her hands and starts kissing him all over his face at it starts to rain flowers over them. Jacin doesn't mind the kisses since it's the flowers that bother him, but he puts one behind her ear which makes her smile. Winter hugs him fiercely, crushing Jacin's face against her chest.

"Winter," Jacin pants, "can't breathe."

Winter couldn't hear him and doesn't care. She's so happy that she rocks back and forth with her boyfriend in her arms. And suddenly, he doesn't seem to care either.

-o-

Cinder walks down the stairs with her damp hair from the shower tied up in a ponytail. It drips on the back of her shirt but she finds it cooling. She sees Levana looking out the window that shows the vast backyard. Cinder finds it strange that Levana would be looking out the window, but when she notices the glass of wine in her hands she realizes that Levana intoxicated while looking at nature makes more sense. Cinder approaches Levana to see what she's looking at and they both look out at Winter and Jacin lying far out in the flowerbeds together. Cinder's surprised to see Jacin there since she couldn't contact him herself, but seeing Levana standing beside her, she realizes how it makes sense.

"You called Jacin?" Cinder asks in shock. "I can't believe that you of all people beat me to it."

Levana snickers, unintentionally sounding cynical but that's just how she naturally is. "You're surprised? Jacin's the only one able to control Winter's outbursts and cries of blood."

"Well, yeah!" Cinder exclaims since it wasn't exactly seen by Levana.

"You didn't answer his texts."

"Yeah, I realized."

"He's petty about it."

"I couldn't care less about his pettiness. I didn't think you cared about me or Winter."

Levana sighs. "She's my stepdaughter and you're my niece. I'm supposed to take care of you even if I wasn't forced to which I felt as if I was since Evret and Channary's last words were to take care of both of you. Then again, a part of me felt as if I needed to out of the slim goodness in my heart. If I never cared or even had a conscious, I would've abandoned you both after your parents died."

Levana casually sips her wine.

Cinder is speechless. "I thought you were keeping us to maintain your perfect and polished politician status."

"That too, but I was a counsellor to the former president of Luna and now I'm on Mayor Rikan's council. I'm a perfect and polished politician all on my own. This maternal look just expands my greatness."

Cinder can't argue with that. "Thank you, Levana."

Levana looks at Cinder with the corner of her eye before fully turning to face her. Her eyes soften a little and maybe the corner of her mouth twitched, which is the closest Cinder will get to seeing Levana genuinely smile at her.

-o-

Winter and Jacin continue lying in the meadow, talking about the good days in Artemisia and what happened rather than the catastrophe that led up to Commonwealth. She plays with the buttons on his fancy and professional uniform as he keeps his head rested on her curls which he calls the best pillow ever.

"How do you want to keep in touch now?" Jacin asks. "The Academy is as strict with cell phone use and now we have a seven-hour time difference to factor in."

"We can write letters," Winter suggests.

Jacin groans. "I hate writing letters so much but you're my exception."

"You'd better send me some pictures."

"I will most certainly not."

Winter starts to laugh. "Send me some selfies for my photo album."

"Nope." Jacin turns onto his side to look at her. "If you happen to get one, it fell in the envelope accidentally or Iko sent it. If she did, tell me and I'm reporting her cell phone use and invasion of my privacy."

Winter smiles. "Sure." Her smile fades a little. "When do you go?"

"My flight is early next morning. I wasn't supposed to come because of school but Levana can be persuasive when she wants to be and without batting a lash."

Winter gasps. "Levana called you?"

"She called my dad but yeah she called." Jacin notices Winter's stunned expression which makes him almost laugg. "I know I'm shocked too. Cinder didn't message me back."

Winter laughs sweetly. "I'll talk to her later. Have Cinder of Levana give you our address because I still don't know it."

"I will. I'll start my first letter on the plane ride back since they never offer good movies or snacks."

Winter looks into his eyes and smirks as she puts some flowers in his hair. Despite how much he hates flowers in his hair (because this isn't the first time this happened), Jacin has given up on shaking them off since Winter is in an endless meadow of flowers.

He kisses her cheek. "Nothing will ever come between us, Winter. You're the most precious thing in my life."

-o-

The sun has set and Jacin turned into the guest room for the night after bantering with Cinder about being left on read. He got a few jabs for showing up in his cadet uniform which made Winter smile. Seeing those two like that brought back warm memories from Artemisia. After, Winter walks into Levana's home office where she was looking over some paper work.

"You called Jacin?" Winter asks although she knew the answer.

"Isn't that the question of the day," Levana states, filing away her work. "Don't tell me you're surprised as well?"

"Of course I am," Winter responds. "You took it out of your will to convince his dad to let him come."

Levana scoffs. "You make it sound as if it was a difficult chore to get Jacin. His father might be a stubborn old military veteran turned military school dean, but I have my glamorous tricks, as do you. He even offered to pay for everything which I refused."

Levana tilts Winter's face up so that she's looking at her. She traces the scars of Winter's face carefully. Winter's spine shivers a little as Levana examines her face. Levana lets go of Winter's face and lets her be.

"Thank you, Levana," Winter says.

"Anytime, dearest stepdaughter," Levana responds. "You know what to do about your problems now, don't you?"

"Not talk to you about them?"

"Precisely."

Winter grins before leaving Levana in her office. If there's anything Winter knows about her stepmother, it's that she always knows how to solve problems even if she claims that she doesn't succumb to emotions.

[Well, that ends the first story arc. Which character do you think will be the title for the next arc?]