Chapter Four

Ariya hummed a tune to herself as she sat curled up against a tree, devoid of leaves and with a light powder of snow coating its branches. The ground had a layer of snow too, but it wasn’t as thick as around her house, and her coat was doing a good job of not letting it soak through as it melted beneath her.

Now that they had stopped for the night, her exhaustion wasn’t quite so overpowering. Lusya was finishing setting up their tent, which Ariya wasn’t a fan of. Aside from being an ugly brown color that reminded her of poop, it looked a little small for both of them, but Ariya had never done much camping so she wasn’t sure.

She was pretty sure one thing was missing, though. Some of her stories had camping in them and Papa and Mama talked about it sometimes too. Ariya wasn’t sure how they knew so much about it, though. They always said they would explain it some other time when she asked. Well, after this, they owed her an answer for sure the next time she saw them.

“What about the fire?” she asked.

Lusya looked up. “A fire is unnecessary. It is not cold enough to pose a risk to your health and we will not be cooking. The only thing a flame would accomplish would be drawing unnecessary attention.”

Ariya shivered as a gust of wind battered against her. She wasn’t sure about the whole “not cold enough” thing, but she assumed Lusya knew what she was doing.

“Is that why we’re in the woods?” Ariya asked.

Rather than stop on the roadside, Lusya had walked well into the forest surrounding it before finding a clearing to make camp. After walking all day, Ariya’s legs felt just about ready to fall off. If it wasn’t for her aching, gurgling stomach, she would have already laid down and gone to sleep.

“That is correct,” Lusya said. “We do not have the luxury of avoiding contact with others altogether, but I would like to do so when possible.”

Ariya frowned and cocked her head, mulling over the words. Even though everybody told her she was smart for her age, the way Lusya talked was kind of hard to follow. If Ariya understood right, though, Lusya was saying that she liked to be alone.

Lusya finished with the tent and stood, giving it one final look over. She moved to her pack, knelt beside it, and started pulling some smaller bags out of it.

“How did you get your job?” Ariya asked.

Lusya looked at her. Lusya tilted her head and blinked a couple times, but otherwise remained silent and expressionless. After an awkward silence, Ariya decided to assume that Lusya didn’t understand the question.

“I mean, how did you get to find and…ex…ets…”

“Escort?” Lusya suggested.

Ariya nodded. “Yeah, that, escort me. It’s not as cool as getting chosen, but it’s still really cool.” Granted, Ariya still wasn’t sure what she had been chosen for, but it had to be better than being the helper, right?

Lusya started pulling more things out of her smaller bags. They were little bits of something, but Ariya couldn’t make out what in the dark. “My father entrusted it to me.”

“Why didn’t he do it?” Ariya asked. “Papa always says you shouldn’t ask your kids to do something you wouldn’t do.”

Lusya stopped moving for the tiniest fraction of a second. Ariya wasn’t sure she hadn’t imagined it.

“He is dead,” Lusya said.

“Oh,” Ariya said. It was only in the past year or so that she had started to understand why being dead was such a big deal. No one she had ever known had died, but she knew it made people sad, and the dead person got really hurt and had to go away. She knew what you were supposed to say when you heard about it too. “I’m sorry for your loss.”

She meant it, too. Even if she still didn’t completely get it, she didn’t want people to be sad. It must have been hard for the dead person too, not being able to see their friends or family anymore.

Lusya stood, one hand full of whatever she had been taking out of the bags. “Your sympathy is unnecessary and pointless. But the sentiment is appreciated.”

She stood and carried her handful across the clearing. She held it out to Ariya and Ariya took it. It was a bunch of dried food and some nuts. They were cold to the touch after being outside with nothing but the pack to protect them.

“What’s this?” Ariya asked.

Lusya tilted her head. “Dinner.”

Ariya scowled at the food. “This is a snack.”

“It is sufficient sustenance for a meal,” Lusya replied. She headed back to her pack and started digging again, presumably to get her own portion.

Ariya glared at hers for another moment, but she guessed she should try it. Mama was always saying to try something before you decided you didn’t like it. Plus, Ariya did like all the pieces of this “meal,” at least.

She popped a piece of dried meat into her mouth and chewed. And chewed. And chewed some more. It didn’t taste awful, but it was tough, hard, and cold. All that was more than enough to make it unpleasant to eat, regardless of the taste. Ariya was aware that she wasn’t wealthy or nobility. She lived in a cabin in the woods in the middle of nowhere, as Papa liked to put it sometimes. She knew what she usually ate wasn’t fine dining or anything, even if she didn’t know what was. But what she did know was that this was bad.

The fruit was a little better. It was nice and sweet and being cold didn’t hurt it as much. The nuts were nice too. They were nice and crunchy with some light salt on them. But she stood by her first reaction. This was not dinner.

Still, she continued eating. She was a big girl. It was fine not to like something, but if you didn’t at least eat what was in front of you, you were being rude and going hungry. She knew, she had gone through that before. Only once, though.

"Do we have water?” she asked once she was done. Between the meat and the nuts, that had been enough salt to fill the ocean. At least, Ariya assumed it had been. She didn’t know much about the ocean, but she knew it was salty. Maybe she would get to see it during this journey.

“Of course,” Lusya said. She had started eating her own serving and paused to hand Ariya a flask of water.

Ariya gulped much of it down and let out a contented sigh. The food might not have been very good, but at least she wasn’t hungry anymore. She wasn’t sure if she could handle eating that for a year, though.

“Can we get better food next time you shop?” Ariya asked.

“That would require me to cook, most likely,” Lusya said. “That would require a fire. As I said, a fire is a hindrance.”

“Okay… Is that a yes?”

“It is a no.”

Ariya sighed and pouted, arms crossed. A breeze blew through the clearing, driving another shiver through Ariya’s body. When the air was still, her coat and hat kept her warm enough that she didn’t shake or sniffle, but the wind cut through those like a knife.

“I think we could use a fire,” Ariya said. “It’s cold.”

She could have used the extra light too. The stars and the moon—still mostly visible after the full moon had passed a couple nights ago—provided enough to see, more or less, but she would have liked a little more.

“You will survive being cold,” Lusya said. “It is too warm to cause frostbite or other complications, and it will only be getting warmer. Perhaps if our journey continues into next winter, I will revise my decision.”

Ariya sure hoped so. She had heard that the winters in the north were even colder. How that was even possible, she was not sure, but she had been told stories about weather so cold a boiling pot would freeze in seconds and snow so high you couldn’t leave your house.

They sat in silence for a while. The only sound was an occasional crunch when Lusya bit down on a nut. She looked neither pleased nor displeased with the food, which Ariya was coming to expect. She hadn’t seen any sign of either from Lusya all day.

Ariya grew colder by the minute. She believed Lusya that the cold wasn’t dangerous, but that didn’t make it feel any better. Ariya was beginning to regret having given her snowman her scarf. Hopefully Mama or Papa could find some use for it while she was gone. At least she had kept her cap. She had considered giving that to the snowman too.

Ariya let out a yawn. Her vision lurched forward and darkened for an instant, before she forced her eyes open and her head straight.

Lusya seemed to notice, fixing her gaze on Ariya. Lusya seemed to have finished eating at some point, though Ariya had not noticed when.

“There is no need to force yourself to stay awake,” Lusya said. “You may sleep whenever you wish.”

Ariya blinked. “Really? You’ve been telling me all day not to.”

“That was when we were traveling. Now it is time for rest,” Lusya replied. “In fact, it would be better if you went to sleep earlier. I intend to leave early in the dawn.”

“I think I’ll go to bed now, then,” Ariya said.

“I have set out a sleeping mat for you in the tent.”

“Okay,” Ariya said. She stood up and made her way to the tent.

Ugly as it might have been, the brown fabric it was made of was smoother and softer than she would have guessed. It looked kind of like leather, but Ariya wasn’t sure if that was what it was. Whatever it was, though, it seemed like it was doing a good job keeping out the snow. When she opened the flap, the floor wasn’t wet at all.

In the middle of the tent sat a single sleeping mat. Mat was a good description. It was a thin sheet upon the ground with a bit of fur on top to make it softer and warmer. Ariya narrowed her eyes skeptically, but she kept Mama’s advice in mind. It wasn’t just about food, after all. Mama said it was about everything, except for things that made you feel scared.

She walked in and lied down, pulling the cover over herself. She had been right to be suspicious. This was no different to lying on the ground. Not only was it hard, but she could feel every nook, bump, and pebble underneath her back. Sometimes lying on the ground was fine, like to make snow shadows. When she was trying to sleep was not one of those times. It was awful.

Neither it nor the tent were doing much to keep her warm either. It was a little bit better than outside, sure, but not by much.

She stewed in her pathetic excuse for a bed for minutes that felt like hours. Then, she jumped to her feet. The food sucked, the cold sucked, and the bed sucked, and Lusya was going to get a piece of her mind.

Ariya stomped out of the tent into the clearing. Lusya was sitting with her back against a tree, staring off into the woods. What she was looking at, Ariya did not know or care.

“That mat is bad,” Ariya said with a stomp of her feet. “It’s hard and cold and bumpy and I hate it!”

Lusya looked at her with the same blank expression as always. “It is adequate to sleep on.”

“Well, I want a new one.”

Lusya shook her head. “We have limited funds and the comfort of your bedding is a low priority, much like the taste of our food.”

Ariya felt her anger melt away under the weight of exhaustion and frustration. Her body shook with a quiet sob. She sniffled and tried not to cry. She was a big girl and big girls didn’t cry because their dinner was gross.

Luysa blinked. “What is wrong?”

Ariya scowled at her. “You’re mean!”

Lusya cocked her head and blinked two times in rapid succession. “I am…mean?”

“You are,” Ariya said with a nod. “‘You don’t need that,’ ‘that’s not necessitary.’ Well, I’m hungry and tired and cold and I don’t want to eat gross snacks and sleep on the ground for a year! If that’s what adventuring is like, then I’ll go home and Jak can make fun of me.”

Lusya was silent for a moment. “I see. It seems I misjudged how important comfort is to you.” She paused again. “Accommodating both your requests at once would be impractical. Select one and I will attempt to fulfill it when next I have the chance.”

“Huh?”

“Between better food and a better bed, select which you want more. I will buy them next time we are in town. The other will have to wait.”

“Why didn’t you just say that?” Ariya asked. She narrowed her eyes. “You promise?”

Lusya nodded. “I promise.”

Ariya crossed her arms and rested her head in her palm, imitating Papa’s “thinking pose.” She really did want both, but this seemed like one of those compromise things Mama always talked about.

“I want food,” she said.

She would only have to put up with the bed at night, but they would have to eat multiple times every day. At least, she hoped they would. Besides, if she managed to fall asleep by some miracle, the bed would stop bothering her. She had slept in uncomfortable positions before and that was always how it was. There was no getting around the food.

“I will purchase ingredients and cooking supplies,” Lusya said with a nod. “As fresh food spoils and is a recurring cost, I cannot guarantee every meal will be to your standards, but I will do my best.”

Ariya stared at Lusya and tilted her head.

“We will still have to eat the current food sometimes, depending on costs and travel times,” Lusya said. “Are you still certain of your decision?”

Oh, that made more sense. Why did Lusya always have to make things sound so complicated?

“Yeah,” Ariya said with a nod. “I’m sure.”

“Very well then,” Lusya said. It seemed like she was done talking for a second, but then she kept going. “It is not my intention to be ‘mean.’ I apologize. This journey will not always be easy or comfortable, but I will try to be more considerate in the future.”

Ariya tried to force herself to keep scowling, but gave up when she found herself smiling anyway. That was better, she supposed. There was no sense in staying mad when things were working out. “Okay, I forgive you.”

“That is appreciated. You may return to your rest now.”

Ariya turned back toward the tent, then stopped and looked to Lusya.

“Aren’t you going to sleep?” Ariya asked. Now that she thought about it, there had been no mat prepared for Lusya. It wouldn’t have been that strange for them to share one, but Lusya gave no sign of moving.

“I am a light sleeper,” Lusya replied. “I will stay here so I can be alerted of any danger.”

“Oh,” Ariya said, her face turning pink. She suddenly felt very silly for complaining about her sleeping situation.

“Are you well?”

Ariya nodded. “I’m fine. I’ll go to sleep, then.”

“Do so,” Lusya said. “Proper rest is an important part of any journey.”

“That doesn’t look like proper rest,” Ariya said.

“I am…different. This will suffice for me.”

Ariya had never heard of relti not needing sleep or anything like that. But then, she knew very little about relti to begin with. Just that they lived a long time, had pointy ears, and their hair and eyes were sometimes weird colors. She shrugged and headed toward the tent, only to freeze at the opening when she heard a rustling in the woods.

Lusya stood and looked toward the sound, which drew nearer. There was a large shadow shouldering through rustling bushes and crackling branches as it lumbered toward them. Its eyes glinted when they caught a hint of moonlight. When it stepped into the clearing, its shape was clear. A bear, covered in thick brown fur, its elongated mouth open just enough to show off its powerful white fangs and thick, glistening slobber.

It was the third time Ariya had seen one. The last two times they had just huffed and moved on, but Papa always warned her they could be more dangerous in the wrong situations. Like when only two people were alone in the woods. Ariya was allowed to play alone because, despite Mama’s concerns, not many lived around their house anymore. Most had been hunted or scared off, since they were a problem for Whitehill too.

The animal stopped just outside the trees. It snorted and scraped the ground with one paw. Even on all fours, it was almost as tall as Lusya and towered over Ariya.

“Do not move, child,” Lusya said. “It may become aggressive.”

That was the same advice Papa had given her. He said bears tried to look tough, but they were scaredy cats who backed down if you stood up to them. She could not imagine this thing being scared of her or Lusya and it certainly did not look frightened in the slightest.

Lusya punched the tree she had been sitting against, shattering the bark and splintering the wood beneath with a crack of thunder. That made Ariya a little scared of Lusya, and the bear did jump and back away as it turned to face her, but then it growled and slammed the ground with its front paws.

The bear let out a deafening roar that filled Ariya with an instinctive urge to run as far away as she could. Her legs shook beneath her, but she managed to stand her ground. Then it charged. It loped across the ground between it and Lusya with speed Ariya would not have thought something so big and bulky could possess. Lusya did not budge. When the bear was upon her, it reared up on its hind legs, dwarfing Lusya for a moment before it lurched forward to crash down on her.

Lusya raised a hand as the bear fell. Its chest came down on the hand and stopped dead, as sure as if it was against a boulder or a tree. Then she shoved back on it. That didn’t just push the bear back. There was a rush of air that buffeted Ariya, like a gust of wind, and a bang. The bear sailed back through the air a few feet, then crashed down and tumbled end over end across the clearing.

It stopped in a heap when it collided with a larger tree on the edge of the clearing with a painful crack. Lusya kept her gaze fixed on it. The same expressionless gaze as always. She did not look angry, frightened, or like that had taken any effort whatsoever.

The bear stood, its back peppered with bits of bark it had scraped off the tree on impact, and let out a whine that made Ariya feel bad for it for a few seconds. It looked at Lusya one more time, then walked off into the woods. Ariya thought it might have been limping, but it was hard to tell for sure.

Lusya kept watching it as it fled, then still watched where she had last seen it once it was gone for a few seconds. When she seemed satisfied with that, she looked around the area, then picked a new tree to sit against. The old one probably wouldn’t have been very comfortable, what with the splinters on the ground and poking out of the trunk. She looked to Ariya.

“The danger has passed,” she said. “Rest.”

Ariya was too stunned to do anything but nod and go to bed.