With Grisly practically carrying him, they made their way to the narrow passage quickly enough. Once there, however, ZaiWin¹Literally zai (blade) + win (chaos). had to manage on his own, since the tunnel was so narrow that one man barely fit through it.

Following behind him, Snow couldn’t help blink, feeling completely blinded. All he could see in front of him was a dense mass of darkness. It was actually a relief when he finally stepped out into the light again. He much preferred the sight of the open sky above his head, than the oppressive darkness that had hidden the ceiling from sight inside that cavern. And then Grisly was wrapping his arm around that mass of darkness again, and they quickly left the caverns behind.

As he crossed the village, Grisly didn’t lose the opportunity to tell everyone he crossed paths with to meet as fast as they could near the goats’ pen. The people just stared at him in bewilderment and confusion, but his huge smile, added to his excited tone of voice, eventually led them to follow his instructions, as men and women dropped what they were doing to make their way to the back of the village.

“Rain!!” he bellowed even before he’d reached the entrance door and, when he stepped into the house, Rain was already there, hands on her waist, an angry scowl on her face.

“What took you so long?” she demanded. But then, at the sight of the barely conscious ZaiWin, her expression immediately changed. “What happened? What have you done now?”

“Nothing woman! Just help me put this fuck to bed!” the man replied and she immediately rushed forward to help him. Peering behind them she gave Snow a worried look.

“Are you all right, Snow?”

The boy simply nodded.

“He’s fine!” Grisly growled dismissively. “This one, however, clearly is not!”

Between the two of them, they did their best to carry ZaiWin up the narrow stairs and into their bedroom. And then Grisly simply dropped him on the bed, straightening his back with a grimace.

“Shit! The bastard looks all frail and lean but he is actually damn heavy!” he complained and his wife immediately threw him an angry glare.

“What happened?”

“Nothing much. I guess he overworked himself? Something like that,” Grisly replied nonchalantly and ZaiWin frowned.

“Shut up, you bastard …” he managed to complain and Grisly looked back at him with a menacing expression on his face.

“Or what? You’re going to cut out my tongue? You fuck! Right now you can’t even raise your arm! Just try it and let’s see who ends up being cut to pieces in the end!”

Snow clenched his fists at that and looked up at the detestable man.

“Out!” he demanded in a louder tone of voice than his usual whispers, and both Grisly and Rain turned to look at him, surprised by the mere fact that he had actually spoken

“Get out!” he repeated, decisively pointing towards the door, and the temperature of the air around them dropped, a thin layer of ice slowly covering the floor and climbing up the walls around them.

ZaiWin chuckled in amusement and closed his eyes.

“I would obey … if I were you …”

Gritting his teeth, looking from one to the other, Grisly ended up storming out of the room without another word.

Snow’s pale, cold eyes turned to Rain next.

“Me too …?” the woman asked, sounding genuinely worried, but Snow simply remained there, pointing unwaveringly at the door. He didn’t trust her. He didn’t trust any of them! He didn’t want any of them near him. Much less near ZaiWin, when he was weakened like that.

With a sigh of resignation, Rain nodded, and made her way to the door.

“If you need anything, I’ll be downstairs,” she said, giving him a last hopeful glance, before she exit and closed the door.

With a wave of his hand, Snow froze the door shut, and only then was finally able to relax. For once he was glad that the room didn’t have any windows, he thought, the memory of the surprise attack they had suffered back in Weiin²Literally wei (crystal / precious stone) + suffix in (center), meaning the center of the Province of Wei, in other words, Wei’s Capital. All Capitals of all Provinces are named as such. suddenly fresh in his memory.

Taking a deep breath, he made his way to the bed and simply stood there, looking down at that mass of darkness.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered and a pair of blue eyes slowly appeared, staring up at him, looking extremely tired but, at the same time, giving him something to focus his gaze on. “I didn’t know it would be that hard …”

A sigh filled the room and then the blue eyes were gone.

“I could have stopped … I chose not to,” came the whispered reply, and then a warm hand grabbed his. “Your bracelet … put it on.”

“I don’t care either way,” Snow replied with a frown and the blue eyes looked up at him again.

“I do. Put it on …”

Pulling his hand free, Snow obediently fastened the crystal bracelet around his wrist, and it was as if his senses had suddenly dulled. Of course he could still feel the bond between them, but it was as if it had been pushed to the back of his mind, almost like an annoying whisper he could easily ignore unless someone tugged at it. The dark, oppressive feeling was gone as well and, lying on that bed, wasn’t a mass of darkness anymore, but a pale, tired-looking man, his long black braid coiling like a huge serpent around his head. Of course wearing the bracelet made everything much easier. But, at the same time, he couldn’t push away the sensation that he was, somehow, losing something important.

ZaiWin opened his eyes as if to check if he had obeyed his words, and then closed them again and didn’t open them anymore. His breathing deepened, his face relaxed, and Snow knew he had fallen asleep.

Climbing onto the bed, Snow sat beside him and placed a hand over his chest, finally tapping into his own daitai³Literally dai (light) + tai (mark), or holy Markings, considered Heavenly Blessings. They’re the source of power., casting a golden array around him. Replenish. Grow. Restore. Were the melodies he filled his head with. And, for the first time, he felt ZaiWin’s dark energy probe his, wrapping itself around his golden daitai, almost like a living creature, slowly trying to feed off him.

Harshly swatting it away, Snow pushed it back with determination. He could clearly feel that their natures were complete opposites. Even though he was stretching a helping hand, and ZaiWin was in need of a bit of help, they energies still clashed, trying to overpower one another, forcing him to maintain a strict control over what he was doing and, at the same time, remain alert, so he wouldn’t be subdued by ZaiWin’s darkness.

Once he felt he’d helped him regain a good part of the energy, Snow finally lifted the array and relaxed.

ZaiWin looked much better, he concluded, proud of his own achievements. But then there was nothing else for him to do, in that small compartment. He didn’t feel like going downstairs, probably to be bombarded with questions about the cavern he'd discovered, questions he did not want to answer. He would leave those for ZaiWin to deal with, once he woke up. And so, with nothing better to do, he too laid down and closed his eyes.

Snow’s peaceful, sleeping face was the first thing Nox⁴Literally nox (night). Nox is the name of the Clan (family name), also the name of a Province. ZaiWin uses it because he is the Governor of Nox ZaiWin saw, when he opened his eyes.

From how restored he felt, he immediately knew that the brat had used his golden markings on him. Any other time, just like before, it would have taken him at least a full day, before he was able to feel at least as good as he now felt.

Now he was hungry, ZaiWin realized, turning his head towards the door.

Frozen, as he’d expected.

A sigh escaped his lips.

Looking back at the brat, ZaiWin ended up turning on his side to take a better look at him.

Unlike the night before, Snow had actually fallen asleep on the bed, he mused, a smile tugging at his lips, his gaze slowly taking in his relaxed expression, the way his long, silver eyelashes seemed to tremble from time to time, his rosy lips slightly parted, his hands resting in front of his face.

Well, food would have to wait, he easily decided.

Asleep like that, ZaiWin could finally see the similarities between him and the other Tien’Elhar he’d met. They all had that smooth, pale skin, a face of delicate proportions, a cold but frail look about them. The same long eyelashes, the same soft-looking lips.

He had always found it strange, how women born to such different families could be so alike, almost as if they were blood sisters, which everyone knew was not the case. And Snow, even though he was clearly a boy, his eyebrows thicker, his jaw wider, was no exception. He could easily have been the child of one of them, a brother or a cousin. Not even the El’Gin, who actually had the same blood flowing through their veins, looked so alike.

Raising a hand, ZaiWin lightly touched his soft hair, the small waves tickling his fingers. He would be a truly breathtaking young man in just a few years, he mused, if he could only assure Snow would live long enough for that.

Scooting closer to him, ZaiWin finally relaxed once he was able to bury his nose in his soft hair. Snow mumbled a sleepy complaint, his hands weakly pushing him back, but then he was asleep again.

He still hated Celestials, he thought, his heart immediately freezing inside his chest. But he could not deny that they could be truly amazing as well.

Silvareiel

Ah, my Snow is so cute when he gets all protective of his Chosen One ?️?️?️

On another note, I have a question to all of you English speakers.?  Is the word chupse a word you would commonly use? Or would you have to go to a freaking dictionary and look for its meaning? ? 'Cause I was looking for a word to use to describe "taking a sharp breath through clenched teeth" and found this word, that I had never even known it existed. ? So I ended up not using it, afraid it might be some strange word that people normally don't use, and decided to describe the action as I quoted before. ? I do try to write as correctly as possible, but I don't want people having to google weird words that are only used in very sophisticated, literary works. ? So, should I use de description or the weird word? ? Thank you all for your help! ?