Taking a deep breath, ZaiWin¹Literally zai (blade) + win (chaos). turned back and followed Snow’s footsteps.

Once again, it didn’t take him long to find him. This time, however, Snow was crouching near a wall, his head so low that his silver hair almost touched the ground, as he peered attentively into a small hole.

That brat! He was always finding something new to capture his attention. He had been like that since the first time he had taken him out of that Fortress. At first ZaiWin had thought that such behavior was only to be expected. After all, he had spent ten years of his life locked inside a windowless bedroom. There was bound to be a lot of things he had never seen before. But now ZaiWin had come to believe that he was simply curious by nature, his pale eyes able to pay attention to the smallest, most insignificant things, details that normal people simply couldn’t see or just didn't care about.

“What are you doing?”

Startled, Snow quickly raised his head, holding on to the wall so he wouldn’t fall back.

ZaiWin approached him to take a better look at the small, dark hole. There was nothing there.

“Did you lose something?” he asked, knowing that that was not the case, and Snow shook his head, looking down at the hole again.

“Is something inside it?”

This time he slowly nodded.

“Want me to get it out?”

Another energetic shake of his head.

ZaiWin sighed, biting his tongue so he wouldn’t lash out at him for his clear refusal to speak.

Snow kept staring at the hole as if he were waiting for something, apparently intending to completely ignore his presence. Leaning his back against the hard wall, ZaiWin crossed his arms and waited as well. Thankfully he didn’t have to wait long. And, after a few moments, a small spider emerged from the hole.

It was all black, with bright yellow spots on its back, its legs covered in what looked like fur. Snow’s lips immediately stretched into a delighted smile, that left ZaiWin staring up at the wide sky above his head.

A freaking spider! Who would ever eagerly wait to see that? Most people would just happily squash it and be done with it. Most women would scream in fear and run away. But there he was, looking all happy as if someone had given some amazing present.
The spider wandered about a bit and then decided it was safer to retreat back into its hole.

Well, at least he hadn’t tried to pick it up, ZaiWin thought, watching as Snow's smile immediately faded away. That thing had all the characteristics of a poisonous spider.

ZaiWin took a deep breath.

“About Storm … you mustn’t take her seriously,” he tentatively said and the boy’s shoulders immediately tensed up. It would seem he really disliked her … “I’ve known her for a long time, and she’s always been like that. She’s completely clueless about everything, saying whatever pops into her head. But she’s not a bad person.”

Snow stood up, dusted himself off, straightened his tunic, and raised his head to openly glare at him again, his pale eyes hard and cold as if they were made of ice. Somehow ZaiWin felt cold droplets of sweat sliding down his back. Had he done something wrong as well?

“Are you angry about what she said?”

He probably was, ZaiWin considered. And he had all the right to be. Her insensitive words had probably brought up some painful memories, from when he’d been sold off on a daily basis to the highest bidder. The mere reminder of that made ZaiWin’s blood boil. He suddenly wished that hadn’t killed that damned woman so fast.

Snow averted his gaze, looking somewhat embarrassed.

“You’ve known her a long time …?” he whispered and ZaiWin promptly nodded.

“That’s right. She already lived here, when I was first brought to this place. Back then … she really helped me out,” he offered, trying to convince him to forgive her and maybe not dislike her so much.

“Was that when you were locked up inside that room?”

ZaiWin’s heart almost stopped at that. Snow was looking up at him again, his pale eyes defying him to deny what he already knew to be true.

So he had been inside it, ZaiWin thought grimly. Had he found that wretched place the same way he had found the waterfall cave? Had the land told him about what he had been through as well?

Gritting his teeth he nodded.

“That’s right. Every day she would bring me food and water, and sit on the other side of that door, and simply talk to me,” he forced himself to say, the words opening up wounds he had tried his best to forget.

Snow averted his gaze and seemed to ponder on what he’d said for a brief moment.

“How long?” he finally asked. “How long were you in there?”

“Roughly two months.”

Snow seemed genuinely shocked at that, his pale eyes widening in disbelief as if someone had just thrown a bucket of cold water over his head. And then he looked sad. A sorrowful expression that ZaiWin knew all too well.

With a sigh he lightly ruffled his hair.

“That is all in the past, though. And I did leave that cave stronger than when I went in. Actually, it was thanks to what happened that the people from this village finally recognized me as Nox’s Governor, even though I was just a brat.”

“That man tried to kill you,” Snow stated in a menacing tone and ZaiWin smiled bitterly. So he even knew that.

“So he did,” he confirmed and pushed Snow's head back, making him look up at him again. “But I did not die.”

Snow looked into those hard, cold blue eyes. It was almost as if he was telling him that he had not died back then and had no intention of dying anytime soon. And, somehow, that sensation allowed him to relax a bit, erasing the strange angry feeling that had been squeezing his chest since that girl had interrupted their breakfast.

ZaiWin ruffled his hair again and finally released him.

“Anyway, where did you learn how to shoot like that?” he asked, changing the subject, and it was Snow’s to freeze in place. He had been so angry at Storm that he had completely forgotten that the fact that he was learning to shoot with a bow was supposed to be kept a secret.

Curious to see if he would tell him the truth or make something up, ZaiWin patiently waited for a reply.

“I … practiced …” he finally whispered.

So that was all he would tell him, ZaiWin thought, watching him carefully, the way he anxiously shifted his weight from one foot to another. Had MenTar instructed him to keep it a secret? Apparently MenTar had told him a lot of useless things, he bleakly considered. He would have to have a good talk with him, when he arrived.

Not wanting to further drive him into a corner, ZaiWin dropped his initial question.

“Why learn how to shoot? Do you intend to shoot someone?” he asked instead, genuinely curious.

Would he even be able to do that? Not that he believed in what most people believed, that Tien’Elhar weren’t capable of killing. But, if he were to be fair, he had to admit that most of them did abhor everything related with death. And, as far as he had been able to observe, Snow wasn’t any different in that.

“I thought it would be a good idea to know how to defend myself,” he confessed and ZaiWin couldn’t help smile coldly at his words.

“From me?”

Snow went rigid again but then he resolutely raised his head to face him.

“From you as well.”

ZaiWin’s smile widened into a feral grimace.

“Would you be able to kill me?”

Snow seemed to ponder for a moment and ended up nodding.

“Probably.”

“Probably?”

“Depending on the situation.”

“I see …”

So the only reason why Snow had given up on fighting for his own life was because he had been told that, for him to live, many other unrelated people would have to die instead, ZaiWin concluded. If not for that, he would have been readying himself to fight him to the death, if need be. Which meant that, if someday their situations were reversed, if the time came when for ZaiWin to remain alive other people would have to die in his place, Snow probably wouldn’t think twice before trying to kill him.

“Even if you end up dying yourself?” he asked, trying to understand his mindset, but Snow didn’t even hesitate before answering.

“There are a lot of things worse than death.”

“True,” ZaiWin agreed. They both knew that better than most.

“If I could choose, I would rather not have to shoot anyone,” Snow added, clearly including him in that ‘anyone’. Which meant he still did not trust him, ZaiWin concluded, reading his doubts in those pale eyes. “But I still want to know how to do it.”

“Is that so? Why won’t I teach you, then?” he offered and Snow’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“Would you do that?”

“Of course. And, not to brag, but I’m a much better shot than MenTar²Literally men (lake) + tar (wind)!” he added with an icy smile, and Snow quickly averted his gaze, his pale cheeks blushing. “Since we have nothing better to do, want to have a go at it?”

Snow simply nodded and ZaiWin pealed himself from the wall, uncrossing his arms, briefly ruffling his hair before he made his way back to the street.

“Let’s go, then.”

Snow nodded again and quickly rushed to catch up with him.

Silvareiel

Hehehe, when I see them sparing with words like this I can't help think that they're actually very similar in a lot of things ? And I love how ZaiWin keeps teaching him things that he knows he may use against him in the future. He really likes to play with fire ... well, in this case, with ice ?