By the time they returned to the inn it had already gotten dark outside, but there were still a great number of people walking around in the streets.
A few establishments remained opened, Snow realized, the sound of music and laughter reaching his ears. Mainly bars and inns, he knew, and he wished they could roam around town a bit more. He had never just walked around in a city at night, simply enjoying the scenery and the nightlife. Of course, there had been that one time in Weiin, when ZaiWIn had taken him … no, dragged him, to one of those horrible places. But that could hardly count as simply enjoying the scenery. Besides, at that time they had just been attacked, and he had been so scared that the only thing he could remember from their rushed escape was a bunch of bright, colorful lights, and the dark shadow of other people as they sped by them.
But, apparently, today was not to be the day when he would be allowed to do that either. Which was a shame. In his mind, the water channels must look beautiful, reflecting the small lights he’d see hanging from the boats. Of course, he could ask ZaiWin to stay outside a bit longer, Snow considered. But then, even though ZaiWin made a point to hold his hand all the way back, his warm fingers gently caressing his skin, Snow couldn’t avoid the feeling that something wasn’t quite right about him.
He looked … tense, Snow concluded, looking up at ZaiWin’s serious face. And it wasn’t as if he was walking faster than before, but Snow simply had the feeling that he was in a hurry to get back to the inn.
All that, of course, completely evaporated from his mind the minute they actually stepped into their small bedroom. Because suddenly there he was, alone, with him, again. Not that he had never been alone in a room with him, Snow chastised himself as he froze the door and reinforced the layers of ice locking the window. In fact, that’s pretty much all he had done, for the last month or so. But, somehow, something had changed. Because Snow had dared say those embarrassing things?, Snow wondered. No. If anything, what ZaiWin had … done to him in that same room, in that same bed, was one thousand times worse!, he quickly decided, glancing towards the bed.
That’s right. Just the thought of sharing the bed with ZaiWin was making him feel anxious, Snow realized. Anxious and a bit scared, his heart beating faster at the mere thought of that, his mind already imagining what ZaiWin might do to him. And yet, a kind of warm excitement immediately took over his entire body as well.
Was there anyway ZaiWin would allow him to sleep on the floor?, he finally wondered as he watched ZaiWin rummage through his recently bought packages in search of something. Ah, as if that would ever happen, Snow answered his own mental question with a grimace.
ZaiWin seemed to finally find what he had been looking for and the flicker of something golden captured Snow’s attention.
Approaching him, Snow took a peek at the small object he was holding.
“What’s that?” he asked out loud before he could even realize what he was doing, and ZaiWin turned to let him take a better look.
“It’s an hourglass. Once you turn it the sand will take a pre-determined time to pass from the top glass container to the lower,” he explained and Snow stared attentively at the small thing. “In this case, the white sand you see is actually crystal dust. It has been charged by someone with a high connection to the sun and its cycles. And so, even though the sand should only take a few minutes to pass from one side to the other, it will actually take a full day,” ZaiWin declared and, turning the hourglass, placed it on the small table.
Snow bent forward, taking a closer look at it. For a moment, nothing happened. Not even a grain of sand fell from the higher compartment to the lower. But then he saw it, the smallest flicker of dust cross the small distance, before it stopped again.
“So it basically serves to tell you when an entire day has passed?” Snow asked, straightening his back, unable to understand the use of such a thing, and ZaiWin gave him a small smile.
“That’s right. A full day, from the time it is turned. So all the sand will have passed from the higher compartment to the lower by the same hour, tomorrow.”
Snow looked at the small object again. He understood what it did and how it worked. He just didn’t understand how it would be of any use, much less why ZaiWin had bought it. After all, one could easily see when a day started and ended.
ZaiWin chuckled at the sight of his silent contestation.
“It can have its uses, you know?” he told him, startling Snow since he had practically read his mind. “For example, if you’re dyeing fabric. Many colors depend on the strict amount of time a fabric is submerged in dye. A light blue or dark blue. A bright pink or a red. People that work with dyes have several hourglasses like this, all counting different amounts of time. You can’t expect to start dyeing all your fabric at sunrise so that you can know how many time has passed.”
Snow pondered on ZaiWin’s words. He guessed there was some logic to that. In fact, now that he thought about that, he could easily see how such a thing could be actually very useful for a lot of people. But why had ZaiWin bought it?
Before he could ask, however, ZaiWin was already undressing his coat, and Snow’s mind immediately reverted to his previous, much more important dilemma. Somehow, even though that had never happened before, the idea of sleeping in the same bed as ZaiWin just didn’t feel safe at all!
Of course, none of his unspoken fears did him any good. And, a few moments later, he was inevitably lying on the same bed as ZaiWin. In that impossible small bed!, Snow grumbled in his thoughts when he tried to pull his knees up like he always did, and his legs brushed against ZaiWin’s. Of course, he could always turn around! But, somehow, the idea of turning his back to him scared him even more. Like this, he could more or less see what he was up to. Not that it did him any good either, he grumbled when ZaiWin reached out to him and softly brushed his fingers through his hair.
“You still have leaves in your hair, from climbing the tree,” he told him, an amused smile on his face, and Snow averted his gaze, allowing him to gently comb through his hair. Not that he had any other option!
“Did you have fun today?
Snow immediately perked up at the sound of that question, his gaze shooting up, a huge smile taking over his face. He nodded vehemently.
ZaiWin laughed.
“Good. Even though I wish it could be different, soon we won’t be able to walk around like that anymore,” he added, and Snow’s enthusiasm immediately faded away. “So I thought we should take this chance and just do what normal people do.”
Warmth flooded Snow’s chest. He had clearly done that because of him, because Snow had spent his entire life locked up somewhere, and soon would be locked up again.
“I enjoyed it a lot,” he made a point to say in his own words and ZaiWin’s smile widened.
“Once all this is over let’s take some time and travel around for a while. I’ll leave Nox in the capable hands of our Nai Calzai again. And we’ll simply disappear for a couple of months. How does that sound?”
Snow nodded enthusiastically.
“I’d like that a lot! Can we go to Men? I once heard someone say that it’s very beautiful, and that it has a huge lake. And we can go to Far and see the ocean. Oh! And can we go to Zai? I’d really like to visit MenTar’s Province!”
ZaiWin laughed.
“We can do all that. We can do whatever you like.”
Snow nodded, his initial excitement slowly dwindling away. Unfortunately, all that sounded like a very, very far away dream.
“All we have to do is survive until then,” Snow whispered in a very small voice.
ZaiWin smile immediately disappeared, his blue eyes suddenly cold and hard.
“That’s right. All we have to do is survive until then.”
Language:
Weiin: Literally 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.
ZaiWin: Literally zai (blade) + win (chaos).
