Lina was late. The light outside was dimming with the steady arrival of dusk and the wind howled as it slammed against the windows. Regwulf slunk into the dining room, fidgeting as she repeatedly glanced to her right, where the windows looked out onto the stretch of white landscape. I had already put out plates and was busy setting down the steaming oven dish on the table when from the corner of my eye I saw Regwulf try to say something, then close her mouth, then open it again, and so forth. I straightened and looked at her, displacing my frustration.

“What, Regwulf?”

Flustered, her wide eyes met mine before her gaze whirled away as she stuttered.

“I- Lina- She should be back,” she squawked.

“Yes. She should.” I said.

If Regwulf bit her lip the candlelight did not fully catch it.

“Aren’t you…going to look for her?”

Her voice got quieter and quieter.

“Why don’t you go?” I retorted. “The food will get cold.”

Regwulf couldn’t go. It wasn’t fully dark yet. I knew, yet I said it anyway. She grew smaller, sinking deeper into the shadows. I felt myself sigh before turning to cover the hot oven dish with a clean dishcloth.

“Nevermind. I’ll go. You can eat first if you get overly hungry,” I said as I gestured to the eggs and meat.

I moved past her to go get dressed for going outside, but as I left the dining room the front door was shut with a thunderous sound. A muted shuffling was heard after and I hurried to the entrance hall to see who had entered.

Lina’s nose, cheeks and ears were pink from the wind’s chill. The hair escaping from the confines of her hat was ruffled and her coat and shoes were covered in snow, despite the fact that there had been no snowfall the entire day. She looked happy. Any anger at her tardiness in me melted at the sight of that guilty, small smile.

“Linafríð,” I breathed out, my shoulders sagging as they untensed.

“Sorry, we lost track of time,” she said, apology genuine.

Regwulf scurried into the hallway, her eyes widening at the sight of Lina.

“Lina-!” 

Her arms were stretched out in front of her in a motion that seemed like she wanted to touch Lina, feel if she was truly there, but her hands stopped mid-air in reluctance. Lina saw and met her halfway, giving her a gentle hug after taking off her gradually dampening coat.

“Hi, Regwulf.” she said, disentangling herself from Regwulf’s desperate embrace. Regwulf was gaping like a fish on land.

“Let’s eat dinner now before it gets cold,” I said, taking off Lina’s hat.

She took off her shoes and we went to the dining room. Regwulf had not yet touched her food.

I served Lina the steamed potatoes with rosemary and thyme from the oven dish and a small cut of grilled beef while Regwulf stared longingly at her own food in front of her.

“What did you and Anwin do today?” I asked as I moved on to my own plate.

“We went to the shore to collect rock crystals. I have some in my coat pocket.”

I hummed.

“Sounds like you had fun. Wasn’t it cold by the shore?”

I sat down and we started eating. Regwulf began working on her raw meat first. Focused on cutting the beef, Lina replied.

“You don’t really notice it when you’re moving about. After a while we went to his house anyway.”

My gaze flicked up to her. Regwulf shifted in her seat.

“His house?”

Lina’s eyes met mine before darting away. Her cheeks were as pink as they were when she got back.

“Yes.”

I chewed.

“He’s nice, isn’t he?”

Lina swallowed some of the potato before answering, looking skittish.

“Yes. he’s very good.”

“I’m sure,” I said, feeling the corners of my mouth curl. 

Regwulf, by some touch of genius, decided to switch topics. The area around her mouth was streaked with red juice from the flesh.

“Did you manage to find some nice crystals?” she asked.

“I did. Two really big ones, too. Want to look at them after dinner? You can pick one, if you’d like.”

Regwulf looked eager at that prospect, and began eating a little quicker as she nodded.

I remembered the letter.

“Lina,” I said.

Lina looked up, grazing potatoes.

“I have to get to Treringham sometime soon, somewhere in the next three weeks. Will you be alright?” I asked.

“Cyne business?” she replied with a question, curiosity dancing in her eyes.

“I would not go to Treringham unforced if it wasn’t.”

“Can’t I come along?” Lina asked.

My gaze flicked over to Regwulf, who was observing our conversation with meat held up to her mouth with both her claws, her eyes darting back and forth between Lina and myself. She had not stopped eating when doing this, causing the juice to slide down her upper arms.

“I don’t mind, though I think it best if you’re not there when I have to meet him. Regwulf?”

Regwulf made a noise of question, tilting her head slightly, owlishly.

“Will you be fine?” I asked her, making her pause in her endeavour to completely eradicate the slab of flesh. She looked at her hands, thinking it over. 

“I can hold down the fort, I think.”

I nodded.

“I think so too. We won’t be gone for long anyhow,” I said.

“When will we leave?” Lina asked, eyes cautiously starry with the promise of going out to a bigger town for the first time in a long while.

“I haven’t arranged anything yet. I will talk to Windís tomorrow,” I said, adding: “You can tell that boy Anwin we’ll be back within the week.”

Lina’s cheeks tinged red.

We fell into comfortable silence as we finished eating, though the light clinking of the cutlery did not manage to soothe my thoughts, heavy with muck of the past as I wondered what my father needed me for. It was unusual for him to write me, even more so for him to want to physically meet up. ‘Reconvene’ would be a better word, I thought as I gathered the plates and carried them to the kitchen. Lina wordlessly followed to do the dishes. I never required her to do so, one day she simply decided to take over the task from then on. I looked at her as she ran the hot water. Her face was sharper, I realised. The baby fat was slowly melting away like snow, leaving behind a more mature version of Lina. I went back to the dining room to fetch the rest of the dishes and caught Regwulf licking her claws clean. Her eyes flitted over to me and she guiltily dropped her hands to hover over the table in an awkward position, trying to keep the staining of the tablecloth to a minimum. I noticed her matted hair, then, and remembered that I was planning on making her bathe today.

“How long has it been since you last washed?” I asked.

“I washed them this morning,” she said.

“No, not your hands. Your whole body. Was it last week?”

Her eyes drifted to the ceiling. She looked pallid.

“I think…the week before that.”

“I’ll draw you a bath,” I said, before picking up the oven dish and seeing her reluctant nod from the corner of my eye. She knew better than to waste hot water.

I returned to my study after leaving Lina to the dishes and Regwulf submerged to her mouth in the large bathtub. There wasn’t much to do at all, living in such a small place like Brasboliton. I considered writing a reply to my father, but he would in all likelihood already be staying in Treringham, so I decided against it, instead jotting down a list of groceries we would need to buy before leaving. I was working out how much meat and eggs we’d need for Regwulf to survive when I heard a small knock on the study’s door.

“Yes?”

It was Lina again, her hands still pink from the warm dishwater. She shuffled inside, closing the door behind her. She worried her lip between her teeth slightly.

“What is it, Lina?” I asked.

“Can we…” she trailed off, fidgeting, before looking up at me.

“Can we go to Penksey on the way back?”

I looked at her.

“You want to see the prince?” I asked, taking the way her eyes fled from mine as a sufficient answer before she even replied.

I leaned back into my chair.

“I thought you liked the boy,” I said.

“That- that’s not it. I want to go to Penksey, because there’ll be a festival too, because Prince Penan is there. I want to see it. Can’t we?” she pleaded. I noticed her hair had grown quite long. We’d been staying here longer than I realised. 

I felt my face contort into something incredulous.

“They’re organising a festival not only for a mere prince, but a foreign one at that? It’s not even an official visit, is it?” I asked, straightening.

“They don’t get a lot of visitors of this calibre…,” she defended weakly.

“They don’t, because they’re far from being the capital of the country. It’s strange for him to even set foot out there, Lina.”

“Like I said, I want to go for the festival, not for anything - or anyone - else. Can’t we go? Only for a day, or half a day?” she asked, getting more desperate.

I sighed, feeling tired from the journey to come already.

“Very well. We’ll go to Penksey after Treringham. Don’t forget to take your pocket money with you, then,” I said, giving in, though still very unconvinced she took no interest at all in seeing the prince.

She had a weak spot for boys with impressive life stories. And men, apparently. The Prince of The Penese Empire was an adult man, I remembered. Somewhere in his early twenties. I wondered briefly what Anwin’s history had that endeared him so to the girl.

She nodded, uttering a quick and soft ‘thank you’ before hopping back out the study. I went back to my list, calculating an extra day in the amount of food Regwulf would need. The evening passed quickly, and I retired early to catch Windís on time the next morning, before the sea would want her attention. Somewhere in the house I heard the bathtub drain and Regwulf shuffle around as my consciousness faded into the night.