Frozen Wolf, Fire Dragon

Chapter 6

The kids ate eagerly, their small mouths chewing happily.

“Eve, I ate it all!” Sion said proudly as he showed me his empty plate.

“Wow, you’ve cleared the whole plate! Good job. Exactly what I would expect from my little brother,” I said, patting him on the butt as he scooted off his chair.

As I was taking his plate, I noticed something.

Oh, crap! I screamed internally as I saw that Sion’s ears had just popped out. My jaw dropped.

“Ears!” I hissed.

“Huh?”

“Your ears!” I hissed again, trying desperately not to move my mouth and attract Ruby’s attention. I couldn’t let her find out he was a wolf!

Her memories hadn’t come back, so she didn’t even know the difference between wolves and dragons, but I still couldn’t afford to let my guard down.

Finally understanding my signaling, Sion hid his ears with an apologetic face. I quickly turned toward Ruby to see if she’d noticed, but thankfully she was still engrossed in eating her meal.

I hurriedly pulled Sion closer to me and whispered, “Why did your ears pop out? Are you trying to make me lose my mind? I told you that you must hide them from Ruby.”

“But Ruby—” Sion began, looking regretful, but Ruby suddenly interrupted him.

“Eve, I’m done!” she said proudly, holding her empty plate out to me as she walked over.

I smiled at her, quickly hiding my panic. “How was your meal?”

“Good, thank you,” Ruby said as she went to Sion. “Hey, Sion.”

“Yeah...?”

“Let’s go play.” She pulled his arm with a big smile. Sion looked back and forth between me and Ruby, then nodded.

It was a small house, but for little ones like them it was a big playground. Seeing them hold hands, I sighed with relief. Ruby might think of me as her guardian right now, but who knows what will happen when she gets her memories back.

I’m glad she didn’t find out this time, but we’ll have to be more careful from now on.

I shuddered at the thought of the future.

* * *

The winter forest was still dark even though the sun had begun to rise.

“Eve...” Ruby had snuck out of bed and come to my side.

While glancing over at Sion, who was still asleep, I whispered to her, “Go back to sleep, Ruby. I’ll be back soon.”

“No... Don’t go. Come back to sleep with me,” Ruby said, shaking her head and acting as if she was about to throw a tantrum. Her sweet baby voice made me smile.

“But if I don’t leave now, I won’t be able to make us any money,” I said playfully.

“Do you need to earn a lot?” she asked.

“Yes, I need lots of money for us.”

“Why?” She sounded genuinely curious. It seemed like she was wide awake now.

What do you mean why? It’s so Sion and I can run away before you kill us.

Trying to ignore my dreadful thoughts, I stared down at the little girl, pausing for a minute before answering.

I slowly reached out and stroked Ruby’s hair. Her hair, black as the night sky, glided smoothly between my fingers, and I could see my face reflected in her crimson eyes. I gave her a small smile and replied, “So we can move to a better place.”

“Move?”

“Yes. We need a lot of money to move and have a better life,” I said, chuckling to myself.

Ruby looked at me, hesitated, and then held something out. It was a small ring.

“What is this?” I asked.

“I found it in the woods.”

“In the woods?”

“I’m sorry... I know I’m not supposed to go out without permission,” Ruby mumbled apologetically.

Without her memories, she could’ve been such an easy target for the wolves.

“Ruby. You know you’ve already collapsed once while out in the middle of the freezing forest. Someone might have attacked you! Moreover, you still don’t have any of your memories back,” I responded sternly.

She nodded gloomily.

Ugh. Seeing her pouting face made me melt.

“I know it must be hard... But I’ll tell you what, I’ll come back as fast as I can today, so later let’s all go outside and have a snowball fight together.”

Ruby’s face instantly brightened. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that her smile seemed to light up the whole room. I took the ring she held out to me and put it on my finger. It looked expensive, and I wondered how she had found such a thing in the snow.

“Thank you, Ruby. I’ll treasure it,” I said, smiling warmly at her.

“No, no!” She laughed at me like I’d said something dumb. “Don’t keep it. Sell it!”

“Huh?”

“For money,” she said, rubbing her thumb against her index and middle finger—the universal sign for money.

“You should get quite a lot for that.” It was a confident statement on her part, and just for an instant, seeing that knowing look in her eyes, I doubted that she had lost her memories.

Trying to hide my concerned thoughts, I smiled and said, “Y-yeah, it does seem quite expensive.”

“Right?”

“You gave me something pretty valuable, huh?”

“Yup.”

“Thank you. I’ll… sell it.”

Should I be saying this to a child? Hiding my confusion, I stood up. “I’ll be back as quickly as I can.”

“Okay, come back soon, Eve.”

I waved goodbye with the ring on my finger. Ruby waved back as I left the house, a big smile on her face.

* * *

Rahel yawned loudly. Blinking some sleep out of her eyes, she looked around but didn’t see Eve. Then she remembered she was out selling herbs today too.

No matter how much Rahel slept, she always felt sleepy. It was probably because the north’s cold wind cooled her heat so much. Rubbing her eyes, she looked at the fireplace. The fire had almost burnt itself out. She considered it for a moment, then glanced at Sion and saw that he was still sound asleep. Carefully, she got up and walked toward the fireplace. She spread her hand out and suddenly the firewood caught fire and started to burn.

That should be enough, she thought, dusting off her hands. Sion’s asleep and Eve’s gone out... I should look around. Rahel opened the small window and poked her head out.

The forest was quiet and still, covered in white snow. The only sounds that could be heard were the wind rattling the windows and the firewood burning. Rahel brought her head back inside and her eyes fell upon the dreamcatcher Eve had bought her. She reached out and stroked the feather attached to the end of it.

“Now you’ll only have good dreams,” Eve had said.

Good dreams. At first, she hadn’t believed her. No matter how much she had tried to stop them before, her nightmares would always surface, but then Eve’s words really had come true. Her seemingly endless nightmares had ceased.

Rahel stared at the dreamcatcher for a while and then headed back to bed. It smelled like winter, just like Eve.

It’s cozy and comfortable, just like her.

Rahel smiled as she slowly closed her eyes. She was getting sleepy again. Her heavy eyelids fell closed, and the loudest sound that could be heard in the cabin was the children’s breathing.