Chapter Text
“Did you guys hear it was going to snow later today!?”
A high-pitched feminine voice startles Ren out of his daydream, and he furrows his eyebrows, pinching the bridge of his nose. Yes, just what he needed; cold weather and ice to further distract him from his rigorous training. He had already heard of the weather predictions, but all he could think about was what he could manage to practice in the confines of his home. It wasn’t like the outside territory, where he had endless room to move about. The orphanage’s cottage wouldn’t give him much space to move, let alone train.
He turns around from where he’s kneeling on his small rug, and notices the voice is coming from another child from his orphanage- Nora Valkyrie. Neither of them had spoken to each other before, but it was almost impossible to live in the village without knowing who she was. Unless you were deaf.
“We should all go sledding at the top of the hill! Come on, guys!” She’s talking to a girl and guy about her age, both who seemed to hang around her a lot. The girl, with long purple hair, scoffs and crosses her arms.
“You’re funny, Nora.” She raises her eyebrows with a grin and looks at the boy, who smiles in return.
“We’ll see you tomorrow.” He says, waving her goodbye and walking in the opposite direction with what Ren would consider a sneer.
Nora, for the first time since Ren has known her, seemed to deflate slightly. But then she recovered just as fast, waving wildly in her friends’ direction as they departed from the classroom. “I’ll meet up with you guys when it starts snowing!” She calls out to them, and Ren doesn’t hear a response.
He had found the encounter rather odd. Those were good friends of Nora’s. They seemed almost… mean with their responses. Upon reflecting, he wonders if that’s just how they talk to each other. He’d probably catch them leaving together later that afternoon, and perhaps even catch sight of them on the hill in the distance, bundled up in their jackets and hats.
Just as predicted, it begins to snow as he starts making his way home. Big, fluffy flakes are falling around him, and the breeze chills his bare arms, spreading goose bumps down his spine. He’s shivering, gripping the straps of his backpack and trying to hurry to get out of the wind. While he’d rather not skip out on training, he figures he’d make an exception today and stay indoors.
One of the leaders in the orphanage lights a fire, and many of the kids gather round and hang out by the warmth. It’s a very chatty evening, and Ren finds himself sitting by the window with a book, feeling the warmth on his right side.
Eventually, something bright and pink catches his eye. He looks out the window and catches Nora walking out of the orphanage with a sled in tow, looking wildly around for her friends. She walks around the general area, and at one point, she flops down into the snow and starts making a snow angel. When she sits up, breath escaping from her lips in wisps of fog, she’s coated in fluffy snow. She finds herself frolicking, leaving the sled off to the side as she dances.
Ren watches her carefully. She’s prancing and spinning and stopping every so often to look around and watch for her friends, a permanent grin fixed on her face. Time continues on, and Ren feels his heart sink as neither of her friends come around the corner. Nora, too, begins to look disappointed, and flops down in the snow on her bottom, drawing her finger across the white canvas of the ground, creating patterns and shapes absent-mindedly.
With a sigh, Ren closes his book with a satisfying thud, and takes one of the sweaters hanging at the front door. He slips out of the warmth of the cottage and into the white world, with a heavy snowfall still cascading around him.
The snow isn’t much use for silence and stealth, so Nora notices him long before he gets near her. The crunch under his boots makes him uncomfortable, and the village feels so bare. He feels exposed. Nora watches his every step towards her, eyes wide.
He continues walking towards her, his hands crossed in front of him to fight the cold, and he doesn’t stop until he’s right in front of her. He holds out a hand to her, and she stares at it.
“You’re Ren.” She says, coming out a bit louder than he expected. He’s surprised she knows who he is, honestly, and he doesn’t really know what else to say.
“You’re Nora.” Is all he can think of.
She grins up at him and takes his hand, pulling herself to her feet. She bounces a bit on her toes, pushing her hat up out of her eyes. “I’ve never heard you speak before! I mean I knew you could- like, I figured we’d know if you couldn’t, but your voice sounds different than I imagined it! I mean, I’ve heard you say things like ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ to teachers and stuff but it’s so rehearsed and practiced that I don’t even know if that really counts for speaking, you use a different voice when you talk to them, and- oh! Do you have a sled?”
Ren had lost her halfway through her babble, and for some reason, she just kept grinning at him, her hands held up to her chest. It takes him several seconds to register her question, and he shakes his head.
“That’s okay, we don’t have to sled, we can just play in the snow! Have you ever seen a snowfall this heavy before?” She does a little spin, and some of the snow stuck to her back seems to jump off. He looks down at the snow under his feet and tries not to sneer, frustrated at how it sticks to his boots.
“No.” He replies, looking back up at her. She’s still grinning for some reason.
“Hey, what’s that over there?” Her smile drops and she points to something behind him. Anxious, he turns around and scans his surroundings, his eyes flickering back and forth.
“I don’t see-“ He’s cut off when his shirt is pulled back and something cold claws it’s way down his back. He yelps aloud, throwing himself sideways as the snow falls out of his shirt, and Nora begins to laugh hysterically. His breaths come in shivers, reaching his hands behind him to share some warmth where his spine felt icy cold.
“Gotcha!” She said, grinning as she leans down to scoop up more snow. She balls a clump in her hand and chucks it at his face. Reflexes take over and he dodges sideways, one hand fishing out to catch his balance on the ground. Except the snow is cold and slightly slushy, and it sends him slipping forward and onto his shoulder.
Another snowball winds up hitting him in the face and he shakes his head, using his other hand to wipe it off. No wonder her friends didn’t want to play in the snow with her. “Stop!” He demands, frowning. “Stop!”
Nora halts mid-throw, arm raised high, her excited expression fading for a look of hurt. It doesn’t last long, however, because he uses that moment of hesitation to throw a snowball at her, nailing her in the jaw. She stumbles backwards and slips in the slush, landing on her bottom with an audible grunt.
Sprawled out in the snow, the two of them sit there and stare for several seconds before they burst out laughing. They both half-heartedly scoop up more snow amidst their giggles, trying to toss them back at each other, but after a few moments, they run out of breath for it. Nora is laughing so hard that tears are springing in her eyes. She manages to land a snowball at his chest, and he wipes it off, feeling his face start to hurt from smiling so much.
They play in the snow for hours until their bitter cold fingers and toes become numb, and their noses and cheeks are as red as cherries. Ren doesn’t remember laughing this much in his life. Nora nails him with another snowball and he finds himself falling backwards into the snow, his eyes raising to the gray sky above, with little flakes falling all around him.
Nora falls onto her back next to him, and together they ride out the invisible sunset behind the snow clouds, seen only by the atmosphere’s light between the sky and the horizon. When an orphanage leader calls them back in, they bid each other farewell and retreat to their rooms, each continuing to watch the snow outside their windows.
Ren falls asleep smiling.