The Fox Princess And Her White Dog

14: Wait for Me, My Love

Peals of laughter floated towards the circular skylight in the center of Snow's yurt, as she and Qara sit around her dining table. They had eaten their fill of Qara's delicious mutton dumplings, and Snow had just put aside some for Erden.

"What happened to you that day?" Qara asked. "I saw you running over the hill, and then when I got there, you've disappeared. For the whole night, we searched everywhere for you, and then suddenly you reappeared with this dog," she said, her face devoid of the mirth she showed earlier.

Snow blinked at her. "I-err, I don't know. I don't remember anything," she said, her hand moving to stroke Chow Chow's head on her lap.

"Some people said you were kidnapped by the forest spirits, but you know I don't believe in such things," Qara said with a wry smile.

"I can't explain it myself," Snow said, avoiding Qara's gaze by pretending to inspect the underside of Chow Chow's floppy ear. "But thank you, for searching for me. I hope I didn't endanger you or your baby," she said.

"Goddess Umay was kind to me. It just so happened that I bumped into one of Erden's men, and he went to get him and the others. Otherwise, I'd have to run all the way home."

"Oh, the Goddess is indeed kind to you. What is it?" Snow said when Chow Chow raised his head from her lap.

The door swung open and she heard Erden say, "Love, I'm home."

"I'll take my leave," Qara said, giving Snow a hug. After she patted Chow Chow on the head, he got up to follow her to the door. "Oh? Are you coming with me, big fella?"

I'm not going with her, I'm just going to look for the little one, Snow heard him say.

"Qara, thank you for coming by," Erden said as he stood by the door. He stared at Chow Chow with narrowed eyes, and Snow could feel the tension crackling between them. Heavens, what are they doing? Snow wondered.

Chow Chow responded with a glare of his own and haughty turn of the head before trotting out with his nose in the air. The moment his plumy tail cleared the threshold, Erden swung the door shut after him.

"Husband, is everything alright?" Snow asked, noting the pensive expression on Erden's face as he sat next to her at the table. 

Sighing, he put his hand over hers and looked into her eyes. "Love, I have to be away for a while. I'd hate to leave you when you're injured like this, but. . ."

"It's alright, dear. I know duty comes first. I can take care of myself here, you just concentrate on what you have to do," she said, trying to hide the disappointment in her voice. "How long will you be away for?"

"Roughly six weeks."

"Oh, that's quite a while," she said. He'd never been away for that long before, she thought.

"There's been reports of intrusions at the south eastern border. Apparently, the circumstances are so out of the ordinary that Father needs me to see it for myself and report back to him."

Why can't they send the intelligence gatherers, or reconnaissance riders, or whatever they're called? Why does Erden have to go himself? she wondered.

"What happened to the desert tribe and the bandits?" she asked.

"Sechen is handling both. Apparently, that's her territory, and she's been dealing with them for years. We'll be traveling down south together before splitting up. Do you want to stay with my parents?"

On other occasions when Erden had to be away for extended periods of time, she would stay over at her in-laws' tent. This time however, the thought of being interrogated by his mother over her disappearance made her decide against it.