Wayfarer (Wanderlust 2)

Chapter Eight

The snow didn't stop that night, or the following day. It occasionally slowed down, but then picked up. On the third morning of waking up to it still snowing, Jale decided they would stay in the forest and try to wait it out. She wandered off to go hunting, and left the other two to tend to a fire during the day.

Which meant that Soren tended to the fire, while Tanden looked over the map Soren had bought him, and jotted down notes on another piece of parchment. Tanden had said many times that he had no interest in writing about his travels, he didn't have the patience for that. However, this trip had slowed him down considerably. There wasn't much for him to do, he didn't have books to read about other countries. His Tallenese was coming along slowly, and he knew plenty of words, just not how to put those words together to make sentences.

But even though it seemed like Tanden should be bored, he didn't act like he was. He peppered Jale with questions whenever she would let him, and he flirted with Soren whenever she wouldn't. Even now, when they were stuck in the same place for the whole day, he had found something to keep himself occupied with.

Once Soren had gathered a pile of wood large enough to last their fire for the rest of the day, he brushed snow off of the log Tanden was sitting on and sat beside him. "What're you doing?"

Tanden tapped a spot on the map. "Jale told me we're approximately here. So we're further into Sunland—Tallen Tiya, than any Teltan has ever been. But we've hardly seen any other people, just a few other carriages days ago."

"It's a big country," Soren said with a shrug. "I'm sure the cities will be full of people."

"Oh, I know." He traced his finger across the map until it landed on a tiny dot. "This is the village Jale wants to stop at, to buy some more supplies. If the snow stops, we could get there in two days. She's been saving furs from some of her kills to trade, and there's a whole crate of dried fish we haven't even touched. Apparently, ocean fish are a delicacy around here."

"Makes sense," Soren agreed. "Would we stay in the village for a few days?"

"I'm not sure. It would do the kyloe some good to be in a barn for awhile."

Soren glanced over at the animals. They were using their broad noses to dig through the snow, looking for food. Earlier Soren had melted snow for them and put it out in their special pot. Every once in awhile he would check on it, and break the layer of ice that had formed on top. "Makes sense," he agreed again.

Tanden folded up his map and notes and tucked them under his jacket. "She's going to be gone all day. Maybe we could set up the bed in the sleigh and have some fun. It's been a while."

The suggestion was tempting, and it would pass the time. "Well... all right. Just let me stoke the fire a bit, aye?"

"Aye," Tanden agreed with his usual stunning grin. "I'll get the bed ready." He did just that, and Soren fed some more logs into the fire before joining him.

It was very light in the carriage, and warmer than outside. Soren wasn't surprised to find that Tanden had already taken off his jacket and tunic, and was undoing the lacing on his pants.

Soren left his boots in the corner and crawled onto the blankets. "You're going to get cold," he teased, as he unbuttoned his own jacket.

"No, mate. You'll warm me up," Tanden pointed out. But he left his pants alone to help Soren take off his jacket. He pulled Soren's tunic up over his head, and paused, with his hand over the tattoo Ara had painted on Soren's chest.

They hadn't had a chance to look at each other's Morcean tattoos since leaving Till. Soren let his gaze fall on Tanden's. The design had started to fade, from dark brown to a redder tone, but the edges were still fairly sharp. Soren nudged Tanden so he would lie down, and planted a kiss on the temporary tattoo. "I love this."