It had been a very long day, endless in all the work that Mother found for me. Eventually, though, we finally were able to close the shop, and head home for dinner. It was snowing again, the soft flakes danced across the fading light, and in the distance I could see that Gurk was almost gone. Which meant that I had maybe about an hour and a half before I had to meet Thomas.
Mother and I walked to Father's bakery, making our way through the busy roads. The streets were still covered in the muddy slush, and I was glad that I had tucked the hems of my breeches into my boots. The cold air was beginning to numb my face, and as we walked inside Father's bakery, my face and hands immediately began to burn from the sudden change in temperature.
Inside, Father had a few customers, so Mother and I went behind the counter and began to help. I pulled on the plastic gloves that were used when serving the bread, and turned to take an order.
"Hello, Mrs. Jaysun. How may I help you?"
"Hello, Lydina," the old woman said stately. "I need some of that garlic bread that your father makes so well."
"I'm on it, just give me a minute," I went to the shelf behind the counter, and after reading the labels, pulled a loaf of bread.
"Here you are, ma'am. Five suns please," I said as she counted the large coins out. They had a large sun on each side, and one was larger than the other, one being Gurk, and the other Lyonee. The coins were made of copper, and varied in size depending on the worth.
"Here you are, dearie. My, you get prettier everyday. You've grown so much since I last saw you a year ago. I must go now, say hello to Poppy for me," I frowned as the old woman left. Poppy had been my grandmother, she had died almost two years ago. Poor Mrs. Jaysun was always having trouble remembering.
Another half hour of customers went by, and I began to worry that I would be late meeting Thomas. It was unusual for there to be so many people at this time. Finally, the last customer walked out the door with his bundle of bread, and we were able to go home for dinner.
We stepped outside, and I barely could see the few rays that Gurk had left behind to follow his descent. I had maybe forty-five minutes at most to eat dinner and clean up, without earning parental suspicion.
It wasn't long before we were home, and the usual dinner was set out to eat. There wasn't much discussion as we ate, but then that was also usual. Unless one had something truly important to say, then one was to stay quiet and eat. Then clean up, and go to bed directly. It was a work- based society.
And that is what happened. Dinner was finished, and my parents went to bed as I set about the kitchen to clean up. Thankfully it didn't take long, and seeing that Mother and Father were already asleep, I snuck outside, fully dressed for the weather. I was running a little bit late, but it would be alright.
I walked down the empty street, passing the dark and quiet shops. Fresh snow was falling, creating dances of merriment as they fell. If snow could feel, I didn't doubt for second that it wouldn't be happy snow. How couldn't it be, when it made me happy at the sight of it?
Soon I left the town, into the silent woods. When I had been younger, Thomas and I had come out here into the forest to play in the village of tree houses. A "village of tree houses" was the best way to describe the ten or so tree houses that littered the front of the forest. Most of the families in town had their own tree house here, or shared one with another family. Their children played out in the woods during the day, keeping out of the way of their busy parents.
There was no danger here in the woods. That is why we children were sent here to play, so we wouldn't get hurt at home when our parents couldn't watch us. I know it may not make much sense, but there was also a second purpose to the tree houses. They taught us how to live out in wilderness. At the end of the day, the parents would come to fetch us, and we'd go home for supper. But that day always came, around the time a child turned ten, when the child would refuse to come home, usually when the older children stayed overnight. This was how our people learned how to live in the middle of nowhere. A person couldn't survive in this world without knowledge of the wilderness, and that knowledge had to come from experience.
I passed the first few of the tree houses, unused during winter, and kept walking until I came to the one that my family shared with Thomas's.
"About time. What took you so long?" Thomas swung down from the tree house above, and landed gracefully beside me.
"I had to help at the bakery, I went as fast as I could," I responded.

He nodded, and moved aside so I could climb up the ladder that led to the tree house of my childhood. When I got to the top of the ladder, I could see that he had swept the snow from the floor. I crawled in, and moved to far side of the small room, so he could climb in beside me.
"So what do we do?" I asked softly, after a few minutes of silence. I suddenly felt shy, and I gathered my legs into my arms, so I was holding myself in a ball.
"What do you know how to do?"
"I've only tried lighting a candle, I was afraid to try anything else. You?"
"Only the little trick I showed you earlier today. Try forming a ball of fire in your hands," he suggested.
"Are you insane? I'll burn myself, at least."
"Not in your hands. Do it like that wizard who came a few months ago, and showed off."
"Oh," I replied, remembering. I closed my eyes, recalling how the ball of fire had hovered just an inch above his hands. I imagined what I wanted to happen, and I could feel my hands getting warmer. I didn't dare open my eyes, fearing that it would disappear. Only problem was, I felt as though my hands might catch fire any minute now.
"Lydina!"
I gasped, and opened my eyes. I looked at my hands, and saw that they had been scorched black. "I'm guessing my hands caught fire?" I murmured, they didn't hurt as much as I thought they would have.
"No, I don't think so. You had it until you opened your eyes. It might be a good idea, though, not to allow it so close to your hands," he gently took my charred hands, and pulling a handkerchief from his pocket, and some snow from the edge of the tree house, he began to wipe the black stuff from my hands. Belatedly I remembered my gloves.
"Does it hurt?" he asked.
"Not really. I guess the fire burned my gloves."
He nodded. "Guess so," he was almost done with my hands. But even when he had finished wiping the black from them, he still held them, and I didn't have the courage to pull away.
This continued for another moment, and then he pulled away, and said, "My turn?"
"I suppose. Just how are we going to practice with your magic?"
He didn't get a chance to reply, as voices carried up to where we sat. Thomas put a finger to his lips, signaling silence, and we both leaned over to look down below.
A group of boys were standing below, doing one of the more revolting things that boys do, a burping contest. One was burping the alphabet, when I looked over at Thomas to see his reaction, and saw that his eyes closed, and he was grinning. I looked down again, and stifled a laugh as I heard a yell of surprise. Snowballs were now appearing out of nowhere, pelting the boys mercilessly. The boys ran away in fright, once they realized that it hadn't been any of their group throwing the snowballs.
The moment we could no longer see them, we both burst out in laughter.

"Did you see their faces? Oh, I think I'm going to get abs, I'm laughing so hard," I said, a few minutes later, when I was finally able to talk.
"I don't think I will ever forget this. The one who was burping the alphabet, when I hit him in the back, what a noise he made!" he choked on his laughter.
"You're disgusting, Thomas."
"You're laughing just as much as I am," he retorted.
"Well, uh, um, yeah."
"I begin to see why you make a point of avoiding arguments," he stated.
"Excuse me??" I glared at him, but I was still smiling.
"You heard me, woman."
"Oh, that's it. You do not call me woman," I grabbed some of snow he hadn't brushed off, and chucked it at his stomach. He made a loud "oof!", and before he could retaliate, I scrambled down the ladder in search of more ammunition.
Huge mistake. What had happened to the boys, was now happening to me. "Not fair, Thomas!" Within a minute I had curled up in a ball, wishing the "hail" would stop. It did, eventually.
When it did, I looked up, to see him standing there, holding out his hand. I took it, and he helped me up. "Not fair," I repeated, sulking.
"You started it."
"Nuh-uh! If you hadn't called me woman," I started.
"And if you hadn't called me disgusting," he shot back.
"Whatever, this is silly, let's go home, I'm tired."
"Admit it that I won," he said as we started home.
"Like I said before, whatever."
"Just say it."
"Alright, marvelous one, you have won. Like anyone cares but you," I said sarcastically.
"Thank you. I'm glad we understand each other. Look at Feliya, she looks beautiful tonight."
"Yes, she does," I murmured. Feliya, was Lyonee's daughter, and guarded the night while her mother rested. Our world was named for her.
We were now half walking, and half stumbling down a steep hill. "Next time, we need to bring sleds," I remarked.
"You think? I rather enjoy falling down this hill," he said, laughing.

"Fine. I'll bring a sled, and I'll laugh when I make it to the bottom safe, and you have a cracked skull."
"Me, with a cracked skull? Considering how you managed your sled the last time we went sledding, it's you who should be worried about a cracked skull."
"I wasn't feeling well that day. Sides, if you hadn't dragged me to Gurk's Hill, and then pushed me in the path of that stream-,"
"But I saved you, didn't I?"
"Yeah, I suppose you did."
"It seems like we argue a lot, don't we?"
"I think we enjoy it," I grinned at him.
By now we were at my house, and Thomas reached over to open the gate for me. I walked through and closed the gate behind me.
"Same time tomorrow?" he asked.
"Sure, see you then?"
"Sounds good, talk to later then," and with that he walked off into the dark night.
A few minutes later, I was safe and warm in my room upstairs, and my parents not any wiser of anything that had happened. I undressed, and snuggled into my blankets in the "cave" that I slept in. Feliya, shining through my window, was the last thing I saw before closing my eyes to sleep.