#nelenus

Marth sighed.

“Marth? Are you in there?”

Caeda’s voice startled him for half a second. Rising to his feet, he made his way to the tent entrance, pulling the flaps back. Sure enough, there stood Caeda. Despite the smile on her face, her eyes looked as tired as Marth felt.

“What is it, Caeda?”

“I just wanted to check on you,” she replied. “It’s not like you to just wordlessly wander off to your tent like that.”

“Oh, uh… I’m sorry,” Marth said.

Caeda frowned.

“You don’t need to apologize,” she said. “I just wanted to know if there was anything wrong.”

“I’m alright,” Marth said. “I’m just tired.”

Caeda nodded, but her brow remained furrowed. The two of them fell silent for a minute.

Meanwhile, the snow continued to fall. As Caeda kept standing just outside the tent, getting slowly covered in snow, the tiredness in Marth’s eyes gave way to concern. He shifted uncomfortably on his feet.

“Caeda…”

Caeda brushed the snow out of her hair.  

“I’m fine,” she said. “The cold doesn’t really bother me.”

She cupped her hands, catching a tiny handful of snow.

“…Don’t you remember playing in the snow?”

Marth blinked. “Huh?”

“A few years after you came to Talys, it snowed one winter,” Caeda continued. “I think we had snow for almost a whole week. And it was the week of the winter festival too…”

Marth’s expression remained blank for a moment. As the memory started to come back to him, his face brightened. He smiled.

“Yes,” he said. “I think I remember now. We had a snowball fight in the courtyard…”

“Didn’t last long, sadly,” Caeda added.

Marth nodded, but didn’t say anything. There was a pause while Caeda stared wistfully off into space. The silence gave Marth a chance to think.

“Say, Caeda…”

“Yes?”

“Now that I think about it, this year’s winter festival isn’t too far away, is it?”

Caeda’s eyes went wide for a fraction of a second.

“It is…” she said. Another pause, then she added, “What of it?”

“Well…”

Clasping his hands behind his back, Marth tried to think of the words.

“I mean, this is just like that one winter,” he began. “Fresh snow, right before the festival… Perhaps we could take this one chance for a break… for old times’ sake?”

Caeda’s smiled. Seconds later, the smile gave way to a gentle laugh.

“Of course,” she said.

She started to reach for Marth’s hand, but caught herself. Her breath caught in her throat, and she looked anxiously up into Marth’s eyes. Somehow, he seemed to have not noticed. He just smiled at her and led the way out of the camp.

Nearly everyone else had either retired to their tents, or were still having dinner in the mess tent. No one noticed as Marth and Caeda left.

Taking care not to wander too far away from the camp, Marth brought them to a halt at the bottom of a nearby hill. Lights from the army’s lanterns were just tiny pinpricks at this distance. Over the course of their walk, the sun had sunk a little lower in the sky. They didn’t have much time before it became totally dark out.

Caeda slowed her pace until Marth got several steps ahead of her. He kept going, not quite noticing how far behind she was. Seconds later, he was in for a surprise.

A snowball struck him on the back of the head. The shock from the sudden cold on his head made him jump. His hand flew to cover the spot where he was hit. Behind him, Caeda tried and failed to stifle a giggle.

Marth spun around.

“Caeda!”

Caeda had already bent down and picked up another handful of snow. She slowly shaped it into a compact ball, smiling at Marth the whole time.

“All right then…” Marth muttered. He bent down and picked up a handful of snow himself, working it into a ball.

Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Caeda raise her arm, preparing to throw. Now that he was ready for her, Marth successfully dodged. Then he threw his own snowball. It hit Caeda squarely in the shoulder.

“Hey!” she protested.

The smile never disappeared from her face, however. She just reached down and grabbed more snow. Marth did the same. For several minutes, they ran all over the hillside, enjoying their snowball fight.

“Take this!” Caeda yelled, throwing a snowball. It found its mark just under Marth’s collarbone.

Marth hurled another snowball in response, this time hitting Caeda in the forehead. They both let out a surprised gasp. While she staggered for half a second, Marth ran to her side.

“I’m sorry!” he said. “Are you all right?”

Caeda’s muffled laugh said it all. Marth let out a sigh of relief.

“Your aim is remarkable,” she said. “Who knows; maybe you could teach the archers a thing or two.”

“Heh… I don’t think so.”

There was a pause. They each took a second to brush snow out of their clothes and hair. As Caeda lowered her arms to her sides, she looked up, and the two briefly locked gazes. Only then did she notice just how close to him she was standing.

She took a hesitant step backward.

“Thank you for this, Marth,” she said. “I… this was nice…”

Marth looked puzzled for a split second, but his expression quickly brightened again.

“We both needed this, I think,” he said. “After all the fighting… this was like revisiting the peaceful days on Talys.”

He glanced over Caeda’s shoulder, looking at the western horizon.

“However, it’s starting to get dark. We should head back to camp before Malledus and Jagen send out a search party for us.”

“All right.”

Caeda started moving first. But she had taken no more than two steps when she felt Marth’s hand brush against hers. She looked down at her hand.

It had not been an accident. Marth deliberately put his hand next to hers, but seemed hesitant to actually take her hand in his. Caeda hesitated as well, but after a few seconds of awkward waiting, she made up her mind.

She interlocked her fingers with his and began to take another couple of steps forward. Strangely, Marth did not follow, forcing her to stop again. She turned and gave him a quizzical look.

He was blushing.

“Marth?” Caeda said.

“What?”

The reaction was somewhat delayed, as if he were distracted. He covered his mouth and pretended to clear his throat, even though it was clearly too late to hide the blushing.

“Let’s go,” he said. Then, without waiting for Caeda’s reaction, he began walking briskly back to camp.

Bemused, Caeda ran to catch up to him.

“Marth…” she said.

Marth slowed his pace.

“Yes?”

“Could we…?”

She started to reach for his hand.

“Just until we reach the camp,” she said. “Please?”

“…All right.”

They interlocked their fingers a second time. But this time, they grasped each other’s hands properly, and, as Caeda asked, did not let go until they reached the camp.

In a time like this, it was all she felt she could ask for. Though it was the eve of the winter festival, all of Archanea was also embroiled in war. Only the gods knew if and when she and Marth would ever get another chance to enjoy an evening like this.