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“I can see in the dark, Sol.” I stripped my wet things from my skin and laid my pants out to dry, then found a clean pair of undergarments to pull on and a dry shirt. Thank the Goddess, our packs hadn’t leaked like my bed roll. “Could you pass me the second blanket?”
“No.”
“No?” I asked.
“You’ll freeze down there. Come and get in.”
“I’ll be fine on the floor. Just pass me a blanket,” I insisted.
“No.”
“Do you want me to freeze?”
“If you’re going to be stubborn about it, maybe.”
I pulled out her bedroll to see if that had faired any better but they were both sodden.
Reluctantly, I accepted I’d be cold, and I tried to bed down in the nonexistent floorspace. I attempted a couple of different angles of approach, but the space was so tight, and I was so bulky, it was nearly impossible to wedge myself in. I finally grabbed hold of the bedpost and lowered myself slowly. I shuffled down until I was sitting with my back against the freezing wall and found Zaria staring in the dark.
“Are you kidding me?” she asked.
“I’m fine.”
“Get up here,”she demanded.
“Sol…”
“If you don’t come up here, I’m coming down there to sit on the floor next to you.”
“You’ll freeze.”
She moved to climb out of the bed, and I relented. “Okay, okay.” I got to my feet.“Fine. You win.”
She scooted over to make room, and I climbed in gingerly, staying as far on the edge as I could. The blankets were barely big enough, and she edged closer so they would cover us both.
I was hardly breathing; I didn’t understand how she was so relaxed. Silence stretched between us, and I’d never been so aware of every part of myself. I was never going to sleep.
“What was it you liked to say to me? Your thoughts are loud,” Zaria said in the darkness.
“I’m not thinking anything.” I huffed. And I wasn’t. In fact, I was working extremely hard on not thinking. About anything.
“Exactly. The silence is deafening.” She chuckled.
“We are meant to be sleeping, Sol.”
“Are you that tired?” Her tone was amused, and it was infuriating.
“Exhausted.”
“Goodnight, then,” she said softly.
“Goodnight,” I replied.
Then I waited and prayed to the Goddess to hear her breathing even out into the soft sounds of sleep.
Instead, I heard shivering. I tried to ignore it, wait it out, but it only worsened. She huddled down under the covers more, but still, she shivered. I couldn’t just listen to her freeze. It was going to kill me, but I had to warm her up.
I reached out and pulled her body to mine. She shuddered in my arms, and I realized it was more than a light chill. She was cold to her core. I wrapped myself around her and tried to rub some warmth into her skin, and she snuggled into my chest as close as she could get.
