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“Really, Lina? You’re just going to help yourself to my stash without offering to share?”
“Sorry?” I smiled, and handed him the flask.
“No, you’re not.” He took a swig.
He shook the canteen and tilted his head before handing it back.
“I always forget how strong you are. This was full this morning. Even half empty, it still weighs more than you.”
“Indeed. It is one of life’s great mysteries. Like how the bumblebee can fly or how ants can lift far, far more than their bodies should allow,” I said, before taking another long drink.
He snorted.
“Ah, yes… you are shrouded in mystery.” He laughed, then. “I’m not sure how I could forget the way you snuck bottles of wine from your mother’s pantry that were easily five times your size, bottles we weren’t even supposed to know were there. You just carried them around like it was nothing.”
“Hey, you helped.”
“I would never steal.” He feigned innocence, and I flicked his ear. “But also, it would have been irresponsible to let you drink it all by yourself.”
Edrich laughed again, and somehow the sound made me homesick. It reminded me of a different version of him. A younger, and less burdened version of him.
“I like when you laugh. You seem more likeyouwhen you do.”
I felt his body tense as he let out a small snort, but said nothing in response.
The more whiskey I drank, the less I noticed the agitation in my body and soul. Propping my back up against his neck, I stretched out my legs over his shoulder and watched the trees go by in a blur of colors.
“If we are going to continue to be silent, at least the views aren’t bad.”
“Which view are you talking about, Lina? The back of my head? Or the dark and depressing forest we’re hiking through?”
I giggled, the whiskey making me feel a little light-headed.
“I was talking about the forest. It may be dark, but look at the way the mushrooms on the trees glow, or the way the small rays of light reflect off of the white leaves, making them look like giant snowflakes. This place is beautiful, Edrich. I wish you could see that.”
He chuckled and shook his head.
“But,” I added, after a moment, “you’re not half bad to look at, either.”
Edrich cleared his throat uncomfortably.
“How much of that bourbon have you had?”
I handed him the empty flask, and he groaned.
“Curses, Lina! That stuff is potent.”
“I know.” I responded with a giggle. “It did the trick quite nicely.”
22
Edrich
As the medicine on my shoulder wore off, the pain gradually returned. It wasn’t as sharp as before, though, just a steady ache that throbbed with each step.
Fortunately, Lina was providing quite a distraction from that.
She sat cross-legged on my good shoulder now, her head in her hands, gazing up at me with what might have been amusement. I wasn’t sure. It was hard to read her colors when she was flashing through them fast enough to give me a seizure. Most of them I recognized, but a few had surprised me lately.
