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This time, when he took aim, I used it as a chance to admire him. Talin looked like a natural with his gun. His stance was open and proud, his arm straight out, and his gun didn't waver the way mine did. He took his time, getting a feel for the new weapon, but when he finally pulled the trigger, his aim was no better than mine.
"Off to the left," he said, bending to reload both guns again. "And so you know, these are meant to be the last line of defense. If we ever end up in a situation, we willnotget time to reload, and shooting a man almost always kills him."
"Sometimes slowly," I said, proving I'd learned that for my paper. "Yeah, I read that the balls cause a lot of damage if they get inside the body."
"But," he said, "after that crap the High Priest pulled after your Choosing? Let's just say that I'd rather have these and not need them than wish that we'd had a better weapon."
"Backup plan," I agreed. "Gotcha." Then I flashed him a smile. "And it doesn't hurt that this is kinda fun, does it?"
"Not at all," he agreed. "I bet I hit my stick before you hit yours."
"Oh yeah?" I held out my hand, demanding my gun. "And what do I get if I win?"
"I dunno, Nari, what would you desire?" he teased, slapping the hilt against my palm.
I lined up my shot. "I want to make a snowman."
And then I pulled the trigger. This time, the stick jerked back and a chunk flew off the tip before the snow behind it shifted down the hill. For a moment, both of us just stared, and then Talin whooped loudly in excitement.
"You did it!" he bellowed. "How?"
"I didn't really think about aiming. More like pointing."
So he tried. His shot was close enough to scrape a chunk of bark off the side, which counted as a win to me. When he pulled my pistol from my hand and shoved it beside his in his coat pocket, I realized that he did too. Then he grabbed my shoulders to spin me around, guiding me to a patch of pristine now.
"Know how to make a snowman?" he asked.
"Not at all," I admitted. "Growing up, the animals walked any snow into mud around the house, and I was too young to go far enough away to try." I bobbed my head in a reluctant admission. "And I didn't own a coat or good shoes."
"That would make it harder," he agreed. "Well, it all starts with a handful of snow. Squeeze it hard, making a ball, and then we'll make it bigger."
Slowly, that one small handful of snow turned into an orb too big for me to get my arms around. Only then did Talin declare it good enough for the base. Then we did it again. This one was smaller, and when he called it good, he had to work to lift it onto the first. While I worked on making the last ball for the head, he made his way back to the tree to dig around beneath it.
I'd just put the head at the top and stepped back to observe my sad and pathetic-looking snowman when Talin rammed a stick into the side of the chest ball. Leaving it there, he moved to the other side and did it again, giving the snowman a pair of arms. Now it was starting to look the way I'd always imagined.
"Come help me with the face," he said, offering a handful of something.
It ended up being bits of sticks and bark. I used the biggest chunks for eyes, and a funny-looking knotted piece became the nose. Then, bits of sticks were pressed into a line to make a smile, but the poor thing's face looked like some forlorn hag. I still loved it.
"That," I said, wrapping my arms around his waist to admire our creation, "makes this entire vacation worth it."
He gasped in pretend-horror. "You mean spending all this time alone with me hasn't been worth it?"
"You, yes. Your family?"
"Is crazy," he finished for me. "And now you see why I stayed in that inn."
"Don't lie," I teased. "You were just looking for women of loose morals to throw into your bed, weren't ya?"
"Mhm," he agreed, pulling me up against his chest. "Didn't know it at the time, but that was definitely it." And he bent to kiss my lips.
His nose was cold against my cheek. His lips weren't much better, but there was something about being alone, surrounded by nothing but snow, that made this moment feel almost magical. I leaned into him, aware of the lump of pistols between us, but that was ok. There was no way I'd take off either of our coats out here.
But Talin pulled away too soon. "Are you shivering yet?"
"No," I said sheepishly.
"Lying?" he asked, trying to find the loophole in my answer.
