Chapter 262 - 260: In The Snowy Night.

Chapter 262: Chapter 260: In The Snowy Night.

Binny doesn’t come to this place every night.

He’s still a servant when it comes down to it, and he has servant things he’s supposed to be doing, but he comes when he can, and every night Vogrid is there.

And while he’s just working the evening away the way he always does; stringing each arrow and letting it fly on beat each time, when Binny drops down from the balcony, he somehow gets the uncanny feeling that he’s been waiting for him.

​It’s still a little surreal, being able to stand beside him the way he used to all those years ago.

They don’t speak, because while Binny used to natter the night away, even with Vector’s knife safely tucked back against his skin where it’s always belonged, it still doesn’t feel like that’s a bridge he can cross yet.

The line between Lord Vogrid and Vector may be thinner than it’s been in a long time, but it’s still there.

​Tonight is even colder than the last, and Vogrid finishes up earlier than usual. Binny’s grateful because the cold air makes pulling arrows quite the hassle, and he’s made the aches in his arms from sparring with the soldiers even worse by...well, showing off.

​Knives have always been his forte, after all. And it wouldn’t do to let Vector think he’d been slacking off.

There are plenty of unassuming targets in the courtyard after all –boughs, sacks, old equipment sunk into disuse.

Some have been there for years, and even still have little knicks in them from the last time one of his throws made its mark.

So Binny had tossed his knife around the courtyard while he wasn’t needed, and while the sound of the blade schink -ing into whatever it is he’s targeting had made Vogrid’s eyebrow twitch, his rhythm never falters.

​"Behind you." The words had come out of nowhere. " Wheel ."

​Without missing a beat, Binny had spun, and the knife had glinted in the moonlight as it had gone hurtling towards the last remaining wheel of the old wagon that had been left there to sink into ruin.

Vogrid’s arrow hits it’s mark and his rhythm breaks long enough for green eyes to flick in his direction.

​"...You missed."

​On the contrary, Binny’s shot had been perfect. It’s just that it had sailed harmlessly through the dead centre of the hub.

​"Ah Vector," Binny chuckles once he’s retrieved his knife, "You didn’t say which part of the wheel." Vogrid had just adjusted his glasses, and in the moments before he turned away, Binny had caught the way the corners of his mouth start to lift, just so.

​" Hmph ," he’d snorted, turning back to ready another arrow.

"I’ll make sure to be more specific, then."

​It’s a game they used to play when they were young, and one that Binny’s eyes were well suited to.

If could Vector could see a target to designate it, then there was no way Binny wouldn’t be able to find it.

Hitting it was another thing, but he was a creative kind of guy.

​Most people assumed that Vogrid trained alone because that was the way he liked it. But he’d never sent Binny away.

​It’s exhausting work though, and when Vogrid sinks down on the concrete bench under the shell of the cherry blossom tree, and leaves the space next to him open, Binny takes it as an invitation to join him.

​This is new. Vogrid never hangs around after he’s decided he’s done for the day. Usually the arrows go back in the quiver, and it’s goodnight, Binny , and then they part ways like they’d never been here.

​A few seasons have passed since they last sat here like this.

​Binny swings his legs and looks up at the empty boughs above them; sleeping through the winter and biding time until spring when the cherry blossoms wake pink and soft.

He wonders if Vogrid ever sat here alone under them, and thought about those days gone by.

​A snowflake lands on his cheek. Binny blinks.

​"Ah, it’s snowing," he states, gazing up at the grey clouds swirling above, "...We should head in before it gets bad." The snow won’t be good for his bow.

Vector had always been quite particular about his bow.

​"...In a minute," Vogrid tells him quietly, and he must know that Binny catches the way his eyes drifting his way, and linger.

And while it’s cold enough out that Binny can see his breath, he feels strangely warm.

​He supposes it makes sense.

​"Right you are, Vector~"

​No matter the season, when the green of Vogrid’s eyes are on him, it’s always felt like summer.

...

These days, Khobi often dreams of home. Or at least, of the home he once knew; of the castle, and their city, and the mountains surrounding.

Sometimes it’s summer, sometimes it’s winter, and sometimes it’s in between, when the trees and the mountainsides are full of colour.

​It’s probably different now, but it’s nice to remember.

​In his uncle’s castle there were entire rooms of enormous stone baths built into the floor.

They were fed by hot springs in the mountain and warm year round.

They had always been just slightly too hot for him as a child, but it had been one of the best ways to escape from the brutal cold that plagued the mountainside in winter.

​He knows he’s dreaming because he has to be to be back there, but the warmth of the stones underfoot feels so real, and the steam filling the room feels just as he remembers it.

As a kid it had been stifling –too damp, and too hot, but his younger self hadn’t yet seen just how hard winter could bite.

After all the years spent in the cold this sort of heat feels just right, and Khobi breathes deeply, letting the hot air fill his lungs and bead sweat on his bare skin.

​Once upon a time he could never have dreamed of this place.

There was only so much cold a man could bear before he forgot what it felt like to be warm.

​He’d glad he can dream of it, now.

​Barefoot and bare chested, Khobi pads across to the shutters and pushes them open.

Steam billows out and cool air gushes in, catching on the naked skin of his face and chest.

It tastes like winter, and when he gazes upon the moonlit mountainside, it’s blanketed in white.

From in here, where it’s warm and safe, it looks really beautiful, particularly with the stars out like this.