Chapter 21: Feisty girl Rena
They made their way through the village streets in comfortable silence, their footsteps echoing off the stone walls of houses where families slept peacefully behind barred doors.
The mountain’s cold air was crisp and clean, carrying the scents of pine and distant snow that was piling even more as the winter days passed.
Above them, the stars wheeled in their eternal dance, indifferent to the small dramas playing out in the valley below.
It was only when they reached the outskirts of the village, where the path to Rena’s family compound branched off from the main thoroughfare, that she finally broke the silence that had stretched between them.
"You’ve been avoiding me," she said, her voice carrying a note of accusation that cut through the night air like a blade.
"No, I didn’t. I just mind my business."
"Are you angry at me?"
"No, why would I be?"
"Then why are you not talking to me?"
Jaenor paused, considering his response carefully. "Things have been... nice; I like the way things are now."
"Because of my mother." It wasn’t a question.
He turned to face her fully, seeing the way the moonlight caught the auburn highlights in her hair and cast shadows beneath her cheekbones.