RTYY 234 - Arc 11 - Turbulent Emotions - The Hard Task of Having Fun

Arc 11 - Turbulent Emotions

"And then an orange pig with blue wings crossed the street and asked for a jar of beer at the closest tavern. Do you understand?" VinWei asked and Snow nodded, leaving an exasperated sigh on her lips. "That's it! I give up!"

Snow blinked at the sound of those ominous words and looked up. When had she drawn the map now occupying the entire crystal wall in front of him?

"You haven't listened to a single word I've said the entire morning!" she accused him and Snow couldn't help blushing guiltily.

"I'm sorry."

Sighing again, VinWei waved her hand and the map disappeared, the surface of the rocky wall regaining its rough, natural aspect.

"What is it? Did that idiot do something wrong? Did he hurt you? Did he try something shameful?" VinWei asked all in one breath, leaving Snow staring at her in confusion.

"Eh … no. He didn't do anything wrong," Snow finally managed to reply, but VinWei gave him a pitiful look and crossed the room to sit beside him. Taking a deep breath, she placed her hand on his and nodded in silent understanding.

"You know, you can talk to me, right? If he's not treating you right in any way I'll go there and beat some sense into him!"

Snow half-smiled at her statement and shook his head.

"He hasn't done anything wrong"

VinWei sighed yet again, obviously far from convinced, and leaned closer to him, to stare directly at his face.

"You can't let him take advantage of you, Snow. You hear me? Don't just let him do as he pleases. I know he can be too overwhelming, and that it can be hard to tell him no. Especially for you. But, on the other hand, deep down inside, ZaiWin is actually a good, honorable man. He is not the kind of person that would take advantage of another, or force his will upon another person. If you don't like the way he's behaving just tell him right to his face!"

Snow smiled and nodded. Clearly there was no point in trying to convince her that nothing like that had happened.

Gently patting his hand, VinWei stood up and stretched her arms.

"Since your mind is clearly elsewhere, we should probably reschedule our session."

"Reschedule?!" Snow repeated, eyes widening in panic, and she smiled back at him.

"You're probably still tired from yesterday's daitai training."

Snow's face immediately paled at the mention of that. Since he didn't know what ZaiWin had told them about that he simply chose to shut up.

"Just go and have some fun, for a change."

"But you said we'll be learning geography today," he contested and VinWei shrugged.

"There's always tomorrow. And when one's mind is otherwise engaged, there's no use trying to force it to pay attention to other matters. So just take the rest of the day off. Go and have some fun. Put your thoughts in order. We'll get back to studying tomorrow morning."

"But …"

"But nothing!" she quickly cut him off. "Be a good boy and just do as I say!"

Snow stared at her in disbelief. But VinWei, all imperial-like and commanding, simply pointed the doorway, almost as if she were throwing him out.

"Just go!"

Raising from his seat, Snow slowly made his way towards the door, all the way convinced that she would end up changing her mind. Which didn't happen, he realized once the bright light of the day washed over him, making him squint.

It was getting colder, he noticed, watching the way his breath transformed into small white clouds right in front of his nose. He wondered if it wouldn't actually snow, sometime soon. He missed and, at the same time loathed, seeing the entire world covered in a pure-white mantle.

Taking a deep breath, he looked right and left. Have fun. He mulled over those words. How was he supposed to do that? Well, he could go and check on how things were progressing, in the waterfall cave. VinWei had told him the day before that the men had somehow managed to implement a system that assured that the entire village would be easily supplied with fresh water on a daily basis. Would that count as having fun?, he wondered.

When watching children play, it was easy enough to see if they were having fun. Fun always meant laughter and happy faces. But what did grownups do to have fun in the middle of the day? If it were nightfall, they would probably head to the nearest tavern, to drink and share the events of a day's work. At least that's what he recalled seeing adults do, from when he was younger. But Snow's one and only experience with taverns hadn't been the best, not to mention that the village's tavern was closed during the day. So he really was out of ideas. Having fun was actually harder than it looked.

A group of young men passed by him, talking loudly and laughing between one another, arms wrapped around their friends' shoulders.

Snow stepped back to let them pass and watched them attentively.

The youngest of them was probably his age, and they did seem to be having fun, their rowdy warm voices echoing everywhere. And yet, no matter how much he watched them closely, he just couldn't figure out the reason behind their high spirits.

Suddenly, one of the older teens stopped and peered back at him, his smiling face bright under the cold sun.

"Hey! Aren't you the new kid? Snow, isn't it?"

The entire group stopped to look back at him, and Snow couldn't help feeling a bit intimidated, nodding embarrassedly.

"You know him?" another boy asked and the first one nodded, his smile widening.

"He was with Storm the other day, remember?" he asked, turning to another of his companions, who's eyes immediately widened in recognition.

"Oh, that's right. The kid that actually hit the center of the target twice in a row!" he declared and the others all looked at him with renewed admiration.

The first young-man that had talked laughed happily and quickly retraced his steps, placing a heavy arm around Snow's shoulders, which made him take a step back under the sudden weight. The older boy's body, now pressed against his, felt hot and sweaty, and a strange scent reached his nose. Not that he smelled bad or anything, Snow thought, cringing instinctively. It was just unfamiliar. And it made him feel trapped and smothered, wrapped in his embrace.

"Hey! No need to feel shy!" the young man told him with a wide grin. "We're all friends, here. And we were just about to organize a shooting competition. Want to join us?"

Snow looked up at him. He wanted him to remove that arm and take two steps back, away from him, that's what he wanted!, he thought. But then he looked at the others, all waiting for his reply. Well, he did enjoy his practices with the bow and arrow. And it had been a while, since he had last had the opportunity to hold a bow. And who knows? Maybe he would be able to learn a bit about that thing they called having fun.

A simple nod from him was enough to make everyone cheer happily, and then he was being dragged by that arm, towards the rest of the group.

"So your name is Snow, eh?" someone asked and Snow nodded. "I'm Lizard, you can call me Liz."

Snow nodded again, and his ears were quickly flooded by a torrent of names he had no way to memorize just like that.

It felt strange, being surrounded by apparently friendly people who were willing to openly disregard his strange appearance. All the boys had dark hair and dark eyes, their skin tanned from long hours under the sun, and so he really stood out, walking amongst them. Still, they all treated him as if he were one of their own, openly joking with him, freely touching him, making him feel inevitably awkward.

"You're really quiet, aren't you?" one of them pointed out and Snow simply averted his gaze, unwilling to reply to them in words.

"Leave him alone!" one of the others protested and slapped Snow hard on the back. "Don't mind him! He's always like this! Sticking his nose in everyone's business!"

Snow stumbled forward and they all laughed.

"And you're all brute force and no brains!" the first youth that had talked to him retorted, his arm still around his shoulder, helping him steady himself.

The feeling of that warm hand practically covering his entire shoulder was making him sick, Snow concluded, trying to breathe through his mouth. But, peering at the outgoing, smiling young man walking beside him he couldn't find anything that hinted, even remotely, towards any kind of ill intention. In fact, he had his other arm around another boy's shoulder and he was pretty much treating everyone the same. Which meant that Snow was the problem, and not him, Snow quickly concluded with a frown.

He had always wished he could have a normal life, surrounded by normal people. But now that he was being offered a small peek of what he'd always wished for, he couldn't help feeling uncomfortable. It was really depressing. It basically meant that, even if his wish were to come true, he'd never be able to really be like everyone else - easily laughing at the smallest joke, open and friendly to those around him.

And yet, he never felt like this when ZaiWin touched him, he considered, and his cheeks immediately blushed, his heartbeat speeding up. There he was, feeling all awkward because someone had placed an arm over his shoulders, when ZaiWin had literally licked and kissed more places than he could count. On the other hand, Snow still clearly recalled that, not so long ago, ZaiWin's touch had felt equally disgusting. Well, not disgusting, he considered. More like disturbing. In any case, did that mean that he had become so desensitized to ZaiWin's constant touching that he no longer cared? That didn't sound right either … It wasn't as if he had become insensitive to his touch, quite the contrary.

Before, Snow had been able to simply ignore it or brush it away under the pretense that touching was needed, in order to achieve his objectives. But now … now Snow was constantly aware of him, constantly aware of the places those warm hands touched, even when ZaiWin simply ruffled his hair. And since when had that kind of thing become common to the point that he easily accepted it without a second thought? It was almost as if it was natural that ZaiWin would touch him when and wherever he wanted, Snow frowned at the thought. It was almost as if his body really didn't belong to him anymore. And what was that with all the unnecessary kissing?! Not that it felt bad, Snow blushed at the thought. The way it always made his heart beat faster was actually very pleasing. But why did ZaiWin want to kiss him so much? He would have to put a stop to that, he decided with a frown.

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Ah, poor Snow's head. It's turning and turning and going back to the same place. I guess he's the kind that thinks too much. If he were to simply follow his feelings things would go a lot smoother. 😉

On another note, I'm really sorry I couldn't update yesterday. I'm on another of those devilish work trips and my mobile net wouldn't cooperate 😭 So today is yesterday's compensation. I'll upload another chapter tomorrow (hopefully). Thank you so much for all your support and for all the energy stones you guys constantly bestow on this novel 🥰️