Page 106 of Dustwalker

Lara had endured the cold and the wind all her life, but their bite had been diminished by the structures around Cheyenne, and the walls of her shack had provided much better shelter than this wide-open nothingness.

She pulled up the collar of the coat, clutching it around her neck to seal in some heat. Her fingers were going numb, and her cheeks and nose stung beneath her scarf, which she’d wrapped around her lower face. Her pack sagged heavily. She hopped to kick it up, grasping a strap with one hand to hold it in place.

Ronin’s tracks continued through the dirt ahead of her. She followed them, comforted by the crunching of his boots. Lifting her head to look at him would’ve exposed her to the frigid, dust-laden gusts.

“R-R-Ronin,” she called, chin quivering.

His steady stride stopped, and his boots shifted as he turned toward her. “What’s wrong?”

“F-Freezing.”

“We must keep moving, Lara. You’re only going to get colder if we stop.”

Shivering, she risked a glance at him. His mouth and nose were hidden behind his mask. She moved closer to seek the shelter of his body. “How m-much farther?”

“A long way.”

She could hear the frown in his tone. Eyes slitted against the wind, she watched him adjust his packs and shrug off one sleeve of his coat. He drew Lara against him, curling his arm around her shoulders and wrapping his coat around her. She huddled down, pressing her face to his side, and embraced him, letting his warmth suffuse her.

Lara’s eyes drifted shut, and she leaned against Ronin. Her legs were stiff and weak after miles of trekking through the Dust. If only she could sleep, just a little…

“Come on.” Ronin squeezed her arm and walked forward, forcing her to move her legs to keep close to his warmth. “This’ll be the hardest night, if we’re lucky.”

She knew he could go all night and through the next day without missing a step, knew she was just slowing him down. But she swallowed her guilt and focused on walking, on his warmth, on his scent, on the rustling of fabric as he moved. On anything but how cold and exhausted she was.

“Distract me, Ronin.”

“What kind of places would you like to see?”

“The ocean,” she replied without hesitation. “I saw a picture in one of the books in the attic.”

It had been such a beautiful, vivid blue.

Ronin stroked her arm with his thumb. “Pictures don’t do it justice. The waves are endless, always in motion, always changing, capable of both the most soothing gentleness and the most furious turbulence.”

He extended his free hand and swept it wide, indicating the entire horizon. “It’s so vast that you’d have to journey for weeks on its waters to reach the other side. Everything is so small compared to the oceans. Us, all our worries, our needs, our problems… It all seems insignificant in the face of something so massive.”

“Have you seen it? The other side?”

“If I have, I don’t remember. But I knowit’s there.”

Lara tipped her head back and peered up at him. “Is the water really that blue?”

“Sometimes. But the only blue seas that captivate me are your eyes, Lara. I could drift in them forever and be content.”

Warmth suffused her cheeks, chasing away some of the cold.

He smiled knowingly. “The ocean can also have shades of green or gray. I think in some places, it has no color at all, and it’s so clear you can see to the bottom.”

“I’d like to see all its colors.”

He rubbed his hand up and down her shoulder, generating additional warmth. “That’s no small desire.”

“We have the whole world ahead of us, don’t we?” She smirked at him, though he couldn’t see it through her scarf.

“All of it,” he agreed, facing forward again, “but I reserve the right not to take you to certain parts.”

“What parts?”