I spent the next two hours stripping bark and mashing the roots of the grasses I had gathered. It was tedious, and the results were pitiful. I added some lichen from the rocks around the cave, it added a bit more bulk, but it was still almost nothing.

Half a clam had given me no energy.

None. And the entire day before? We had been starving.

I was shaking. My mind kept drifting away.

At times, I just… stopped moving altogether, staring blankly, because I knew there was no point in working at this halfhearted pace.

This was what my attempt at preparing food had become—

A few minutes of effort.

A few minutes of stillness.

On and on.

Two hours passed, or so I thought.

And still…

Winter hadn’t come back.

What was going on?

He should have returned by now. Even though it was midday, it was freezing.

The sun was arctic, shining, but offering no warmth.

My anxiety kept growing. There were moments when I felt like I was losing consciousness from being overwhelmed with fear and worry. Hunger no longer bothered me so much; my body had switched into some strange mode where hunger had receded from the forefront of my awareness to the background, like a dull toothache.

I finally finished making the mush. This time, it turned out more like little rolls, or rather, something that couldn’t exactly be called a roll; more like a kind of mushy polenta. But Winter still wasn’t back. It was too strange, too suspicious.

I looked at my leg. On some strange impulse, I grabbed the cables that were supporting it and started untying them. I had to test what I suspected, what I had hoped for. I untied it, tossed the sticks aside, and slowly, using the wall for support, I managed to stand up. My head spun, and I didn’t know if it was from hunger or emotion, but I struggled to steady myself.

I tried to stand on that leg more firmly and, to my surprise, I didn’t feel any pain!

How could that be?

Had we been here eight or nine days? There was no way the leg could have healed that quickly for me not to feel any pain. So was my hunch true? Did the Joining with my True Mate heal me, like it was supposed to?

Shooing away my euphoric reaction to this idea wasn’t easy. But I had the feeling I shouldn’t dwell on it too much, as if every thought cost me precious calories.

I looked down the canyon. It bent slightly, and I couldn’t see the beach.

Muttering under my breath, I hesitated. Winter shouldn’t have gone to the water. I should have been the one there. Over the last few days, I had conserved my energy a bit more by staying in the cave, leaving me with a little more strength than him. He had spent hours in harsh conditions. Naturally, he was the one more exhausted.

I dressed and wrapped myself in my blankets. For the first time in a week, putting on shoes felt strange. I left the cave but hesitated, remembering the polenta. I knew I would need at least a bit of strength, so I ate half of it, left the other half on a small stone I took with me, and tucked the smallest bottle of mineral water into my jacket pocket. I headed out, following the stream toward the beach.

My heart raced. I wasn’t sure if it was from the effort or the emotions and fear. After a short while, behind the bend of the canyon, the beach came into view. Immediately, something caught my eye, and my heart clenched. It was Winter…

Oh my God, that sight broke my heart. Poor Winter…

He was curled up on the sand, soaking wet, with the seawater lapping at half of his body. Had he fallen into the water? Had a wave knocked him over?

I was almost in shock seeing him like this—realizing that lying in the water for even an hour, even just half his body submerged, almost certainly meant hypothermia.

Shaking with terror, I ran to him, praying he was still alive. As I reached him and bent over, I saw he was deathly pale, but I had the feeling he was still breathing.

Or maybe that was just hope?

Then it occurred to me that Winter couldn’t be dead, because if he were, I would be dead too. Yes, that conclusion might sound strange, like it belonged to a delirious, hallucinating mind suffering from exhaustion and hunger, but somehow the thought seemed convincing.

Why was my leg healed? It could only mean one thing: Winter and I were… True Mates.

My pulse sped up again. My mate, my treasure, my perfect, beautiful elf, alone here, left to the mercy of the elements. Tears ran down my cheeks, and my heart squeezed as I grabbed Winter under his arms and pulled him away from the water, immediately throwing off my blankets and wrapping him in them, setting aside his own drenched ones.

"Winter, Winter, open your eyes, please, wake up."

Cradling him in my arms, I begged him, but he didn’t respond. I realized I had to do something. This time I grabbed him by the shoulders. He felt so stiff and heavy. Was he always this heavy, or was I just weak? But I had the strength of an alpha, so it should’ve been easy. Still, the exhaustion was wearing me down, probably canceling out most of what my nature had given me. But it was enough to drag Winter to the stream’s mouth. He needed to warm up, but the water in the lower part was only lukewarm, so I had to pull him further in.

I took off my shoes and rolled up my pants, having a strange premonition that I would need dry clothes. I dragged Winter’s body further and further up the stream until I found a spot warm enough to make a difference. I laid him there, his head resting on the bank, waiting for him to recover a bit.

I pulled a stone out of my pocket, with the mush stuck to it. It had deformed a little, but I tore off a piece and forced Winter’s mouth open.

"Eat. You have to eat, Winter, you have to eat," I repeated. The warm water seemed to have some effect. He shifted slightly, and his eyelids fluttered.

I slid my finger into his mouth, knowing the body had natural mechanisms for waking up. When I touched his throat, he coughed lightly, and then his eyes opened.

They were dazed, almost delirious.

"Sariel?" he mumbled, his voice hoarse and weak.

"Eat. Open your mouth and eat, Winter."

I tore off pieces of the mush and pushed them into his mouth. I knew that, calorie-wise, it wasn’t much, but it was something. Even a few of them were better than nothing. Winter slowly chewed, struggling to swallow. I pulled the water bottle from my other pocket and gave him some to help.

"Why didn’t you come back, Winter? This is madness. You could’ve died out there, frozen. I think you were already starting to go into hypothermia."

Winter’s white lashes trembled slightly. "I didn’t find anything, Sariel. I was so ashamed… so ashamed… that I let you down."

Tears filled my eyes.

"Let me down?! What the hell are you talking about, Winter? You didn’t create this island. You didn’t make it so there were no clams. You didn’t control the seasons, and you didn’t bring January to this part of the hemisphere. And, most of all, you didn’t cause the plane crash. How can you say you let me down? Winter!"

His eyes, pale and hazy, were locked on me. Then he whispered, "But it was me who decided to take you to Japan, instead of Werner."

"Werner couldn’t anyway—"

"He could. But I wanted to go with you." His words hung in the air, almost sounding like a confession. I stared at him for a moment, trying to process them.

"Why?" I whispered.

"Because something kept pulling me toward you, and I just couldn't resist. I wanted you there. I hoped… maybe it would bring us closer."

I let out a breath, closing my eyes.

"Winter… I was happy you chose me. And I agreed! I'm here as a consequence of that. And you know… I wanted the same thing, to be with you more ."

I opened my eyes and met his gaze.

"I loved being with you, even when you hated me. I searched for your closeness… despite it seeming illogical."

Winter chuckled weakly, his chapped lips quivering.

"It was the same with me. I found ways to meet with you, and those ‘accidental’ meetings were rarely accidental. And, to set the record straight, I’ve never hated you, Sariel."

His breath was shaky, shallow, but he added, "I was drawn to you from the day you entered my office."

We were both silent for a strange, sweet moment.

Then I slowly leaned in and kissed his dry lips, whispering against them,

"Winter… For the past few days, you've been pushing yourself to find at least one clam or shellfish for me. Spending hours searching, not giving up, even though you're freezing. How can you say you've let me down? You are my hero, Winter, my love."

I realized that I had unconsciously said those words out loud. Winter’s closed eyes opened, and our gazes met. A silence fell.

"Winter," I whispered, quickly changing the subject. "I want us to survive so badly, because I want to be with you… where life is so much easier and where we can just… enjoy each other. Love each other… be with each other…" I whispered it, feeling a bit foolish. It was definitely not the place for such a confession.

But, paradoxically, my words seemed to make some kind of change. A spark appeared in Winter. Slowly, he raised his hand and touched my cheek.

"Sariel, I also want us to survive and try it all, where… life is easier," he whispered.

I leaned down and kissed his lips again. They were always so beautiful, but now they were so dry; the icy wind had damaged them.

"And now we have to somehow get back to the cave. You need to warm up properly there."

Without waiting for his answer, I stood up and helped him to his feet. He wobbled, but I supported him with my shoulder, and we walked like that.

It took a lot of effort, but eventually, we somehow made it.

In the cave, I stripped Winter of his clothes and put him in the hot water. I also started a fire and spread our clothes over the branches above it.

I rummaged through all our things and found two last mints, I took one for myself and gave him the other.

Then I undressed myself and dipped into the water to warm up a little, but I knew I couldn’t stay there for long. Everything now depended on the little strength I had left.

We sat in the water for about half an hour. Winter had his eyes closed, and his head rested on the stream's edge. But I knew I had to get him out, or he might not have enough strength to pull himself from the hot water. I basically carried him to shore, dried him off with one of the blankets, and laid him on the mattress.

His eyes were still closed, and when I saw his naked body, I realized just how terribly thin he was—even thinner than I was! Now, the small difference between us could make the difference between life and death…

I covered him up tightly, took two bottles of mineral water, and added some chopped lichen to make a sort of smoothie. Then I said,

"Winter, I'm going to look for food. I'll be back by evening, whether I find anything or not."

I didn’t know if he heard me; I had the feeling he wasn’t fully conscious.

That little bit of polenta couldn’t satisfy his hunger, it couldn’t restore his strength. The only thing that could was more clams or mussels, they were a good source of protein.

Wrapping myself tightly in blankets, I left the cave again.

The fire was barely smoldering, and Winter's clothes hung over it, but I doubted they would dry.

As I exited the cave, I looked around. I knew I had little chance, but I had to try. Searching the mouth of this tiny stream again wasn’t going to yield any good results.

So I narrowed my eyes, considering my options, then I noticed that the cove we were in ended in a small rocky peninsula. What was beyond it? Probably the other side of the island, but the problem was that to get there, I’d have to climb over a steep, rocky slope, which naturally acted as a barrier between the two halves of the island.

I vaguely remembered Winter mentioning that reaching the more remote parts of the island was difficult. Some cliffs hid the other side. But difficult didn’t mean impossible.

Walking at a steady pace, I set off in that direction. Fortunately, it was sunny and not too windy, though the temperature still hovered around freezing. I moved with determination, hoping to reach the unexplored part of the island before sunset. As I followed the shoreline, I kept an eye out for clams but didn’t spot any.

Every once in a while, I found empty shells. There were more around the cape, but all of them were empty. It seemed the mussels lived deeper in the water, and only storm waves pushed their shells to the shore.

I reached the rocky part of the peninsula. Climbing was risky since some of the stones were icy, but I noticed a few bird nests. I was curious about them, but they were empty, perhaps it wasn’t the breeding season.

Feeling disappointed, I pushed on.

Eventually, I managed to climb to the top of the rocky promontory and saw a general view of the other side of the coast with a few smaller coves. I gritted my teeth and carefully descended from the ridge.

I had to be very careful not to slip, because this side was icier, and there was snow in the crevices.

Finally, I reached the beach below and continued on toward the other side of the island. I was exhausted, stopping occasionally to drink, picking pieces of lichen from the rocks to eat.

But I stubbornly continued my journey, crossing one cove and then another. I knew there was only one more left, separated from the rest by a tiny point. Farther inland, I could see some cliffs, but the beach was wide enough that I didn’t have to climb them; I could walk beneath them.

When I emerged from behind a small gravel mound in the middle of the point, I blinked in surprise.

I realized this cove was the mouth of a small river or perhaps a wetland. It was a fairly wide valley with a flat bottom. Its slopes were covered in snow only at the top; below, the grass and shrubs were… still green.

The water spread out widely here, forming what looked like a series of small lakes and ponds. I stared at it, confused, until I noticed—above the water's surface, in some places, there was a faint mist rising. Could it be that this was the mouth of a second stream, a warm spring that, instead of flowing into the ocean, first created a large wetland?

I swallowed, because this gave me new hope.

At a decent pace, I descended the gravel mound and moved toward the small ponds branching off from the main stream, though still connected. Not wanting to get wet, I took off my shoes and quickly tucked them under my arms.

Carefully, I tested the water with my foot, and it turned out to be lukewarm in some places, even warm in spots!

The ponds were surrounded by cattails, which made me happy, Uncle Victor once told me their roots could be eaten raw or boiled.

But that wasn’t all. I bent down because something slipped away from under my feet. Was it a small fish or maybe a shrimp? On the bottom, a little deeper, I saw some seaweed.

I looked around, stunned.

Was the temperature of the water creating a microclimate here?

The shock was overwhelming. I approached the second pond, waded into the shallow water, and stood on something. I bent down… Clams! My heart started racing.

Invigorated, I began wading through the marsh, and… holy shit! There were so many mussels here. I was stepping on them, guessing that the pond was occasionally filled by seawater during high tides. Waves must have brought the aquatic organisms here, where the warm water provided a stable living environment, and there were definitely more plankton and bacteria floating around in the water for them to feed on.

Feeling my heart pounding, I pulled up several mussels. I knew I could eat them without guilt because there were so many, even just in this one pond. So I swallowed a few on the spot. Gradually, I moved toward the others. Everywhere I looked, I saw mussels, and in some of the larger ponds, I even saw something resembling large shrimp. Some creatures quickly slipped away from under my feet, but after a moment, I caught two. In other ponds, and there were probably about twenty, I even saw small fish. My heart nearly burst with joy.

"Winter," I whispered, "Winter, we’re saved!"

I tied one corner of the blanket with the headphone cord, creating a sort of backpack, and loaded it with mussels. I also grabbed some shrimp and even managed to catch two small fish.

Wading, I was also intrigued by the green seaweed; I recognized it as being used in Asian cuisine. I took some and stuffed them into my bag, along with a few cattail roots.

I also examined the stream that fed the ponds.

It, too, had small organisms swirling in it, similar to shrimp. It was like fucking heaven! Why the fuck had we landed on the bad side of the island, when this was here the whole time, waiting!

With my heart racing, I moved a little further upstream and realized that this creek must also have originated from somewhere in a volcanic area, though probably a little farther from the volcano. Possibly, part of its water was also supplied by the melting snow from the volcano’s caldera, because it wasn’t as hot as the other one. The water was just warm.

Then I heard a croak above me and saw a flock of birds flying overhead, some of them settling on one of the cliffs.

For a moment, I wondered if, since there were birds here, they might be feeding on the aquatic life forms from these ponds.

I moved away from the stream and headed toward the cliff.

From one side, the approach to it was fairly gentle, so I decided to take the risk. Soon enough, my intuition proved right.

I spotted several nests, almost all were empty, except for a few that had eggs in them. My heart raced, perhaps some of these birds, taking advantage of the climatic anomaly here, had decided to lay their eggs early?

I had no idea, and I preferred not to delve into it. I reached for the eggs, knowing it would be a bit tricky to carry them back, so I cracked a few open and drank them down. Oh, it was such a wonderful feeling! I knew that eggs were very nourishing, full of fats. I carefully put as many as I could into my makeshift backpack, arranging them on clumps of seaweed, hoping that they wouldn’t get crushed.

I climbed a little higher because I noticed there were nests at the upper part of the cliff, too. A few birds flew off with the flapping of wings when they saw me.

Was I being greedy? Maybe I shouldn’t have pushed my luck, but those eggs were tempting.

So I climbed even higher and turned slightly toward the place where the snowy peak of the cliff ended. I had seen a few birds there earlier, and it was possible there were nests. I moved to the edge and peered down…

In that moment, I felt the ground slip away from beneath my feet.

I turned just in time to save my backpack from being crushed. I fell onto my stomach, but I started to slide. Desperately, I tried to grip the icy, rocky slope with my hands, but it was no use. I slid faster and faster, gaining speed. Finally, with all my strength, I managed to grab hold of a rock. I felt my legs dangling over the edge of the cliff.

I cursed. My fingers weren’t securely gripping anything, and I kicked my legs in desperation. Finally, I found a rocky ledge below me. I was able to stand on it, more or less steadily. I let out a breath, feeling waves of stress wash through my body. Luckily, my backpack had remained attached to my back the entire time, but it was also the reason I lost my balance in the first place, it had pulled me downward, causing me to lose my footing.

With my heart pounding, I remained there for a moment, pressed against the cliff wall. It was a small ledge, and only when I started to calm down a bit did I dare to look around. I nearly stopped breathing when I saw that I was on a large overhang. Below me, there was at least a seventy-five-foot drop. This wasn’t a height from which I could survive in one piece.

Moreover, there were jagged rocks below. The only option was to pull myself back up, but the place where I was had almost flat stones, forming a very steep wall. I tried to wedge my fingers into the cracks, but they were too narrow, and some of them were icy and slippery.

For nearly half an hour, I tried every way I could to pull myself higher, to climb, shift sideways, or even jump a little, but nothing worked. With each passing minute, and with the sun lowering on the horizon, I began to realize that I had made a huge mistake. I was paying for my greed.

There was no way Winter could come to help me. There was no way I could jump.

Had I survived starvation just to freeze here on a rock ledge, dying on the face of this lonely cliff?