Sterling Forge's Arc

Chapter 15 of 31

The fire burned low near the cave mouth. Sterling fed it a strip of bark and watched the flame catch. Linny had pulled away from him in her sleep. Now she was awake, sitting against the far wall with her knees drawn up, the chipmunk tucked under her chin. Her jaw was shaking again. "Come back to the coat," he said. "I'm fine." "You're shivering." "I said I'm fine." He watched her. She would not look at him. The chipmunk's small ears twitched against her throat. Outside the storm pushed against the slope and the wind found a seam in the roots above them. "If you freeze," he said, "we don't cross the river." "Then I won't freeze." He set the blade down. "What is it." "Nothing." "It's the door. The hill." "No." "Then what." She lifted her head. Her eyes were wet and hard. "You still think it's stupid. Don't you." He opened his mouth. He closed it. He would not lie to her again. "Yes," he said. She nodded once, like she had known. "Then why did you come." "Because I care about you." "People who care support your dreams." Her voice cracked and steadied. "They don't follow you into the woods to prove you wrong." "Like you supported mine." She went still. The chipmunk froze against her neck. "You laughed," he said. "When I showed you the first sketch. You said a spoon-maker had no business drawing swords." "I didn't mean it. I wanted to hurt you the way you had me.” "And you did." She looked at the fire. He watched her throat move. He had wanted to hurt her and he had. It gave him nothing. "We both did," she said. "Yes." "How do we come back from that." He thought. The wind cut. The fire leaned. "By believing in each other more than the doubt," he said. "Mine in you. Yours in me. Even when it looks stupid from the outside." "That's a lot to ask." "I know." She pulled her knees tighter. "What’s the point? What if all were good at is hurting each other." "The point is I love you," he said. "Hurt me again and again, and it won’t matter. I will never stop loving you, Lin." She did not answer for a long time, though tears filled her eyes. The chipmunk crept from her collar and crossed the packed floor to him. Its snow-dusted tail brushed his knee. It sat on his boot and waited. Linny stood up. She crossed the three steps between them and sat down inside his coat. Her back against his chest. Her hands cold on his wrist. "I don't forgive you yet," she said. "I know." "But I'm cold." He pulled the coat tight around her. The chipmunk climbed into her lap. Sterling took up the blade again and set it across both their knees, and outside the storm began to thin. Still, he held her tighter. Tighter than he ever had.