The roars of the wind and water were deafening but she felt like sleeping. She tried to control her direction but to no avail.
“Sister! Catch my hand! I got you! Hold on to me! I can’t control where the water and the storm drags us if I hold you!”
The water was freezing. The wind was colder! She was too weak and too scared to think straight. She was going to die there. He managed to grab her belt and pull her, he put one of her arms around his neck. She tried to listen to him but she had no strength left.
“I can’t! Just go! I can’t hold!”
“Hold on to me, Ninde!!”
***
“Where did you get this??”
“I bought it!”
“From who?! No one would sell the little that they still have!”
“I bought it! I left for it the locket mother gave me when I first shot a bird with my arrow! It worth more than this!”
“That’s not buying it, Nasse!”
She turned her back to him, crying! His hair, pale gold over silver just like her own, mixed with her own as he took her in his arms.
“Don’t cry! We’ll make it! Eat! You’re more thin than a tree branch!”
***
He was still Tyeplenasse, "Silver Thorn", to his people. He changed from the boy that picked a fight with everybody for everything, winning himself this nickname in the process. He was now more balanced in his ways and less desperate.. but the nickname remained. His face was thin and his eyes sharp, piercing, light grayish blue and he still looked like ready to pick a fight at any given moment. He was bold, suborn, good with his bow and merciless with any blade. Mother did not survive the road. Father was so lost in his grief that he closed himself is a shell of silence and revelry. He probably blamed Telpenasse for it all, even though he was just a boy. Maybe because Nasse was the most enthusiastic to see the big world and was the least repentent. It was not fair of his father to do so, blaming him! It was their decision, taken together, to leave their safe and beautiful home, even though they came to regret it. The only fault of the boy was not regretting it enough for his father’s tastes, not joining any mourning, stirring things and digging into stuff and sticking his nose into everything that they encountered, testing his strength against anything and anyone with all occasion. He was relatively tall, thin but surprisingly strong. He became a leader in his little group of youngsters and all loved him. And his sister loved him more than all the others and saw the good in him and he cared for her deeply. They rarely parted and now she missed him so much!
***
Three more days passed until the wounded girl opened her eyes. They were clear of all the clouds of the fever and some red returned to her sunken cheeks. She looked a bit lost, not knowing the room she woke up to, nor the healer who promptly came to see her. She was thankful and a lot more master of herself by the time Turuviel came to visit her. They smiled to each other like old friends, for need and wounds and fighting together against the same enemy forges that kind of friendship with unbelievable speed.
