ISHI POV:
I didn't know what to say. I actually felt touched. Marshall is Mika's mate, and has no reason to help me - but he did. I'm sure he did it for her, but all the same. I could have died last night.
It felt weird to have someone take care of me for a change. I've always been responsible for other people. Even for my older sister, Isola. After our parents died, I was responsible for providing for us.
I can't remember the last time someone cooked for me.
I felt warm all over as I laid in the bed with Mika and listened to her recount the tale of how they saved my life last night. I couldn't help smiling. I was laying next to her, we were facing each other, and there wasn't a care in the world right now.
Marshall came into the tent with a gust of cold air and 2 bowls of piping hot soup. I felt my stomach rumble again. Mika and I sat up and he handed one bowl to each of us.
I was surprised that he was so kind. He made my portion equal to Mika's in every way. If it were me I would have given him just a taste. He's a better guy than I gave him credit for.
If I was being honest, we have been rivals this whole trip. He realized pretty quickly that I had feelings for Mika.
~~~
It was a day or two after the tiger girl killed herself by the pond and Mika wasn't talking. She was in the tent, finally asleep. Marshall was supposed to be going to join her, but he sat by the fire to talk to me first.
"You like her." He said.
I knew what he meant but I wasn't going to make it easy. "I Like who, dog?" I said scornfully.
"Mika." He was direct.
I huffed. "What makes you think that?"
"I see the way you watch her. I look at her the same way."
"Don't pretend to know everything, mutt." I snubbed.
"I don't need to pretend. I can tell. She is my mate… don't do anything to make her suffer or I will kill you myself." He said with a dark gaze that made my hair stand up.
"I know she's your mate, calm down. I wouldn't want her to suffer the backlash either, no worries." I waved him away dismissively.
He went into the tent to sleep with her and I sat by the embers of the dying fire.
~~~
"Thank you." I said as I graciously took the soup from Marshall's outstretched arms.
"Feeling better?" He said politely as he reached outside the tent door and grabbed his soup.
"Yes, thank you. I'm sure that wasn't an easy decision." I was feeling a little embarrassed.
"Mika cares about you, therefore I do too. We need to take care of each other to make it though this alive." He said calmly.
He is being more rational than I thought. He knows how I feel about his mate, but he let her sleep beside me last night. He is even cooking for me! This is too weird.
I pinched myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming.
We finished our soups and grabbed our gear to get dressed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MIKA POV:
I tried my best to hide my discomfort, but the lump that appeared near my tail was aching today.
Every time I moved it hurt. Climbing and balancing on the rocky terrain was torturous. We were moving quicker than normal, Ishi was worried about the firewood we used the other night. Marshall told her during the journey this morning that He has had to use more wood to cook the food due to the low temperatures and the brisk wind.
Ishi clearly hates the cold and is trying to increase the pace at which we travel.
I can tell we are getting closer to the top of the mountain, we are staring to see frost and snow accumulate on the ground. We havn't seen any animals thus far on the mountain. If it weren't for the interdimensional space we would also be starving.
The snow was starting to get deeper as we climbed higher, it was already up to my knees. The sun was about to set and Ishi was scouting ahead for a campsite.
"Are you okay?" Marshall asked as I struggled to wade through the heavy snow.
"Yeah. I wish I was tall like you guys though, it would be easier if I wasn't short." I grumbled, inwardly thinking about how Viking-sensei could have given me a few more inches in height since he took the initiative to give me a tail and ears.
"I like you just the way you are" He said with a smile.
His handsome face made my heart speed up. I blushed and tried to focus on the trail.
We caught up with Ishi who was using her feet to kick the snow around.
"What are you doing?" I asked her as we approached.
"Clearing a spot for the tent."
I watched her continue kicking the snow around, trying to make a small clearing for the tent and a fire. I wished we had a shovel.
An idea struck me! The moose antler! We could use those as shovels. I reached into the space and grabbed one and started using it to shovel a clearing. It worked quite nicely.
Marshall and Ishi looked at me, then at each other with a look that was like 'what the hell?'
"What?" I asked, since they kept staring at me.
"How did you come up with that idea?" Ishi asked.
"Ummm I was just thinking about how it would be nice if we could move a lot of snow quickly… Then I thought of how wide these are and decided to try it.."
"My mate is an inventor!" Marshall smiled proudly.
I definitely feel like a con-artist here. I can't take credit for inventing the shovel. I felt myself blushing in embarrassment.
"Do you have another one?" Ishi asked me, reaching her hand out.
"Uh, yeah. We had two left. Here." I said as I handed her mine and reached in to grab the other.
Marshall tried to take the shovel from me but I batted him away, insisting on helping. Ishi helped chase him off, she told him to go scout the area in case there are any trees we can use.
Ishi and I cleared the area and I showed her how I set up the tent. I decided to keep it as one big tent. I didn't want Ishi to freeze to death so I insisted that we continue this new sleeping arrangement.
"That's okay…" Ishi said, trying to dissuade me, "I think I will be fine. No need to worry about me."
"But I do worry!" I wasn't taking no for an answer, "You nearly froze to death. We are all in this together and we need to care for one another!"
"Your mate will not allow it. It's not… right." She said hesitantly.
"I did allow it and I will continue to do so as long as she wishes." Marshall said as he walked up.
I smiled at him, "Welcome back!"
He smiled back and kissed my head.
"Find anything out there?" Ishi asked.
"No firewood." He answered.
"Damn." I said, shivering.
Ishi was shivering too, worse than me.
"Go inside and keep warm. I'll cook." Marshall said to us.
I walked over and grabbed his warm hands. "How do you stay so warm?" I asked.
"Not sure. Maybe it's the jacket you made me." He said as he kissed me.
"Ishi and I have full fur outfits on and we are still cold." I retorted
"What kind of wolf are you?" Ishi tried to keep her voice even despite her chattering teeth.
"I'm a mix. Part white wolf and part grey." He answered.
Ishi nodded in acknowledgment, like this answered everything.
I wonder if white wolves are similar to arctic wolves? That could be why he stays so warm.
"Go on inside and keep warm." He ushered us into the tent.
I went in and grabbed Ishi's bed roll and slid it over towards mine before she could stop me.
I grinned in satisfaction. She just sighed in defeat and came over to sit next to me.
"I guess this awkward sleeping arrangement is better than freezing alone." She said though her chattering teeth.
We wrapped blankets around us and snuggled up to keep warm. Marshall was taking longer than normal to cook and the wind was picking up again. The wind started blowing snow in though the door of the tent.
Ishi had fallen asleep in the warm blankets. I crept over to push the snow out and see what I could do to keep it from blowing in again. I peeked out the door and saw Marshall struggling to keep the fire lit. I heard lots of sizzling.
"What's going on?" I asked him as I squinted my eyes against the blowing snow.
"The snow keeps blowing into the fire and putting it out. The wood is soaked and wont light now." He said, frustrated.
"Shit." I grumbled.
"At least we are prepared. We can have some of the excess food we made a couple days ago. It won't last us for more than a couple days at most though."
"It will have to do. Come inside so I can reinforce the door." I answered.
He chucked everything back into the space and came inside. He helped me use the logs to hold the door flap down, and we put up an extra cover to reduce the wind that was coming though.
"What's going on?" Ishi said, groggily.
"The snow is blowing around too much." I said.
"If it stops in the morning I will try to cook then." Marshall said, distributing chimera meat on a stick to us.
We ate our dinner then we all snuggled up for bed. Even with Marshall keeping us warm, we were still chilly.