Of Witches And Wolves | M. Helvar ✐

04 | The Cabin

The longer they sat in silence, the worse they both felt. Matthias was too angry to know how he felt. All he wanted to do is get Rowan's taunting voice out of his head for one blessed second. But he couldn't. Their voice just kept repeating over and over again. The same thing he heard growing up from the other boys.

"Little Helvar's got a frog in his throat, poor lad."

It was all in good fun, they'd claim. Even Jarl Brum would brush Matthias off. Nothing bothered Matthias more than being dismissed. The fact that Rowan would do the same thing angered him beyond belief.

Matthias forced himself to stay still and to just breathe as he tried to calm down. If he killed Rowan now it wouldn't make the stutter in his heartbeat settle. All he could see was red, Matthias clenched his fists until they cracked and ached.

He refused to open them back up, he knew he'd do something he would soon regret.

The energy in the room was completely off. Rowan seemed even harder to read than before and Matthias didn't know how to handle it. He was enraged but he wanted nothing more than to explain what he had meant.

But no matter how hard he tried, the words kept coming out wrong.

It reminded him of when he and Rowan made a wrong turn during a particularly nasty night... that night he should have perished.

The blizzard was nearly as harsh as the night they'd met. But something felt much more dangerous now that Matthias had a Grisha of all people in tow. Trassel trotted right beside them, he seemed to enjoy their company more than Matthias'. That stung a little bit.

But at the moment, Matthias could care less how Trassel felt about him. Maybe he would care more if he could feel his goddamn toes.

Rowan's feet crunched along behind him, that was about the only sound that came from them. They were weirdly silent which irked Matthias. The entire trip until now was Rowan talking Matthias' ears off but now the silence felt a little too loud.

"I see something up ahead," They commented, nodding their head toward a black mass.

Hope surged through Matthias, "Must be a cabin, we must be very careful."

"I'm always careful," Rowan argued. "Twas' you who landed us in this mess, Helvar."

Matthias rolled his eyes at them, wondering how they could still joke in this weather. He whistled for Trassel to scout around while he and Rowan waited back. Once Trassel was about ten feet away, Matthias couldn't even see him anymore. He wasn't too worried because Trassel was smart enough.

Even if his temper was horrible.

"What's taking the bloody dog so long? I think my eyelids froze open." Rowan was looking painfully chilly.

"He's making sure it's safe, so we don't nearly die." He replied.

"...again."

Matthias shot Rowan a dirty look before hearing Trassel's bark. "We're clear to go ahead."

They made their way to the cabin slowly, the wind was just about the only sound they heard. Trassel bumped his head into Rowan's leg which made them smile, "Stop that, I'll fall if you keep hitting me," The wolf just shook his head at them.

Matthias had to resist the urge to laugh at how Trassel treated Rowan. It was weird seeing him take so well to someone. He stepped under the small overhang and peeked through one of the windows, "No one is home, step back." Matthias leaned against the door and tried pushing it open, it hardly budged. "It must be frozen shut."

"Let me help," They murmured, Matthias, glanced back before stepping to the side. Rowan pulled their gloves off and took a deep breath. "Promise you won't kill me?"

"I already promised, Rowan."

They shrugged and held their hands out in front of them, their brow tightened as Matthias watched wordlessly. Slowly, water began to trickle down from the bottom of the door before it slipped into the snowbank. It was odd seeing Grisha powers up close. If he was unaware, he'd assume Rowan was crazy for holding their hands out in the cold air.

After a moment, they dropped their hands, taking deep breaths. "Saints I've never been out of breath that quickly," Despite what they said about feeling tired, Matthias saw some color coming back into their cheeks. Weird. He had heard about how Grisha using their powers made them stronger, but he'd never seen it like this before.

"Try it now, it should work." They pointed at the door.

When Matthias pulled on the handle, it came open with ease. He hated thinking about how convenient that was. Curiosity pulled at him, "What are your abilities called again?"

Rowan looked confused at the question, "Tidemaking?" They asked, Matthias nodded.

"What do you... manipulate?"

They chuckled at him and walked inside the cabin, focusing on him, "The temperature in relation to water, hence the snow melting." Rowan's smile fell the moment they looked up at the wall above the mantle.

Matthias couldn't have been sure why they reacted so harshly, "What's wrong?"

"Are those... Grisha crests?" Their hand shook as they pointed up at the display of colored fabrics stitched together into a sort of mosaic of trophies.

Drüskelle would take pieces of Grisha keftas as a trophy, to show their strength. Matthias understood why they would be saddened, but it was just fabric?

"Where did they get them?" Their eyes were glossy, "There are so many–"

Without thinking, he said, "It's tradition to take a trophy after..."

"Trophy?!" Rowan gasped, "A trophy? Saints I need to get out of here–"

Rowan was too inconsolable for Matthias to ask more questions. He did end up covering the display for the short while they stayed in the house. Trassel sat on the porch, keeping watch since the cold hardly bothered him when the wind wasn't too bad.

His anger melted into sadness and the pain in his shoulder grew more pronounced. Rowan knew how to kick. Matthias sighed under his breath and tried to muster up the courage to try and mend their relationship. "That night in the cabin, why'd you react like that?" He felt a wave of shyness wash over him.

Whenever Rowan would be in a nasty mood, Matthias always found it hard to speak to them. He had no idea how to handle their temper, especially in these circumstances.