Of Witches And Wolves | M. Helvar ✐

06 | Just a Boy

The wind rustled the sides of the tent as Rowan tried to get Trassel to move off the furs. "Come on you big bastard, up, now." They stared down his muzzle seriously, the dumb dog just stared right back. "Trassel, now," He tilted his head at them.

Matthias said a phrase Rowan didn't understand, Trassel jumped up and rushed over to him. "He only listens to me, you know."

Rowan shook their head at him, "Was that Fjerdan?" Matthias nodded, "I don't recognize it."

"I made it up, nobody can guide him but me."

"You're an odd Drüskelle," They say, lifting the furs off of the bed. Rowan walks toward the door and shakes the blankets out, hardly anything falls off of them but there's some dirt from Trassel dragging the blankets on the floor. "He's a menace," Matthias laughs under his breath.

Once the furs are dust-free, Rowan folds them up and sets them aside. The pair work around each other rather silently, taking care of the area carefully. It's been three days straight stuck in the damned blizzard. They've gotten to know each other a lot despite the short time span they've known one another.

"We're out of water." The comfortable silence that had surrounded them suddenly felt cold.

Rowan had been slowly adding more water to the supply without Matthias knowing over the past few days, but it must have dried up due to the lack of humidity. Rowan cursed at themself silently for being so careless.

Rowan knew they could help but it was risky. Chances are Matthias or Trassel would kill them on the spot. They swallowed their breath, glancing at the empty water supply and the door. "Promise you won't kill me?" They spoke without thinking, per usual.

Matthias gave them a funny look before noticing the seriousness in Rowan's eyes. "Why would I kill you?"

Rowan shrugged, "Do you want water now or to wait for the storm to let up, I will only ask once."

"Why are you asking this?"

They turned around from him, "Because I can guess how you're going to react..." Matthias stepped toward Rowan, they faced him again, this time with a hand out in front of themself. "Stay right there," He became as still as a statue, eyes full of confusion.

Rowan took a deep breath and closed their eyes, feeling their power rushing beneath the surface. It took quite some effort to control their tidemaking but they forced themself to push nonetheless. There was sweat forming on their neck as they continued to fight against themself.

Nearly an entire minute passed before Matthias noticed anything different about the space, he felt warmth fill the air with each passing second. Rowan could see it on his face as he tried to put two and two together.

The pipe that froze from the outside began to slowly send water back into the reservoir. It started as drops of water until a small rush flowed down into the holding tank.

"You..." Fear colored his face as he realized what this meant, "You're Grisha–" Matthias stumbled back into the wall, Rowan knew better than to move now.

"Please, don't freak out." They spoke slowly.

Matthias scoffed loudly, "That's rich, Drusje, you come into my camp... to what? Kill me? Kill my brothers–?" His cheeks were bone white, he kept looking between Rowan's hands and their face.

Rowan pointed at Trassel, "He likes me, isn't that good?"

The dog's ears were pinned back as he sniffed the air, trying to find the Grisha in the room. "He should be killing you right now, you are not liked, you are lucky." Matthias pushed himself up, eye not leaving theirs.

"Please–"

Matthias' hands shot up to his ears, "Stop talking! Shut up!" He looked horrified, "I can't believe that I let a Grisha into the camp, I brought death upon us... my god."

Rowan had to force themself to stay stood in place, they knew to just let him process his emotions. They wanted to ask for him to calm down, to remember how much he was enjoying their presence less than a minute ago. But they kept quiet.

"You have to leave, now. Please." He begged. "They will kill me for this–" Matthias didn't even care that he was raised by his group leader. He knew that wouldn't matter at this point. He knew that he was fucked. "Leave!"

"I'm not going anywhere, Matthias."

He was covering his eyes now, falling to the ground, struggling to breathe, "Please do not say my name, please–"

The Drüskelle looked so boyish, it was a sight to behold. Rowan was incredibly sad that they were the reason for his pain. They hardly even liked this boy and yet... cared so deeply about how he felt.

Without thinking, Rowan crossed the room and put their arms around his frame. Matthias was far bigger than them but they managed regardless. "Please breathe, they will not hurt you. I will protect you," They promised.

Matthias started to push away but his tears got the best of him as he squeezed Rowan. "You do not understand." His voice was so small, so fragile. It hurt to hear him sound like that.

After a moment, Rowan felt his cries calm down. Matthias sniffed and looked at them, they could see the embarrassment clear on his face. "Do not feel silly," Rowan said, knowing how he was feeling.

"Why are you helping me?" He questioned, eyes still glassy. "I would have killed you."

Rowan pushed down the laugh, Matthias could never kill them. "You're just a boy, it is not your fault my deceit worked. I was trained by the best Grisha in all of Ravka."

He shook his head, "You knew I was Drüskelle and still stayed, why?"

"I was stuck in the blizzard–"

"You can melt snow, I think you would have fared well."

They puffed out a breath of air, "I'm a great liar and cheat but a horrible Grisha. I've never been good at controlling my... abilities. Hence why I'm better at everything else."

Matthias looked at them funny before sniffing once more and sitting back. The pair sat less than a foot away from one another. Their legs were touching.

"How come you were out in that weather?"

Rowan sighed, "I'm an idiot and stayed out too late, I was looking for winter roses. But all I got was a fucking blizzard."