Within minutes, Kael was sitting on the makeshift sled, Borin behind him, both gripping the antlers like idiots preparing to meet their ancestors.
"On three!" Borin yelled.
"One!"
"Two!"
Kael: "Wait, we should—AAAA—!"
Borin shoved them off the hill before reaching three.
The sled shot down the slope with the speed of a panicked deer. Snow exploded around them. Kael screamed something between joy and terror. Borin yelled, "LEAN LEFT!" while leaning right.
Charlisa stepped outside just in time to see the entire thing.
She watched with horrified fascination as the sled flew past the fire pit, skimmed the frozen fountain, narrowly missed two chickens, and finally crashed into a large snowbank — where both men disappeared with a muffled whump.
A moment of silence.
Then Borin's voice:
"WE LIVE!"
Kael popped out second, hair filled with snow, laughing so hard he nearly fell again.
Charlisa pressed her hand to her mouth — not from worry, but because laughter was threatening to burst out of her too.
She hadn't seen Kael like this since autumn.
Wild.
Joyful.
Boyish.
She didn't realize how much she missed this side of him until now.
---
Later, when they were warming their hands by the hearth, Borin nudged Charlisa with his elbow.
"He needed that," he said quietly, so Kael wouldn't hear.
Charlisa smiled softly.
"He's been carrying so much."
"Exactly why I returned to annoy him."
Borin threw an arm dramatically over his forehead.
"Being the emotional support menace is exhausting work."
Charlisa laughed — a warm, clear sound — and Kael looked over at her, eyes lighting up.
He hadn't seen her laugh like that in too long.
Borin noticed and smirked.
"See? I'm healing marriages, saving winters, and scaring livestock. Truly, I am a gift."
Kael threw a piece of bread at him.
Borin caught it with his mouth like a wolf.
---
That evening, as the three of them walked home from the communal hall, Borin conveniently "remembered" an errand and vanished dramatically into the snow.
Which was Borin language for:
"I'm giving you two space—don't waste it."
Kael nudged Charlisa gently with his shoulder.
"You're smiling tonight."
"You're glowing like a mischievous firefly," she replied.
"I forgot how good it felt," Kael admitted. "To be ridiculous for no reason."
"You should do it more," she said softly.
Kael looked at her, really looked — seeing not just the new Matriarch-in-training, not the woman healing from loss, but his Charlisa.
"I want to make you laugh more," he said quietly.
"You did today," she whispered. "A lot."
Snowflakes drifted between them like slow-falling stars.
Kael slipped his fingers through hers — a simple, intimate gesture, but strong, grounding, familiar.
"Then tomorrow," he said, "let's find something to laugh about again."
Charlisa leaned her head on his shoulder.
"I'd like that."
Far behind them, hidden badly behind a tree, Borin whispered loudly:
"I AM NOT HERE. CONTINUE YOUR ROMANCE."
Kael threw a snowball at his head without turning around.
Borin yelped.
And Charlisa laughed again — the sound ringing through the winter night like a lantern glowing brighter.