Young Writers Society

Nikolai grimaced at the mention of bugs, but laughed. "Ick. No thanks to any creepy crawly things, please, I'm very glad we don't have so many of those here. Bugs are ew. Mud is ew. We have very different ideas of interesting."

He was about to crack an egg into a bowl, but then he realized Mel had said real skies. Well, of course the sky was real. What did that mean? There was plenty of joking drama in her statement, but that didn't seem to have been added for humor. Suddenly there was something gooey in his hand, and he lifted it up in confusion, dripping clear whiteish slime all the way. A bright yellow yolk had fallen on the counter. He'd gotten distracted and cracked the egg without doing it over the bowl.

"Whoops," he muttered, sighing as he cleaned up the mess and washed the egg white off his hands. "Also, raw eggs are ew."

Once he'd finished with that, Nikolai remembered the thought that had made him distracted in the first place. He grabbed another egg, and made sure to do it right this time before he turned back to Mel, trying not to look too embarrassed.

"What did you mean by real skies?" he asked.

Mel giggled when Nikolai started listing off a bunch of things that were "ew" and not at all interesting. It certainty didn't help that he got all embarrassed when the egg got all over his hand. She decided to not tell him that she had never eaten eggs before, because she wanted to see what it was like.

It seemed that Nikolai had a dreary view of life. Cold and dark places were normal... And, sure, bugs and mud could be annoying, but it was still life. It was still exciting, sometimes. It was all new, and it gives life character.

If only she could experience it everyday... Or ever.

She sighed at his question, drawing her back to reality.

"In the future, we all live underground. It's too dangerous to go outside-outside," she said. "So, the skies aren't real. And bugs don't bite. And it doesn't get that muddy, and the sun doesn't feel warm, and it's not too hot or too cold."

She smiled softly as she looked at him.

"So... yeah. It would be nice to go outside-outside now. Even though it's stupid cold."

Nikolai’s expression had shifted to something like shock.

How could you even have a fake sky? Had someone painted the ceiling blue with pale watercolor puffs for clouds or something? He couldn’t imagine anyone living like that, let alone... well, from what Mel was saying, it seemed to be everyone.

“That’s... kind of scary,” he said quietly. “That one day, something will happen and we won’t even able to live this way, the way we all take for granted? The future sounds a little terrifying.”

But it made sense why she’d long for what he found normal, boring, or annoying, because to her it could seem exciting and special. Nikolai sighed to himself, then looked back at Mel, trying to return her smile.

“Well, when we leave— shouldn’t be long, once we get everything together— you’ll see all the skies you want. We can even stop at a few mud puddles on the way, if you really want. I can’t promise much sunlight or warmth, because this is Russia. But maybe we’ll get lucky.”

The future sounds a little terrifying, Nikolai had said.

Mel stared at him for a moment and blinked, letting those words fully register in her head before she could react to it. The future -- her present -- wasn't that bad. It wasn't even terrifying. Honestly, she missed it right now. It was much better than the musty cave she just came from, and this winter hell she was in right now.

Still, the thought left as quick as it came since Nikolai said she'd be able to see the sky and stop by a few mud puddles. A warm, sunny smile plastered across her face as she looked up at him, pleased.

"Yes!" she said as she clapped her hands together. "When can we leave? Are you almost done? Can we leave soon?"

"Done with what—? Oh, yeah, breakfast." Nikolai looked back at the stove that he'd completely forgotten about. Just for a moment, he wished that his ability was cooking and baking related. He knew there were was a guild of people who had that gift, although their abilities were different from simply making good food: they could make confections that restored your health, stews that magically filled you up so that you wouldn't have to eat for a week afterwards, cakes that tasted like your favorite flavor, no matter what it was and no matter who ate it. Still, even though they were from somewhere in Southern Europe, he was tempted to drag one of them over here to show him what to do.

Nikolai stared at a small drop of egg white that he'd missed when he wiped the counter, a reminder of his past slip-up. He was sure it wouldn't be the last.

"Alright," he said, rolling up his sleeves. "I'm getting started."

After a bit of work and time, Nikolai had served the two of them. He'd taken a bite already and admitted it wasn't the best blini ever, but he also stated that when someone who actually knew what they were doing made these, they could be pretty good. The blini were served with potatoes and mushrooms, and he'd set their meal out on plates at the small table, which only had three chairs (and would never have more), but two was enough for both of them.

Even though Mel couldn't really taste the eggs in the blini (was that a good or bad thing, she wasn't sure), the meal was pretty tasty. She realized she was starving and ate her fill fast, but luckily Nikolai made extras. Or maybe he just gave some of his portion to her. She wasn't sure.

Either way, she warmed her stomach with the hearty breakfast and then helped clean up so that they could get moving faster. She was antsy to go outside and travel. See the world! Figure out where they were supposed to go!

By the time they finished, she whirled around and face him, a glint in her eye.

"So?" she said. "Are we ready to go yet?"

Nikolai set down his fork just after he’d popped the last bite of his breakfast in his mouth, and he gave Mel a teasing look. “I thought you’d want to stay warm for as long as you could, but that’s fine by me.”

He got up to clear their plates, thinking about what they should do as he set them in the sink. Nikolai hadn’t ever needed to plan for anything like this before. It made him worried and uncertain— well, more worried and uncertain than usual— but he wasn’t sure he should admit that. Mel seemed very much carefree and easygoing, but he didn’t need to make this journey seem more unsafe than it was already.

“Okay,” he said as he sat back down. “So, we walk to the nearest village, and given there’s a lot of snow, we’d probably get there by noon. We rent a troika, those horse carriages I told you about, and go south to Novosibirsk, where we buy tickets for the Trans-Siberian Railway to St. Petersburg. It’ll be a long train ride, but I think we should get there a day before the meeting. And all we need before we leave are supplies, food, clothing, and money.” Nikolai paused. “Does that sound good?”

Mel scrunched her face when Nikolai joked that he thought she wanted to stay warm for as long as possible, but she smiled in amusement as well because he was right. She was not looking forward to venturing out in the cold... but she was looking forward to the adventure. It will be uncomfortable, but it will also be worth it.

She listened to his words, taking notes of everything he said. Walk to the nearest village and get there at noon. Rent a troika horse carriages. (So, horses weren't extinct? That would be very cool to see.) Ride the carriage south to Novosibirsky. Buy railway tickets to St. Petersburg. Go to meeting.

Mel eagerly nodded, beaming. "Got it!" she said. "Now are we ready to go?"

It was a clear plan, and nothing could go wrong. Right?

“Almost,” Nikolai said teasingly. “Now, I know this is no one’s favorite part of traveling, but first, we’ve got to pack. Trust me, it might seem like we’re over-preparing now, but I bet we’ll be glad we did later. So, how about we start with clothes?”



Finding clothes for Mel had been a little difficult. She was already wearing Nikolai’s old ones, and those seemed to be a good fit, so she was taking a few of them. Nikolai had worried that she’d attract too much attention if she only wore his clothes, however, so he’d disappeared for a minute to search a closet. When he came back, he was carrying some women’s clothes that also more or less fit Mel and would do if she ever needed to dress like the other women in his time period. “I get it if you don’t like them much, though,” he had apologized. “These ones belonged to my mother and she never was a huge fan of them.”

Next was packing the food. Most of that was tearing through the kitchen storage and shoving every third item in a bag, making sure that it wasn’t meat. Of course, once it came to the supplies they brought with them, they could no longer afford to skip all animal products. They needed the fur blankets, despite Mel’s unenthusiasm about those. Nikolai showed her how to wrap it around herself so that it would stay on her as they would walk. They were also bringing matches and a lantern as another way of staying warm, in case they needed to stop.

Last of all, Nikolai had taken another bag with him, a small pouch that was strapped to his hip. Once they’d checked they had everything they needed, they’d stepped outdoors and locked the door behind them.

“So, Mel, there’s your snow and your sky,” Nikolai said, looking down first and then up. There was nearly a foot of packed snow on the ground, and although they didn’t have a perfect view of the sky because of the pine trees, it was crisp and clear. “What do you think?”

Mel wasn't totally impressed by the uncomfortable dress she wore and the boots that were just a little too big on her, but it didn't stop her from leaping forward to jump on to the pile of snow in front of them, sending flurries towards Nikolai's own feet.

She shivered, holding on to the fur coat (much to her own dismay) even tighter as the cold traveled up her spine. The snow licked through the bottom of her pants she wore under her dress and boots, and she quickly stepped away, shaking the snow off her as she tilted her head up towards the sky, beaming with closed eyes under the sunlight. Even when it was chilly, the sun felt warm. It felt real.

"It's nice," she hummed, then opened her eyes and grinned, looking over her shoulder at Nikolai. "Even though it's still depressingly cold. How do you live like this everyday?"

"Well, luckily it's not everyday," Nikolai said, laughing and catching up to Mel. He started leading the way, but didn't walk ahead of her. "There's always summer... Okay, even then, it's a little chilly. But it's not always snowy, even though there's a lot of that. You just get used to it after a while."

It still felt different from St. Petersburg, which was the side of Russia he was still most used to, even now. There were snowy, cold winters everywhere in the country, but it was another thing entirely in a city. The buildings with fires in their hearths and the cobblestone streets buried beneath a layer of snow were a far cry from the wind whistling through the pine trees and the fallen branches and needles that were scattered over the white ground. Nikolai knew St. Petersburg had never felt like home, and this was a change from that at least.

“Don’t forget to keep moving. If we need to, we can stop for a bit, but walking will keep us warmer.”

Mel had no idea where she was going, but Nikolai seemed to think that she was heading the right way even though she was blindly following the path he gestured at the beginning. She figured that he'd say something if she had led him astray, though.

They both chatted for a while, talking a little too long about snow and weather, but Mel didn't mind. She found herself crunching her boots in the fresh snow ahead of them, highly amused by the sound. It did get tiring after a while, though, and she wished Nikolai would take the lead so she could literally follow his footsteps and step into them so the cold didn't seep in her boots as easily.

During brief silences, she found herself humming songs to herself, swishing up snow with the toe of her boot to keep herself entertained. A few hours had passed, and surely they were almost there, right? Right?

Mel sighed as they took a break, but then felt the tugs of a smile as she got an idea.

"Hey, Nico, look over there! It's a redbird!" she said excitedly as she pointed at the branches of a tree, conjuring an illusion to display a vibrant red bird with fluffy feathers and big, emerald eyes.

Nikolai spun around immediately at Mel's words.

"Ooh!" he said with delight when he spotted it. "It's a lovely one, too! It seems a little different from a robin, and I'm not sure I've seen this kind before. Maybe it hasn't migrated yet?"

Quickly, he reached into his pack and broke off a small piece of bread, deciding that losing a tiny bit of their food supply was worth it. Nikolai set the chunk of bread in the palm of his gloved hand, holding it up to the red bird with a grin on his face.

"You must be hungry!" he said cheerfully, not realizing that something was up.

Okay, so maybe Mel felt a little bad that Nikolai seemed to naively fall for the illusion and was now in love with the bird. But she couldn't just make the bird disappear and crush his dreams... She had to pretend, now.

Mel weakly laughed, twirling a ringlet of her hair as she squinted at the bird she conjured up, trying to think. "Heh, yeah, that bird is not hungry," she said casually.

She then focused on the fake bird tilting its head at Nikolai, pretending that it had no idea what bread even was. Since it was just an illusion, Mel knew she had no chance of swooping up the bread without giving away the trick.

Nikolai frowned slightly, looking confused. “Not hungry?” he echoed. “A bird in the dead of winter on its own, and it doesn’t want to eat?” He’d have thought the bird would be all over them if it found out they had food, especially if they were passing it out.

He wasn’t about to give up now, so he held the piece of bread up higher, closer to the bird. Maybe it’s just shy, he thought to himself. I’ll still give it a chance. When even that didn’t seem to be enough for the red bird, Nikolai stood as tall as he could, the tips of his boots sinking into the snow and making his toes feel even colder.

“Aw, what’s the matter, little guy?” he called up to the bird. “Are you sure you don’t want this?”