The snow crackled under her feet as she slowly padded up the hill, scouring the ground. Sun felt her thighs tighten as the ground began to shift upwards onto the ridge. She hard Seren’s breath behind her flutter out in quick little bursts.

                “Sun,’ she gasped, “These hills…. Are tiring me… we’ve been looking for hours.”

                Sun turned to face her little sister. Seren’s fur hat had dropped down and was sitting just below her eyebrows, her red scarf wrapped tightly around her hair and mouth. She wore a long, thick sheepskin coat with pale brown mittens. The coat had done no good in keeping out the sharp wind and cold Sun had noticed. Seren was shivering beneath her layers as the cold started to seep into her bones.

                Sun sighed before turning to continue the trek.

                “Just to the top of the hill I promise. We might as well look since we’ve got this far”, she called back. Seren made no complaint and Sun was glad to hear the crackling snow behind her again as Seren started walking.

                They reached the hill top slowly but steadily and Seren soon appeared to stand next to Sun. The wintry land rolled out before then, the grey sky specked with black clouds. It had gotten breezy atop the hill and Sun had to fix her hat back over her ears in fear it would be ripped away from her. The hat matched the red coat she wore; her two prized possessions she found a few years back, wrapped in other discarded bits of cloth underneath a rusting car. The red hat and coat matched well with her woolly beige dress, tights and thick brown boots. The boots were another rare find to boast about.

                Seren sniffed quietly, taking Sun’s hand and pulling her close.

                “What if someone’s already looked up here?” She asked.

                “No one’s been up here sweet. Look at the snow”. Sun gestured to the blanket of white surrounding them.

                “Hasn’t snowed for a good 10 hours. If a group of people had already got here to scrounge we would see the tracks.

                Sun lent over towards Seren and gave her shoulders a good rub.

                “Ten minutes I promise. If in ten minutes we find no Malalite then we head back home.” Seren grinned while awkwardly pushing her yellow hair from her eyes with a gloved hand.

Sun couldn’t help but giggle at Seren's cheesy grin. She turned and started out across the plain, scanning the ground for the dark purple Malalite. The mineral had only appeared in the last 100 years. It was a gritty substance that stood out easily against the snow but they were found in sizes no bigger than gravel. It also never appeared in a cluster.

‘Which would be much easier to find’ Sun thought to herself.

                 After the first few minutes Sun realised they were probably not going to find any Malalite. Seren had wandering a few paces away from  her and when Sun glanced up, she saw Seren had absentmindedly  crouched down to fluff the snow away from the dirt.

                Sun did the same, bending over and running her hand through the snow.  The pair carried on but after what seemed like hours Sun tenderly stood upright. The muscles in her back had begun to burn and the pain had started to irritate her. Stretching her arms towards the sky, she suddenly felt cold dots all over her face. The black clouds that had been far away only a few moments ago had descended on the hills and small flurries of snow had started to fall.

                ‘Time to go home’, she thought. Seren called for her in a loud and shrilly voice

                “I found some! Look Sun I found some!” Seren had removed her mitten from her left hand and had started to a small patch of dirt on the ground that she had brought to the surface. Sun nimbly moved over to her and gently took her wrist. Two tiny pieces of Malalite sat in the palm of her hand, which seemed to engulf the purple stones. Although covered in dirt Seren’s eyes had not failed to see them. Her ability to notice even the smallest detail in people and places never failed to impress Sun and this was not the first time Seren had boasted her hawk eyes.

                Last month the girl had been adamant about finding Malalite when she dug away half a metre of snow. The snow had started to turn to slush that day and it had been colder than usual. Sun was irritated by the cold and nearly had a fit when Seren had bolted away from her grasp to a seemingly normal snow stack.

 “There's some here!” she cried as she tried to wriggle away from Sun.

”The sun has a pink tint! Look!” She dug away with her fingers and sure enough, 5 small Malalite Pieces sat in the snow. Sun had not noticed a tint, and had sometimes wondered if Seren could see through snow and earth.

                 Seren put her hand out towards her and Sun reached into the outer pocket of her coat. As she rummaged she pulled out a small leather pouch with faded colours and a broken zip. The top of the pouch had been bound with green string that frayed at the ends. Sun hooked a finger under the string and lifted it away creating a small opening at the top. Seren gingerly picked up each Malalite piece and dropped them into the pouch.

                Sun wound the string back around the pouch and put it safely back in her coat pocket. Seren put her mitten back on before reaching again for Suns cold and blue hands.

“Home now?”

Sun smiled. “Home now.”

 

 

*OK SO IM SORRY, THIS CHAPTER IS KINDA BORING,  JUST PLEASE BEAR WITH ME~
 

CHOI SEUNG HYUNS CHAPTER IS NEXT BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA