‘I see,’ said Theuli. ‘Then perhaps you are sisters after all.’
‘Didn’t you make snowballs when you were young,’ ventured Deborah.
Almost smirking, Theuli replied, ‘There has been no snow in the Elf Kingdom during my lifetime. Yet if there were, I would not have thought to put it down my mother’s back.’
Deborah was trying not to laugh. ‘That was my fault! I taught Malina to do that to Ralph.’
‘When you are well,’ warned Theuli, ‘you may find your wayward ways coming back to haunt you.’ The three of them laughed at this, but secretly, Deborah planned to be ready for Theuli’s revenge.
As Ralph and Pran rode ahead with Rani riding before Ralph and Zuic before Pran, they noticed a figure stumbling through the snow. From the way she walked, Ralph assumed it to be an elderly woman, and on impulse, feeling a surge of anger, he urged his horse on, to find out from this person why she wasn’t in one of the wagons.
As he caught up, he noticed, first, that the figure was much younger than he had assumed. Then, as she stumbled once more, he caught a glimpse of her feet.