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Chapter 7: Rivalry between sisters

December 31, 1155, Era of the Sun.

New Year's Day.

It was New Year's Day, and the three of them knew they had to get through it. It was going to be difficult because it was the first New Year's Day without their mother, without Nubia. Perhaps that's why, on that same day, Zinnia emerged from her seclusion.

Simara was brushing Miko, Zinnia's black horse, and giving him the occasional carrot when Zinnia appeared from behind, from the entrance of the stables filled with old junk. Her shadow and the way she moved, stepping on the hay on the floor, resolute and quick, warned Simara that she was approaching with a dangerous air. Almost without thinking, Simara turned around to face her.

Zinnia's figure was silhouetted by the outside light of the stable as she made her way through the two-leaf wooden doors.

"You appeared. I didn't expect to see you yet," Simara said.

Zinnia looked completely gaunt, with purple circles under her eyes and a very pale complexion. She was wearing a red and brown woolen dress, hastily put on, and, to Simara, it seemed too thin for the winter weather outside.

Zinnia nodded, looking at Simara with her eyes narrowed and her back to the clear light outside the stable. Simara knew it was unnecessary because she already knew the answer, but she asked anyway.

"Are you okay? You look terrible."

"I'm bad, I feel bad," Zinnia nodded.

"So, why did you get up?"

"You already know the answer," Zinnia said, approaching Miko and petting his muzzle. "I'm not going to stay with my arms crossed while those Lamlaxs bastards roam free. If we don't go together, I'll go alone."

Simara felt a bit intimidated by her intensity, but she continued speaking.

"What are we supposed to do? We're just women, they'll send us to clean the kitchen, and we don't even know if Olimpia wants to come too. It's risky..." Zinnia let out a snort.

"Are you coming or not? I don't need you to tell me everything that's against us. If nobody wants to give me their help, they can keep it. I'll manage on my own."

"I'm coming. We'll manage."

Then Zinnia raised a finger and spoke, sending Simara the smell of liquor.

"I'll let you come with me..."

"Why do you have the right to let me go?" Simara began, speaking over her sister's voice, but Zinnia continued speaking, not giving her any importance.

"...if you promise me something."

And suddenly, Zinnia's blue eyes turned cold as the ice in the valley. Her gaze became icy and so disgusting that Simara smelled a foul odor of hatred and fury in it. The same hatred and fury that burned within Simara.

Zinnia pulled out a yellowed piece of paper from her pocket and handed it to Simara, who immediately recognized it as the note the mysterious blonde woman had given Nubia before killing her. Simara took the note with trembling fingers and opened it, reading the neat handwriting written in black ink inside.

‘You're next.’

"I'll be the one to kill the leader of the Lamlaxs clan," Zinnia declared, and for just one moment, when she raised her gaze, Simara feared her.

"I'll kill them all."

Simara swallowed, but she was determined. She handed the note back to Zinnia, who put it back in her pocket and spoke.

"No."

Then Simara could see, fleetingly, a glimmer of confusion in her sister's eyes, a moment when she reflected on her perplexity.

"What?... What do you mean...?"

"That no. You won't be the one to kill him, I will."

Zinnia looked at Simara fixedly, saying nothing and one corner of her mouth twisted into a bitter smile. Simara felt a bit intimidated by her intensity, but she continued speaking.

"I won't let you kill him because I've sworn to myself that I'll kill him with my own hands. And I'll keep my word... I have my list, and the leader of the Lamlaxs clan is first."

Simara thought about Rigel and the strange blonde woman who had been Nubia's direct killer. She was the second on her list.

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Zinnia remained silent for a while, probably digesting what her sister had just told her, but she smiled and extended a hand forward.

"Fine, if that's how you want it. Then, let's see who succeeds. Only one of the two: either you or me."

Zinnia released her hand and headed towards the stable entrance, but before leaving, she turned around and looked at Simara over her shoulder, the white light reflecting off the snow illuminating one side of her face. "Remember this: I'll be the one to kill them."

At that exact moment, Olimpia burst through the stable doors. She arrived running and leaned against the doors, struggling to normalize her agitated breathing. Her red hair was disheveled, and she looked flushed despite the cold. She raised her gaze to look at them.

"What happened? Are they fighting again?" Olimpia's concerned voice reached them.

Zinnia approached her. "Of course not, Sima and I were just talking..."

"I was afraid they were going to start screaming. I came running as soon as I saw you enter..."

"Oh, Oli, calm down. Nobody wants to fight," Zinnia said, directing a glance at Simara while putting an arm around Olimpia's shoulders. Olimpia looked at them warily. Simara decided to go along with her older sister.

"Zinni's right, nobody's fighting."

"And what were they talking about?" Olimpia put a hand on her chest and calmed her breathing. Simara and Zinnia exchanged glances until the older one finally responded.

"I was simply asking her if she wants to join our trip."

Olimpia looked at Simara expectantly. "Did you guys already discuss it?"

Simara shrugged. Olimpia nodded and sighed.

"Well... I am going. I want to do it for Mom. I want justice and to find those who did this," Olimpia said with determination. "They have to receive a fair punishment before the people, not just for Mom's crime but for all the crimes they commit against the people of Valle Nevado. A life in prison, exile, a trial before everyone, or that's what I want to achieve, somehow that I still don't know."

Simara raised an eyebrow but said nothing. It was clear that the three of them had different ideas about what a "fair punishment" was.

"We have to achieve it, it's pointless to stay here with our arms crossed..." Olimpia continued, and Zinnia agreed.

"Exactly, that's what we want, right, Sima?" "Damn lunatic, she didn't even tell her what she really thinks," Simara thought. "Unfortunately, we're not that different." Simara was going to do the same thing. Telling Olimpia what she really thought would be a reason for conflict.

"Yes, we want justice. I'm coming too, I couldn't stay here."

Olimpia gave a half-smile and put an arm around Zinnia's shoulder and the other around Simara's, who felt a horrible weight in her stomach, the weight of a lie.

"So, we're in this together. Together, the three of us. Why don't we go inside and have something rich and hot?" Olimpia hugged them and pulled them towards her, satisfied and smiling, passing her arms around her sisters' waists.

"Yes, together, the three of us..." Simara thought bitterly. "She's too good. We don't deserve her."

"That's a good idea. Tea with liquor," Zinnia replied, while the three walked together, hugging each other, towards the hut.

That same afternoon, the three were sitting in the kitchen, by the warmth of the stove, when Simara got up from the table and took her wooden cup with remnants of chamomile tea towards the back of the hut, where the cauldron was, where they washed the dishes.

"I'm leaving."

Simara left the cup inside the cauldron. Anyway, she couldn't wash because they hadn't gathered the snow to do it, and she wasn't going to use the drinking water contained in the stone vessels or jugs. It had taken them a lot of effort to clean the ice to melt it without impurities, just to use it to wash a cup.

"What? Where are you going?" Zinnia leaned over the table, watching her return to the table.

"To the market, I need to walk a bit."

"It's late and..." Zinnia started to say, but Olimpia touched her arm and shook her head.

"Let her be, she'll be fine. It's New Year's Day, and the snow has stopped falling heavily. There will be people strolling around the market. Nothing will happen to her."

Zinnia looked at her, concerned. "Do you want me to accompany you?"

"No, I want to be alone." Nobody objected, and they left her be.

As Simara was leaving directly for the bathroom, Zinnia yelled out to her. "Take Miko the horse with you!" She had urinated in the jar and gotten rid of the waste by throwing it out the wooden window of the bathroom. She washed her hands with the water from the jar they had left there and with olive oil soap, then headed straight to the bedroom to change.

Simara pulled out some clothes from one of the wicker baskets on the stone floor and put on a pair of black wool tights to keep the cold from the snow from rising. The light from a dying candle illuminated her. She put on her warmest leather shoes and a black knitted scarf that matched her burgundy sweater and skirt. Simara looked at her reflection from above, inspecting her burgundy sweater and matching skirt that Nubia had knitted for her at the beginning of winter. The new outfit. She stood in front of the candle flame.

The skirt, which she had complained about because, like Simara, she always hated wearing all those petticoats, fell straight and ungracefully around her hips and legs, along her tall and slender body. She brought a hand to her chest, in front of the sweater, and stroked one of the many white wool daisies embroidered on the collar of the garment. The white daisies looked even brighter under the room's light. She also lifted the hem of the skirt and stroked one of the daisies that decorated, like a guard, the hem. Before, they had seemed ridiculous to her, but now they were perfect.

Sitting on her bed, the little black cat Viko just watched her. His small black body was a large shadow; only his two green eyes shone like gems on the black mass of his fur. Simara turned around, took her brown wool bag with squares, and gently put the kitten inside while hanging the strap over her shoulder. Viko poked his head out of the bag's edge.

"Maybe you can come with me for a walk. Don't be afraid of the snow; I put blankets inside this bag. Now it will be your carriage."

"Will there be food on this trip? Maybe then I'll be interested." Simara turned around and looked at the little black cat watching her with his huge green eyes. Of course, Simara remembered that she had her amethyst pendant on one of her inner shirts, that amethyst gave her just the right amount of clairvoyance to be able to hear the cat's thoughts.

"Maybe I'll buy you some meat."

The cat looked at her, happy, as his little eyes sparkled. "I hope so."