Walking through the snow, the first thing I realize is how bright it is out here. The sun is shining, and it is cold. Not super cold like the polar vortexes I have experienced, which can drop to -30 degrees Celsius, but still colder than what my coat is designed for. I pull the collar tighter to my neck and start looking for where both of them could be.

Assuming that Lena found Rynar, and they would have stayed together overnight, Lena would have found a way to keep them both warm and then probably found a way to signal for anyone to find them.

“If I were a little kid, where would I go?” I ponder to myself. Running water has always attracted my attention so I head to the river. Walking alongside it, I eventually come to the ridgeline and the spot I would like to build my waterwheel. The spot is quite loud due to the falling water, and slightly damp due to the spray. Walking further downstream, I come across the bridge that the town uses to cross the river. It is not much of a bridge, more of a roughhewn log thrown across the swift river, but it is there, heavy and swept clean by the wind.

Crossing the river, I head back upstream to the waterfall, along what should be the trail, but is covered in snow. Further along, I see a disturbance in the snow, of windblown footprints that are very close together, most likely by a kid. I follow them.

While thinking, I get hit in the face with a branch that I did not see. Pushing it back out of the way, I note that it has some snapped twigs on its end, and they are fresh, showing that someone else has been hit by this branch recently.

I continue following the path. As I get near some evergreen trees, their shade from the wind shows two sets of footprints, a very deteriorated set of shortly spaced ones, and a longer set which have a spread greater than mine. Turning left to follow the ridgeline, I smell smoke. Walking swiftly to a clearing up ahead, I look up. I see a weak tendril of smoke rising through the trees, and tracing it back down, it should be just a little further. Following the footsteps, I see what I presume are Lena’s continue forth, while Rynar’s veers off towards the ridge.

Worrying that they split up for some reason, I continue to follow Lena’s. The evergreens thin again, and I lose the footprints as well, the cold wind having blown and filled them in.

Leaning against a tree in the forest, I look up, and cannot see the smoke any longer, due to the density of the trees. Starting to feel cold, and worried, I do a few jumping jacks to bring feeling back into my fingers, which even with mittens are more resembling icicles. I push onwards, following the ridgeline and hoping that I see something soon.

Several minutes later, through the silence of the cold air, I see more disturbances in the snow, along with a small brown mitten sticking up out of it. Running towards it, I recognize it as a kid’s mitten based on its size. It is smaller than my hand. Feeling it, it is freezing, so it has not been used in a while.

Looking around again, I see pines hugging the ridge, so I head towards it, hoping they took shelter in the ridge or under one of the trees.

Eventually, the clear air takes on a foggy blue haze and the smell of smoke returns. Looking up, I can see which tree is emitting the smoke and I rush towards it.

“Lena! Rynar! Where are you?!” I shout, trying to establish communication and not just barge in.

As I approach the tree, there is no response. At its base, I see many footprints, but they too have been damaged by the wind, so no one has been out since morning. Bracing for the worst, I yell again,

“Lena! Rynar! Are you here?”

My voice echoes off of the ridge, and through the echo, I hear a high-pitched, barely audible reply:

“...yes.”

Quickly pushing the boughs of the tree apart, I step under its massive canopy. There in front of me is Lena, eyes open and curled up in a ball with Rynar in her lap. She has snow on her hair and icicles forming where it hangs down.

“Rynar, Lena! I need to get you back now!” I state loudly and slowly, hoping they are coherent enough to hear me. Carefully walking around the dying fire, and trying not to kick pine needles into it, I shake Lena’s shoulder.

“Lena! Wake up! I’m here to help you!”

“Huh… yes… help. I help. I found Rynar,” she replies, in a heavy daze.

“Come on, I need to get you back now! Thallion is worried about you!”

“Thallion. Yes… brother… I found little one…”

“I know you found the little one, but I need to get you back so you are both safe and warm.”

“Warm. I feel warm.”

Uh oh, that is a very bad sign. If someone feels warm when they are actually cold, they are extremely hypothermic.

“Lena! Come on! You are freezing! We have soup back at the church! Let’s finish finding Rynar.”

At this point, Rynar starts squirming, and eventually, I get him free of Lena’s grasp. With that last effort, Rynar mutters, “Thanks,” as cutely as any four-year-old can, and then crawls around to my neck and grabs hold of my head.

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Lena pulls her legs closer to her chest and hugs her knees.

“Come on, Lena. I know you are tired, but you cannot stop now! You need to get back to Thallion! You, of anyone, should realize you are suffering from extreme hypothermia.”

At the mention of hypothermia, her eyes slowly widen, and it seems like that word got through to her. She starts trying to stand up. I quickly grab her hand and pull her upwards, and she gets to her feet.

I quickly kick snow on the dying embers so it won’t set the forest on fire, and then guide Lena out from under the tree into the cold, still air of the forest.

“Rynar, here is your mitten. Please put it on,” I state earnestly, hoping my sense of urgency does not leak through and scare him.

We start making our way back, following my footprints and the ridgeline. We quickly come to the falls and start heading downstream. At this point, I am practically dragging Lena as she is barely putting one foot in front of the other. What’s worse is that the wind is starting to gust. It’s a good thing I am near known features, because with this wind, my footprints would be gone within the hour.

We get to the bridge, and Rynar, warming up from sitting on my neck, slides down my back and walks across the bridge. Once across, he looks to me patiently and is gesturing to go back on my neck.

I pull Lena close to guide her across the bridge, one step at a time. She is still shaking and shivering, which is a good sign, as her body still recognizes that it is cold, but it is very hard to guide her across the bridge.

About halfway across, the wind gusts and knocks her off balance. I try to stabilize her, but my grip with mittens on is too light. She slides from my grasp and into the river below.

Acting quickly, I take my phone and translator and toss them to the side near Rynar, who is wide-eyed and in shock at seeing Lena fall in.

I jump in from the bridge, unsure of how deep the river is. I find out quickly that I have to swim.

Doing my best attempt at a front crawl in full winter gear, I quickly catch up to Lena, who is barely floating on her front. I quickly roll her over and start towing her by her head the way I learned in swimming lessons for an unconscious victim. I make it to shore fairly quickly, as the river is not that wide, maybe 30 feet. Rynar meets us on the shore, and he is holding my phone and translator.

Quickly, I climb out of the river and throw Lena over my shoulder. She doesn’t weigh much, but her arms and legs get in the way of walking quickly.

Now freezing, with an unconscious Lena on my shoulder, I tell Rynar, “Come, fast, run!”

Unable to walk or run normally, I switch to a cross between a skip and a gallop to try and get warm and keep Lena out of the snow.

I make a direct line for the church hall. Even with me carrying Lena, Rynar has a difficult time keeping up. Not going for subtlety, I barge in through the front door, practically kicking open the second of the airlock and place Lena on the ground. Rynar comes in shortly after as I start trying to peel my coat off, and then Lena’s coat as well.

Shocked faces are all I can see, followed by the screech of a woman that can only be described as the joy and happiness of seeing someone you loved that once thought dead, is actually alive. Sure enough, the rather large woman rushes forth and grabs Rynar and starts fawning over him, taking his coat and having him sit right next to the fire.

Seeing my work done, I quickly shed my outer clothes and shout for Thallion, who comes running forth.

Seeing his sister, he breaks down.

I interrupt him after a few seconds. “Look, Thallion, she is here and safe, but she fell in the river due to me letting her walk across the bridge. She is wet and hypothermic. She needs to get dry now and then warm.”

Looking at me, his smile snaps to serious, and he says, “Same for you. Thanks for saving my sister, but we don't have either of you back yet.”

At least he is level-headed about that. Hypothermia is at least treated with respect as the silent killer around here.

At this point, Thallion throws me a bedroll and says, “Strip and get in.”

I quickly take off all of my wet clothes and climb in. The adrenaline quickly wears off shortly afterward, and I start to shiver uncontrollably. I bunny hop over to the fire and flop down, the heat of the fire slowly penetrating the bedroll and warming me up.

I lie in a daze, reflecting on what happened.

Some time later, Thallion approaches me. “We have a problem,” he says.

I roll towards him. “What is it?” I ask, trying not to sound too aggressive as I just rescued two people and am still cold, although probably out of the danger zone myself.

“It’s Lena,” Thallion replies. “We got her wet clothes removed and into a dry bedroll on the other side of the fire, but she is not getting warm.”

“Okay…” I say, seeing that this is a very bad sign for hypothermia.

“I know you did a lot, and owe us nothing. Rynar said you tossed your phone and translator immediately to go and rescue her. You could have lost everything if you missed, but you did that.”

“Okay…” I am still not sure where this is going.

“What I mean is…” Thallion trails off.

“Yes?” I ask questioningly.

“Can you…”

I stare at him, waiting for him to finish.

“Can you please warm up my sister?” Thallion states in a hushed tone.

I think for a minute and then realize what he is really asking.

“I know it is a big ask, and it will be awkward, but… please? I can tell she is dying right now.”

I nod and start inchworming towards her.

I hug her through the bedroll, trying to will myself warmer.

“Not like that, like get in her bedroll?” Thallion states, embarrassed.

“Oh,” I say, and blush bright red.

Not giving up this easily, I fold myself up to try and maintain some modesty in the middle of this massive group of people, and slide in beside Lena in her bedroll. Her skin is pale, and rubbery, but most of all freezing. Rolling onto my side, I grab her and roll her so she is facing me. Her eyes are still open but unfocused. Wrapping my arms around her, I can feel my heat dropping as she saps it away.

“Thank you,” Thallion says, pleadingly.

“Just get me some warm water, or soup. My bowl should be near your chair.”

Returning in a few minutes, Thallion feeds me the broth as I cling to Lena, trying to pass as much heat to her as possible. After some time, she begins to warm, and being so near the fire, I fall asleep, hoping that this will work out.