The next month passed by without any true event; winter was coming to a close, albeit the weather didn’t get much warmer. When the chiefs met, they discussed Yarasen’s plans in more detail; it wasn’t very surprising to see a majority of the men agree to it. The women outside echoed the call that ended the meeting.

Andreas made up his mind about his course of action already—he wouldn’t fight. After some consideration, Amanda chose to stay at home as well; Lizette stayed, if only to avoid Elias for a few more hours at a time. Andreas worried about either outcome—if Sólstaður won or lost, if Miya would stay safe. Everything else, he knew he could manage.

The ‘rebellion’ of sorts began in April of Gendai 421—three months and some days since Sólstaður received the news of Nari’s death, roughly four months since Kuro and Gin’s war ended. Miya gave word to her brother a few days prior that visiting may not be feasible at the moment; they hadn’t received a reply, but it would be fair to assume he accepted the warning.

A lot of preparations went in to make sure this went in Sólstaður’s favor; the community fires outside were allowed to burn out, and most weapons were hidden away. Kuro knew that Miya lived with the Rokens, so at the very least their house should be safe. Still, Amanda stayed close to the door to defend them if need be.

“This shouldn’t take very long,” Lizette said, looking at Miya. Miya herself looked a little anxious, despite Andreas’s best attempts to assure her; he couldn’t do much more than offer silent support.

Andreas translated it for Miya, then continued on with the thought on his own. “Yarasen’s plan only called for a month or two. It’s still cold enough that most Kuro soldiers won’t want to fight—with any luck, they’ll just run off.”

“I’m still worried,” Miya murmured. “Do you think it’ll be over by May?”

Amanda apparently caught on before Andreas did, chuckling a bit. “Sólstaður is fighting back against Kuro, possibly killing some people, and you’re worried about whether or not they’ll be done by your birthday?”

Miya frowned and turned around to face her. “It’s less of my birthday and more of the celebrations,” she replied firmly.

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Andreas also frowned once he heard it. For all of the years Miya had been there—however small of a number it ultimately was—Andreas took her out to sled; they brought along red juice and wine glasses to entertain childish maturity, until last year when Andreas just took wine instead. It was a friendly gesture at first, gaining romantic undertones—those outings were ultimately what usually brought them back together, and was what made Andreas realize he didn’t want to be without her.

“It might be,” Andreas said, bringing Miya’s attention back to him. “But even if it’s not, we can make due—considering how they’re trying to go about it, the fighting should be over in this area, at least.”

Miya nodded hesitantly, and Andreas took the pause in conversation to translate the gist of it to Lizette. Then came the next topic.

“Oh, hey,” Amanda said, perking up a little. Andreas frowned at her when he noticed her particular kind of smile. She gestured to Andreas and Miya. “As of June, you two would’ve been married for a year.”

“Where are you going with this?” Andreas asked dryly. “This isn’t exactly the best time to be teasing.”

“Aw, but it’s fun!” Amanda replied, her smile growing slightly wider. “You’re really easy to embarrass, you know.”

“But could you ever consider stopping?” Andreas maintained.

“As your older sister, it is my sworn duty to tease you,” Amanda said firmly. The look in her eyes grew more mischievous, and she continued in Sólstaður’s language. “Maybe I’ll stop when I have someone else to tease.”

He picked up on her intended meaning quickly enough, leaving Miya to be confused on what was said that could have made Andreas turn red for a moment.

“If you want someone to tease, get your own family,” Andreas replied, as calm as he could muster in the moment. “Leave me and Miya out of this.”

Amanda seemed to be fully prepared to continue. Fortunately, Lizette stepped in—albeit still teasingly.

“Amanda,” Lizette said sternly, “Only I get to ask Andreas when he wants to have children. Right now, it’s best to get this rebellion out of the way first. There’ll be a more appropriate time for this kind of conversation.”

Amanda sighed with a bit of theatric flair. “Fine. I won’t bother him, Mother.”

There was a short pause before Miya spoke up, turning towards Andreas. “I’m confused,” she declared rather bluntly.

“Yes, well,” Andreas said awkwardly, “I’m not translating that for you. It’s a…conversation for another day. Just Amanda being Amanda.”

Miya apparently accepted that answer, leaving Andreas to be thankful. It was too lighthearted of a conversation to be happening while Sólstaður’s best were pushing away Kuro forces outside. The idea was strange, but…all the while, Andreas could still picture it.

It should be a ways off before then, however—preferably when Elias wasn’t there to complain about it.