The Soft Way Home
Noor walked with a bowl of rain held in both hands. Wisp drifted just ahead, glowing at the edges. The stairs of vapour squeaked under her feet like new snow. Home was the low ledge where the wind went quiet. The usual path went all the way around the big white hill. Noor looked at the hill. Then she looked at Wisp. "Let's go the soft way, Wisp," she said. Wisp glowed a little brighter and turned toward the slope.
The hill was nubbly, like a woollen blanket left out in the mist. Noor climbed with small steps so the rain would not tip. Her toes sank in and came out again with a soft pop. Wisp floated beside her shoulder, lighting the bumps ahead. Near the top, the cloud went smooth and cool as a spoon. Noor slid one foot along it and laughed under her breath. The bowl stayed full. The moon watched from over the edge of everything.
At the top there was more hill. It rolled on in long white humps, one after another. Noor sat down for a moment to think about that. The cloud under her was warm, like a cat that had been sleeping there. Wisp hovered close and glowed steady. Noor stood up again and carried her bowl over the first hump. Then the second. Then a third, which was curly at the top, like the fleece of a very large sheep.
Behind the curly hump lay a slope, long and pale and smooth. Noor sat on it and let herself go. She went slowly, the way honey goes down a jar. The cloud brushed past her hands, soft and a bit damp. The rain in the bowl tilted, wobbled, and stayed. Wisp drifted down beside her, glowing at each small bump. At the bottom, Noor sat still with her heart going fast and pleasant. She had not spilled one drop.
The wind had combed this part of the kingdom into ridges. They ran under Noor's feet like the cords of a thick jumper. She walked along the top of one, arms out, bowl steady. Wisp went ahead and lit the ridge so it shone. Between two ridges lay a small puddle of sky, dark and quiet. Noor crouched and touched it with one finger. Rings went out and out. Then the puddle was smooth again, holding the whole moon.
Something cold touched the back of her hand. Then her ear. Then her nose. Snow was starting, right there, out of the cloud itself. The flakes came up around her as much as down. Noor held out her palm and let one land. It was tiny and prickly and gone in a blink. Wisp turned slowly in the middle of it all, glowing pink and gold. Noor watched the snow being born and forgot to be in a hurry.
The snow was making everything quieter. Noor walked on, and the ridges softened under her feet. She could see her ledge now, far off and low, with the wind gone still around it. It had taken much longer than the path around the hill. Noor thought about that and did not mind at all. "Let's go the soft way, Wisp," she said again. Wisp glowed, and led her down the last white slope with snow on both of them.
Noor stepped onto her ledge and set the bowl down carefully. Her legs were tired in a good, heavy way. Snow had gathered on her sleeves in small grey hills. She brushed them off and they drifted away like feathers. Wisp settled beside the bowl, glowing low and warm, the way a coal does. Noor sat down and pulled the blanket of cloud over her knees. The rain in the bowl swayed once, and then again, smaller.
The water went flat and still. The moon lay down inside it and stayed. Noor leaned back against the soft ledge with Wisp close at her shoulder. Snow came down slow and settled on the rim of the bowl. It settled on the blanket. It settled in the quiet places behind them, which were many. "Let's go the soft way, Wisp," Noor said, almost asleep. Wisp glowed, very gently, and the snow kept settling all around them both.
