Johan looked thoughtful. “Fishing?”
“It is our best option, I think?” Henrik replied. “Will you come, Elias? I don’t like the thought of you here alone.”
“Absolutely not,” Elias mumbled, already buried in the blanket with his eyes closed. “I cannot even fish, and I plan to sleep the day away.”
“What if those men return?” Henrik said.
“They are unlikely to return to cause harm in broad daylight. If they meant to harm us, why not just do it while they were here?”
Henrik didn’t like this idea one bit, but short of dragging an exhausted Elias all the way to the river so they could have something to eat, he didn’t have much choice but to concede.
“We… won’t go far,” Johan said, his voice raspy.
Elias began snoring softly, so Henrik kissed his stubborn lover on the forehead before getting wrapped up warm for the cold day ahead.
Elias was still dead to the world when Henrik and Johan were ready to leave, and Henrik had a pit in his stomach as they got on their way.
They walked together in near silence for around forty minutes before arriving at a spot along the river that Johan seemed satisfied would be a good place to try.
Henrik watched carefully as Johan showed him how to set up the lines and dropped a few nets into the fast-flowing water. While Henrik was an experienced sea fisher from his life before captivity, he’d never fished in rivers.
“The rivers have been overfished,” Johan explained. “Since the Great Famine. But folk tend to not bother with the smaller catches.”
“So, if we can catch enough of the smaller fish, we should be able to get by?” Henrik asked.
“For a while. I will need to try and hunt again soon, but I haven’t even seen a rabbit since we arrived.”
Henrik nodded thoughtfully. “I wonder if me and Elias can use magic to search the forest for animals. It’s worth a try, no?”
“Definitely.”
The temperatures had dropped even lower, so they were both bundled up on the riverbank as they waited and hoped for something to bite.
Henrik stood in front of Johan, who wrapped his arms around him in a tight hug.
“Henrik?”
“Hmm?”
“I… know you know. But I want… to say it. While I can”
Henrik smiled and twisted in Johan’s arms so he could gaze up at him.
Johan blushed. “I—I love you,” he blurted out.
Henrik stood on his tiptoes in order to reach Johan’s lips, stealing a kiss in the frigid air. “I love you, too.”
They kissed leisurely for a while, tasting each other and basking in the warmth of being completely in love until Johan said, “We should be watching the lines.” He spun Henrik back around, still keeping him in his embrace.
“It’s probably good that Elias didn’t come fishing,” Henrik said.
“Why?”
“It’s peaceful but nothing much happens. He would be bored within a few minutes and scare the fish off with his endless chatter.” They both chuckled.
“Yes, that is true.”
It took several hours before they finally got a bite, and Henrik was thrilled at what was a much bigger catch than he’d expected.
