The trees became shorter and thinner, their leaves turning brown and falling. The three made their way out of the forest. There were soft white flakes on the ground, the air at first cool and then much colder. On they went until the ground was covered in snow. Salma slid faster, Moni rolled more easily, and Iman enjoyed digging her weight into the softness, leaving prints behind her. The sun shone bright. They were cold, but the quicker movement soothed them. They were making progress and soon found themselves up against a cluster of figures standing still; all of them statues made of ice. Famous people and their belongings. Tennis stars with their rackets, actors with their Oscars and smiles. There were ice sculptures of Mother Teresa and Gandhi, of Princess Diana and Martin Luther King. Moni was the one most entertained by these sculptures, identifying each one quicker than Salma could. Iman was oblivious. She could not remember these iconic figures, their household names beyond her reach.

The snow stretched out for miles and they were part of its whiteness; they were cold and numb, but being out of the forest lifted their spirits, made them feel that they had advanced. Sliding, rolling, falling off snow ridges, they clung to each other. It was Moni who was the first to laugh, followed by Salma, then Iman. Was there room for happiness? Only the kind that rose from a shared purpose, a unified effort. ‘We are together,’ said Moni. ‘We are together,’ said Salma. ‘Speak, Iman, say the word “we”. The word “we”.’ But Iman shrugged off Salma’s arm and this caused Moni to stop. Iman moved in a circle. With her prints she drew a large round circumference and then she joined the other two inside it. That was her understanding of ‘we’, the three of them together.

‘I missed you both,’ said Moni, and she told them about what happened to her at the cottage. ‘I missed you both,’ said Salma and told them what happened to her with Amir. I missed you both, Iman wanted to say but could not put into words her transformation, her free romping in the forest where it was eat or be eaten, where no one knew her name.