Moni was not sure where they were. The snow did not make sense. It was meant to be late summer, wasn’t it? When they stopped and Iman made the circle around them, Moni was surprised at her own stillness. It was as if she had been rolling for hours, it was as if rolling was now her natural state and stillness an aberration. She was not as cold as she expected to be, as she usually was in the thick of winter, struggling to keep warm. Snow was not as hostile as she had always thought it to be. She was not in fear of it. Nor was she out of breath any more; she had kept pace with the others. Granted, Salma and Iman were not in peak form but, then, neither was she. She gazed at the glitter around her, it was not different from a desert, but with snow instead of sand, with white instead of yellowish brown. Ripples and curves, ridges and uneven surfaces that the wind had shaped and furrowed. How unlike Moni to take such note of her surroundings, to see and experience!

Iman was learning language all over again. Opposites intrigued her. Black fur, white ice. Warm breath, freezing snow. She swallowed huge gulps of it, felt it turn to water in her mouth and body. She must listen in order to learn. She must listen to Salma’s voice, trying to reach her, to filter through what she had become. Iman. Iman. Salma was saying her name, repeating it, so that Iman could never forget it. Never forget its meaning and how it was a simple word that was as light as a spark, as pretty as a glow, as necessary as air, always special.

Salma felt warm and safe between her two friends. They would not harm her, they were here for her. Out of the three of them, she was the one who had full faith in friendship. The one to whom sisterhood was the most valuable and worthy of investments. Moni and Iman might see her as their leader, but she was the one who needed them. She could not now move an inch without them. When would her strength come back, would it ever? When we return. That was the answer. They must keep on moving. They had stopped long enough. It was now time to soldier on. Moni on her right, Iman on her left, dragging her through the snow.