The Way We are Woven Like Stars

A lady groaning at the lower station (50 m above sea level) located on the city’s mainland, “Why did I take a day off just to ride alone even after travelling with family up here?

I don’t understand the point of doing this alone instead of riding together on this cable ride.”

A hand pats that lady’s shoulder, comforting her, “ Mirja, we are travelling together, but with a different twist. You, I, Espen, your Farfar (Grandpa) and all of us want you to experience the meaning of being together even when standing alone.”

Mirja disagrees, shaking her head ‘no’. What’s the point? I have to ride alone. I would never understand our people’s way of living life.’

Grandmother smiles, playfully nudges her elbow and Mirja mouths ‘sorry but not sorry’ to her Grandma.

Espen comments, imitating a penguin voice,“ Bestemor  (Grandma). Let her be, after all, penguins can’t fly even though they are birds. Aren’t I right, søster (sister)? “

Mirja ‘s eyes turned sharp like daggers, “Du? (Excuse me) !”

A woman yells Mirja’s name and warns her in a not-so-serious yet demanding tone, “Both of you! Stop your quarrels and get inside your cables.

Mirja, you only wanted to have fun, and suddenly, you don’t want to have fun. Just get in. Listen to your grandmother.”

Grandmother chuckles with a hint of sarcasm, “Okay, Mother. We got it. Come on, kids, otherwise, we will be on thin ice, literally.”

People’s cheerful howls and murmurs brew an uplifting atmosphere around them while Mirja and Espen are engrossed in cackling at grandma’s funny imitation of their mother.

Mirja’s cheeks hurt, unable to control laughter, but she calmed down, noticing her mother’s irritated expression,

She took notice, her foot grazing the snow rapidly as she neared the cable. Espen had already entered his cable, and others have, except for Grandmother and Mirja.

Mirja observes the crowd, enters the cable alone, even though they are with their families. Mirja wonders, “How do our people enjoy this, doing activities alone even when together?”

A pat on her back breaks her out of her thoughts, Grandmother suggests she go on and experience this feeling. Mirja nods, understanding her gesture.

She steps inside her reserved cable car. She feels awkward at first, but when the cable starts moving, she peers into other cable cars, observing people riding alone and enjoying the ride, unlike her.

She ponders, curious like a child, wanting to know what they enjoy.

Her hands unconsciously closed around the rail as she stood confused, not knowing what to do next.

Mirja traces the exquisite details of the view, the glistening transparent glass reveals the bird’s eye view of Tromsø.

All sounds fell silent. All she can feel and hear is her heartbeat, and her eyes are in awe of the breathtaking charm of Tromsø.

Her Nordic blue eyes melt at the sight of soft copper rays falling on the icy mountain. The cold ivory shade of ice mimicking her skin tone turns warm, celestial fur coat.

When the noise returns, Mirja recognises her phone’s ringtone, reads the caller’s name, and immediately searches for someone. Her eyes finally settle upon her grandma, energetically waving at her.

Mirja sighs, unable to hold her chuckle at her lovely grandma’s gestures.

Grandmother tries to hint at something, but her animated hand movements seem funny, and the glass blocks her voice. Still, her grandma keeps making hand gestures, a secret only for her to understand and also the only expert in her family, specialising in Grandma’s special hand language.

Mirja takes a guess, “ Is she trying to say round or circle or something round? Something round, that is….world, of course.

Yes, world. Oh, so she wants me to notice my surroundings, I guess.  Grandma is great, no one can make gestures like her“

Grandma makes a spyglass out of her hands, asking her to do the same.

Mirja understands her gesture, peeks through her spyglass, and notices a family in a cable car parallel to them riding alone.

No hint of annoyance, complaint or frown was visible in their faces; instead, they gleamed with delight, enjoying the city view, peering at a glimpse of their family members’ reactions and enjoying this wholesome experience.

Mirja’s train of thought halts as she stares at her family members, who are having fun except her.

Mirja’s attention shifts to her grandmother. Aware of her granddaughter’s gaze, she gives one of her warmest smiles, and Mirja finds herself smiling until her cheeks hurt.

She mouths out, her body embodied warmth, melting in the heat of her sweet Bestemor (Grandma)’s nature, “Thank you, Grandma. You are the best. ”

Mirja waves at her family. Gawking at the charming view, the city bathed in spotlight, the buildings stood tall, shining like diamonds, even rainbows kissed the glass, enchanted by the beauty.

She is enamoured by the beauty, her hands glued to the glass, her face pressed against the window, and not even blinking an eye.

The cable car moves, bringing her closer and closer to her city than ever before, and words alone cannot describe the feeling she feels right now.

Still, if she can simply describe it in terms of fashion, then Tromsø is the most beautiful dress in her eyes. The two lands divided by water look like an eye-catching blue torso underneath a mysterious green coat embellished with unique beads spread over the area.

Her hands trace invisible patterns over the glass pane, wanting to feel the colours on her.

She closes her eyes, feeling the sky and clouds around her, and the glass disappears from her touch, defying the laws of science, standing in mid-air, the fixated structure of reality vanishes, and now everything seems nearby her side, her family, the skyline and everything that she loves.

Mirja opens her eyes, drawn towards the small, beautiful things as her cable travels nearer the mountain. 

She checks on her family, waving, a smile on their faces.

She doesn’t feel alone anymore.

She waves back at them with a soft smile playing on her lips.

The ride stops at their destination. Mirja stayed a minute longer in the cable car, but the next family awaiting the ride gave her side glances, so she had to leave.

Her family had already stepped out, and their feet lay on the Mount Storsteinen (450 m above sea level), chill atmosphere welcomed them, exciting their bones. 

Mirja’s dad gleed, rubbing his hands in anticipation, “It was a wonderful experience. I just wanted to stay there and keep repeating the ride until I feel satisfied.”

Mirja’s mom teases, “ Then I fear, we all might need to return without you because you can never be satisfied. We would miss you, darling. Okay, kids, let’s go.”

Mirja’s dad utters with a slight disbelief tone, mouth opens and closes like how a fish talks, “What… I was just expressing my joy. There is no fun without you all. I feel so relaxed with you all. 

Most importantly, after a long time, we finally get to spend time with each other.”

Mirja agrees, burden lifted off her shoulder, feeling fresh as snow, “Yes, Dad. It’s been a long month for me, but it was worth it for this moment to happen.”

Grandma inquires Mirja, a playful smirk spread on her face, making those cute, expressive eyes “So, did you have fun with us on that cable car ride?”

Mirja shares her cable-ride experience, while a convincing grin on her face already gave an answer, “At first, I was uncomfortable, but then you helped me understand that we can be together even after being alone.

 And it is in our blood, I guess.  We take the pill of pain to taste the sweetness of calmness at the end of our pain.

I love it. Now, I understand why our people promote the space of personal privacy even when together, because we are together even when we are alone. Thank you, Bestemor (Grandma).”

Espen clears his throat and jokingly utters, “If you want to keep melting snow with your sweet words, my cute penguin søster (sister), then please continue. But it won’t change the fact that penguins can’t fly.”

Mirja lifted an eyebrow at his statement, clearly irritated, defending her image, “This doesn’t make any sense. You are speaking gibberish sentences that are invalid, like your brain”.

Espen comments in an obvious tone, enjoying her irritation, “Of course, it won’t make any sense since it is about you.” The rest of them giggle and chuckle at his icy punchback.

Mirja glaring at Espen, a low growl escapes her lips, a fireball thrown in his direction, but easily dodged by her brother,  “Du ! ” (Excuse me). Espen isn’t afraid of glares, instead, he loves to tease and make fun of her sister anytime.

Grandma suggests, a sprinkle of humour in her words, “ Bodila! Looks like we need to gather some ice.” Bodila questions with an innocent tone, “Why, Mom ?”.

Grandma replies with an obvious tone, “ Because Mirja’s expression is icy and our dear Espen requires some ice to level up to her iciness. Then we could enjoy the sight of a snowball fight.”

Bodila gasps with a bit concerned tone, “ Mom, you should not give them ideas, otherwise World War III would start between them.

You know, right, both of them are crazy about ice. They wouldn’t give up until one of them accepts defeat.”

Bodila observes her children, completely engrossed in their playful banter and childish antics, attracting people’s annoyed stares.

 Even though Bodilla seems irked by their baseless argument but she can’t deny, she adores her kids. 

Despite their savage comebacks and irritating behaviour, she finds it adorable and warmth nestles in her heart every time they spend time together.

Destin playfully nudges his wife, teasing her about her soft, heartfelt expression. Bodilla playfully glares at him.

Destin swiftly wraps his hands over her, slowly intertwining their hands.. Bodilla softly gasps and mumbles, blush painted her cheeks cherry red,” DESTIN! Svigermor (Mother-in-law) is here, and…the kids are also here. 

Don’t MAKE THIS AWKWARD FOR THEM. Let go of my Hand.”

Destin reassures her, unwilling to let go of her easily, ” Don’t worry, Mamma(Mom) is busy relishing in our kids’ interesting snowball fight.

It’s a rare sight to witness my hard-shelled lady’s blushing face, so I won’t lose the chance to admire you like this.”

Bodilla allows her husband to hold her hand while her face feels hot and warm in this cold weather. And this doesn’t go unnoticed by Mirja, she witnessed the whole scenario. She smiles at her parents, dimples enhancing her smile.

Espen takes advantage of the moment, and a snowball hits Mirja directly on her face, ruining Mirja’s happy mood.

Mirja throws a large mass of snowballs, making Espen stumble on the ice.

Laughter fills the atmosphere, especially Mirja’s laugh, stumbles falling on her knees, still cackling, unable to forget her brother’s fall, and the snowball war begins.

Bodilla faces  her husband and jokes in a low whisper tone, “ Destin, I think we are destined to stay here for another hour because this ice will take some time to melt.”

Destin nods, “Okay then, let’s have some snacks before the snow fight ends.”

While their family members are busy savouring the lunch, the kids shoot icy comments at each other so that one of them gets hit by the coldness.

Mirja starts the war of comments, “ Remember, little Espen, I have that photo of you and your friends destroying the precious ice-carved sculpture situated at the main market while you and your friends were ice skating on the roads.

So, tell me, Espen, shall I gift it to Aric’s Dad, who made that ice-statue for the occasion?

He seemed extremely upset when he saw scattered pieces of his reindeer’s ice sculpture. He still hasn’t forgotten that incident. If you want, I can help him with that.”

Espen’s face turns pale, stuttering, whereas a confident smirk spreads on Mirja’s lips, “ Yo-u, yyou can-n’t do that. You are well aware of how obsessed he is with his creation, and he even guards his creation like his child.

If you remember exactly, he was hell-bent on finding the culprit behind the broken sculpture. He even investigated it for a month.

Gladly, I was spared from his suspicious sight, and now you want to rewind time.

Okay then, do you remember you once kissed the frozen floor and were stuck there for more than 10 minutes?

And, even your friends witnessed your first kiss on an icy floor. What an icy kiss.”

Mirja flushes red in embarrassment, and her fists curl,“ You! That also happened because of you. You crashed into me, which led me to crash into ice, and my mouth remained tongue-tied to ice for almost 10 minutes. I-“

Destin laughs as a flashback of that scene replays in his mind. Grandma giggles and suggests he keep quiet. Bodilla glares at her husband and son for making their daughter feel embarrassed.

Mirja feels the iciness biting her face, and suddenly her face freezes in disbelief.

Mirja covers her mouth in a gasp, “Oh no. Oh no. no no no. I completely forgot I had skiing plans with them in the evening.”

Her eyes went round once she unlocked her phone, and she realized the urgency of time and immediately asked her mom,“ I don’t have much time. It’s already late.

Mom, I need to go.

Is it okay if I go?

I have promised them to spend time together this evening. I-I need to go.”

Bodilla thinks for a while, then Grandma intervenes, rescuing her granddaughter “Bodilla, let her go. We already had a fun time together.

She also needs to give time to her friends as well.”

Bodilla is convinced, and she permits her to go. Mirja travelled back to the lower station by the cable car and ran at lightspeed as soon as she stepped out because she couldn’t afford to wait for a taxi.

Moreover, she is used to walking and running for long hours in freezing temperatures.

Mirja lands at the frozen pond, panting heavily and scans her surroundings, but none of her friends are in sight. Mirja called them, but not even a single friend received her call.

Mirja groans, kicking a pile of snow gathered at her feet,  “All running for nothing. How could they forget? At least I remembered. But my friends, none of them came.”

Suddenly, she feels her body lift and gravitates towards the pond before her mind can analyse.

The thin ice disappears, and icy water welcomes her presence. She peeks her head above the water’s surface and witnesses her cold-hearted friends laughing at her state.

She scolds them, her fiery nature defeats the bone-chilling temperature,  even her friends faced her cold fire, burning them with a layer of soothing coldness  “Are you all on thin ice?”

One guy responds, “ We are not on thin ice, but you did currently experience being on thin ice.

Sorry, I meant crashing upon thin ice. “ The same guy continued teasing her, but suddenly he felt a push. Before he can react, he crashes into the waters, falling over Mirja.

Both of them plummet underwater due to his sudden crash-landing.

His eyes widen in surprise like a lost fish gawking at his surroundings, and Mirja is giggling, but only bubbles come out of her mouth. That guy glares at her and swings his arms like a jellyfish, making her laugh, but instantly she shuts her mouth.

Mirja can sense his discomfort, the icy-biting temperature affecting his cold tolerance level. But for Mirja, the coldness didn’t bite her; instead, it caressed her body.

Mirja swims towards him and wraps her arms around his neck. He feels comforted by her presence, and now the coldness doesn’t bother him anymore. Both emerge from the water’s surface, and their friends are not concerned because they are all good swimmers.

Mirja still holds him in her arms and whines with a hint of surprise and hidden humour, “ You guys are unbelievable. But I like the way you play fair. The one who pushed me also gets pushed into the water.

Although I feel a little bad because our dear Calder is like a cat, and he can be fearful of water sometimes, he still deeply loves water.

Calder doesn’t let go of her embrace, and while she is talking to their friends, his eyes land on her face, which is shining like a bright star outshining the twilight blue sky shimmering in the background.

Her short, wet hair threads flying flat against the cold, sudden breezes swaying in the atmosphere.

The soft aurora lights evoke a halo on her ice-blonde hair, her silver skin blooms under the sky of starlights, and the freezing lake feels like a hot spring to him.

Her round lips curved upward, a mischief resting upon her lips, but the moment she laughs at something, the dimples appear, warming his heart, his cheeks colored red, and his eyes pool with swirls of images of her, captivating his soul forever.

One girl comments with a snort, “ Both of you look like two scoops of butterscotch-blue lagoon ice cream floating on the water.”

Mirja bursts into laughter, ” What… Ice-cream. Seriously, Ice……ice-cream. We-we both lookk like an ice cream to you. Hhahhahahhah. How creative, Oula.” Mirja animatedly claps her hands while her hands are still wrapped around Calder’s torso.

Calder becomes stiff for a moment when Mirja laughs, he feels his heart melting into puddles of molten ice.

Calder then regains his normal expression and secretly signals one of the guys to push the rest of them into the water.

That guy understood Calder’s intention; he sneakily graced them with a great push into the pond, simultaneously Calder wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her underwater.

All of them are in shock by the sudden fall, but Mirja is more surprised by his touch as she feels the coldness caressing her waist.

The cold can’t stop the rush of warmth pacing fast in her body, and she stares at him with a surprised gaze.

Their friends emerge from the water’s surface, but Mirja and Calder remain underwater as Mirja’s body has become still.

Calder noticed her behaviour, gawking at him with a strange element of surprise in her eyes, made him curious, but he dismissed his curiosity for later.

Calder grabs her wrist, swimming upwards and peeks his head above the water’s surface, and still now Mirja remains stiff by his side.

Mirja returns to her normal self when she hears Oula scolding one of their friends, “Arvid, you will get coldness in return someday. Mark my words.

Asbjorn, Mette, Moya and Oula, we all will unite for justice to be done.”

Calder reminds, “Du? ( Excuse me). We two are also eager to unite with your forces for justice to be done. We are in it as well.”

Mette utters, feeling betrayed, a bit of drama in his tone, “ Calder, this isn’t fair. You first joined hands in this mischief, and now you act innocent.

Mirja, he is the one who suggested doing this prank on you.

He told us Mirja loves bone-chilling coldness, so why don’t we let her have fun in this freezing lake? SO CRUEL! tCH…tCH.. punish HIM DOUBLE, ONE FOR YOU AND ONE FOR US.

A wide smirk draws upon Mirja’s face, turns to him, and bats her eyelashes, Calder panics and objects to her intentions, “DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT. “, mumbles in a desperate tone, only audible to her, ” I know what you intend to do, but I reject your ideas.

Think of something else”, and changes the topic smoothly, ” Arvid, you are such a lucky person. ” Mette, being a curious girl, asks Calder, “HOW SO ?”

Calder playfully answers, “Arvid was spared from the icy bath as a gesture of redemption for joining hands in our mission, Mirja’s icy bath plan, and also for not being part of your betrayal plan of pushing me into the pond.

You should be glad, I didn’t ask Moya to execute this act.”

Arvid mumbles, “ What’s the point… I am still going to be punished either way.” Calder was going to defend, but Mirja leaned into his ear and whispered, “ Thank you for saving me from colliding into their jumpy bodies.”

Without giving a hint of warning, Mirja rapidly holds his left hand, gently drawing circles on his hand underwater, hidden from everyone’s sight.

Calder feels goosebumps all over his body at her boldness, although he is enjoying the intimate moment that is hidden from their sight.

Calder mouths, “What are you doing? What if they witness this? “

Mirja assures him and innocently spares a wink towards him, “ Why? You don’t like it. I am just holding your hands so that your fear doesn’t retreat into your mind.”

After being assured that their friends are engrossed in the act of glaring at Arvid, Calder speaks in a low undertone, “Mirja, I am not scared. I’m just thinking about our friends who might misunderstand your intention and get the wrong picture of us.

You know, WE ARE FRIENDS, RIGHT? ”

Mirja’s smile vanishes and appears lost, but then she realises she is being too daring for nothing. Mirja quickly let go of her grasp and swam away from him.

Calder is confused by her action and misses her warmth radiating from her presence.

Mirja reverts to her normal self and avoids the situation for today, and in the snap of a finger, she steps out of the pond and stands next to Arvid.

Mirja announces,“ Come out of the pond, guys! Even though iciness runs in our blood, the water is too chilly beyond our tolerance.

Hurry up. As per our plan, let’s ski from the small hilly mountain, it will be fun.

Whoever is last has to participate in the upcoming skiing competition in the next few weeks. Be prepared because I won’t be the last one that is guaranteed. “, she ends her sentence with a confident grin.

After 10 minutes, Mirja reached the top of the mountain with a frown spread over her face.

Unable to accept her defeat, she whines, “I can’t be the last one, I ran first. How are you all faster than me?”

Calder intentionally mocks an evil laugh, “ This year, Mirja will make the ski race more interesting and cool. I hope your feet dance and caress the frozen ground for hours until you grace the floor with your face.”

Mirja leans over him and informs him in a confident tone, audible only to his ears, “ If I win, then you owe me a hand intertwined with mine. Do you have the iciness within you to face this glacier standing before you ?”

Calder is speechless by her bold attitude. Mirja was enjoying the joy of teasing him, and his expression was priceless to her.