Winter slithered along the worn paths through Orion, dodging the large boulders and crystals in her way. She had heard the news - the Three Kings were offering rewards for something as simple as colored stones. She smiled. She couldn't help but imagine beautiful blue ethereal wings sprouting from her back. She knew that they probably wouldn't give her flight, but, well, they would be pretty, right? That's all that they were.

She kept her eyes peeled and her tongue flicking to try and find a nice blue stone that she could bring back to the one that would give her those blue wings. However, her search was fruitless and she ended up running into lots of stalagmites in her haste to find them. So she continued sliding across the ground, grumpy and with a sore nose.

When I speak.

When I think.

Her search was taking her a long time. She had thought it would be easy - just a quick run nearby and then she could get back to Shade. She hoped that the cat wasn't getting too hungry while she was out looking for rocks. No, the cat may be injured, but he wasn't completely helpless. He could last. But still, she felt bad about leaving him for even a little while, since she had promised to help him out. Well, that didn't really matter now, she was already out.

In the midst of her thoughts, she almost missed the glimmer in the corner of her eye that meant a crystal was nearby. She stopped and turned back to where she had seen it. And, sure enough, there it was, a pretty, shining crystal half buried in the earth. Excited, the slithered towards it and raised herself next to it. How to get it out...

She positioned herself so that she wouldn't hurt herself to bad, and struck out, as if she were striking prey, but without opening her mouth. Her bruised nose buried into the earth next to the crystal. It loosened it, but not enough so that she could pull it out. She moved to the other side and struck a couple more times before the crystal became completely dislodged. She carefully picked it up in her mouth and turned to take it back to the den that she had been staying in before she would take it to the king of Orion.

*exit*

When I speak.

When I think.