As she woke up, Winter shivered. It was a little chilly in Polaris today. She raised her head, the sleep fading from her eyes and her tongue flicked out curiously. The scent of Kielo was a little stale - they were already out somewhere. Her tongue flicked again and she caught the scent of her children, so faint that it wasn't even there anymore. She felt sadness clawing at her heart. She missed the days she had spent with her family. Those cycles had been the happiest of her life.

And now things seemed dull. Very dull. Of course, life with Kielo was good and she was happy, but she never talked to anyone else. Never visited with anyone else. Nothing happened outside of their interactions and while Winter, on one side, was okay with that, on the other she wasn't so content. She wanted to live again.

She began to move forward, unraveling herself from the curled ball she had been and crept into the open air of the cave. She shivered again. Maybe she should stay in today. It was too cold for her. But she forced herself to move forward. If she was going to sit around all the time she'd never accomplish anything. Getting picky about the temperature wasn't going to do her any good.

So she began to wander aimlessly, searching for someone, something, and searched for a surprising while before, finally, she gave up and found another crevice to curl herself in. It was just too cold and it was a lot warmer in here.


"And still I feel I said too much."
"My silence is my self defense."

Tags: @Dewberry
Notes:

Dewberry wanted to go home. It was so chilly in Polaris today, and home had family and warmth and sweet-smelling air (plus the smell of blood, too, which was actually pretty unpleasant once it became all stale and dried-up, and then there was the horrifying stench of the body pile or whatever it was supposed to be but at least that was away from the nest and anyway she could move to a sweeter-smelling part of the tunnel if she wanted; the point was that right now, Tunnel N seemed like a far better place to be than Polaris). But the room was such a big place that it would take her forever to go back and besides, Father had said that it was the best room for magic. Indeed, Dewberry was feeling more energized, even if it was way too cold for her liking.

Now that she was all grown up, she felt she had to practice more and do her part to keep the family safe and happy. Mother had strength and experience and a beak and spikes on her belly, and Sister was huge and terrifying and Dewberry felt sure she could defeat anyone with those teeth. And Father was even huger, and he had antlers and hooves with his weight behind them. She was just a little snake, without enough venom to even mildly inconvenience opponents bigger than her usual prey. She had to become better somehow. But oh, it was just so cold in here! She could barely focus. It was so uncomfortable and the temperature was bringing back memories of that magic-dream-thing where she couldn't smell and the family was gone and Mother was completely frozen NO! She had to remember, that wasn't real. It would never be real, hopefully. Just to make completely sure, Dewberry flicked her tongue out, drawing in the surrounding scents. Yep, her sense of smell was perfectly fine and the Cold wasn't coming to take them all.

Ooooh, what was that scent? It smelled like someone else, but not really because there was something familiar about it, kind of like herself but not really because it was someone else's scent. Idea! She could go find that Gembound, make friends with them and warm up together and maybe bring them back to the family like the other members were always doing. She followed the scent to a crevice thing and turned about, confused, before realizing: Oh, they must be inside. What a smart thing to do; it seemed to be much warmer in there. "Hi!" she called out softly. "Can I come in?"

@Winter