Kjors could have come up with any great number of reasons for turning south so late in the season, moving towards the certain of the forest where the great mountain loomed.  It wasn’t wise to summit the heights this time of year – now that snow was falling on the grounds surrounding it, any man with half a mind would know the winter had already arrived to the peaks.  Winter always came sooner to the chilly heights.

Wisely, he had little interest in actually summiting the mountain – there was no food to be found, any any ingredients @Karina required had long since been killed by the frost sparkling on whatever leaves remained.  The wintery blanket had been a warning that the snows were about to come, though it had given the earth little time to prepare.  There had only been hours between the settle of the small crystals on everything that still lived and the first fall of frosty flakes, and most of them had been while the moon was high, the world asleep.  Even the dragon king himself had been tucked safely away in his den, awoken not by any particular sound, but the eerie silence that often accompanied the fall of snow.

Not wishing to wake the princess, he slithered free from Zephyr Rill, following his feet further south.  It wasn’t a particular need that carried him to the territory past discovered – just like the mountaintop, he doubted he’d find anything worth eating here, and Karina’s pineapple weed was more likely dead than still living on the rocky slopes.  He only wished to seek out the caves, and determine the safety of these grounds as the weather fouled.  A quick trip, and the man would return home before the weather got worse.