The rough edges of the height's foothills were dulled by the deep and steadily growing layers of snow, and Skana carefully balanced her wide bony paws as snowshoes over the surface. The scent of death, cloying and stale, but familiar, wafted towards the advisor who nervously quickened her uneven pace. Squinting against the vivid glint of the snow, she could see two dark shapes set into the white, blurred and indistinct. Elettra was easy to distinguish by scent, and the frostbitten, dead musk was recognizable of Narcissa in life. Skana sighed and slowly approached her leader and the cadaver. It wasn't clear whether it was cold or starvation that took the scout, but it was the same icy tooth of death that hung over them all, just waiting to fall.

"I almost didn't want to see who it would be this time," Skana quietly admitted.

He'd never heard his mother cry out with such a voice before- or at least, he couldn't remember hearing her sing like that. Having been perusing the borders at the time when his mother's voice caught his attention, Asriel had already been out and about when he decided quickly that he must find his mother at once and console her. Something was wrong- and he felt at once that someone had died. There were few doubts in his mind that it was something she knew and loved, and for some reason, a particular name came to mind. The one she'd asked to scout with her. The one who'd been missing for some time now. The one who'd intrigued him so very much.

Narcissa.

It was with deep regret that he approached his mother, who had since been joined by Skana, to see the body in the snow. He did not draw close, and avoided looking at what had once been Narcissa's face. All he could remember were her striking green eyes, and the way they danced with light, the soft tone of her voice and the merry sound of her chuckle. Narcissa had been very kind to him, and he felt sad to lose her. He tried not to make eye contact with his mother, and felt his shoulders stiffen. He didn't know how to grieve. But he wouldn't cry- he wasn't a baby, nor was he female. And it was unacceptable for a man to cry, in Asriel's eyes. He sat down, then, and stiffly leaned his head back, to utter a howl, one to Narcissa. He was at a loss as to what else he could say or do, and could do nothing but say goodbye to his friend.


" "

Skana shifted to allow Asriel a place, feeling pity that this was the first winter the child had to experience. A small voice in her whispered that it could very well be his last, but she choked that thought down to the back of her mind as Elettra's whisper caught her attention. "I..." 'won't' she nearly said, but stopped herself. She knew it would be a lie to say such a thing. Everything died, and while winter could kill indiscriminately and arbitrarily, it was a fact that Skana's end was so tangible she could taste it.

Watching her leader practically caressing a body that would never again take breath made her feel ill. Skana shuddered, it was too familiar, too much. Once Skana had cried out in such a way, but she did not understand Elettra's grief now. Narcissa's death was indeed sad, a disappointment in seeing life cut short too soon, an aching empty socket where a part of the pack missing. But now, Skana did not kick and scream and rue the earth. She was uncomfortable and unsure whether it was her leader's unbridled reaction or her own subdued one that was incongruent. Feeling she was seeing something that she shouldn't, Skana turned her head in an averted gaze. She intently watched eddies of frost spiral over the heights as if they held an answer for her.

Asriel did his best not to look at Narcissa's body. Now that he was older and knew himself better, he knew that he'd once been attracted to her- as much as he could have been, when he'd been more immature. He'd liked her- she'd been kind to him, she'd been intelligent enough to earn his respect, and she'd been loyal to his mother, all the way to her death. Why she had to die was beyond him- he'd never seen her in weakness or ill health, and finding her dead foiled him. He did not know what to feel, but he felt claimed by shock and grief. He said very little, and once he'd finished his song, to which his mother lent her voice, he remained silent. He looked over to the two women only when he heard his mother's voice, sad and quiet. A tiny, vulnerable question was asked, but wasn't given a clear answer and Asriel looked at Skana, surprised for a moment. He wanted her to say that she wouldn't- he wanted her to reassure his mother.

But she couldn't. None of them could promise that they wouldn't be found a victim like Narcissa. If it could happen to her...It could happen to any of them. This was something that he was going to have to understand when he was older, but for now it was an intangible enigma. The loss of a soul while the body stayed behind and decayed. There was something about it which felt unsettling and he didn't like it. He didn't understand the feeling of death, what it meant to be no longer living. There was no return, and no way of knowing where the soul went- and he didn't like having these questions which couldn't be answered.

He could see that his mother was upset beyond his consolation, so he stood and neared her so that he could softly and sweetly kiss her cheek. With a tender breath fanning along her cheekbone, he uttered a wordless aspiration with which he could have said something- but he had no words to say, nor did he feel that any words he could conjure would ease his mother's grief. Having said his goodbye to Narcissa and attempted what he could to console his mother, the young prince sauntered off with the intention of finding somewhere that he could rest in private and contemplate life and death in peace.