The air was chilly, small breezes spiraling through the thicket and creeping in under thin puppy fur with icy fingers. The snow, that wondrous white, had disappeared as quickly as it came, melted away by temperatures that seemed more than cold enough to young paws. Above, the trees were already half naked, their remaining leaves shifting from red and yellow to dull brown; They'll get new ones, the adults promised, assuring their offspring that this was all completely normal and only meant winter was coming. That lurking ghost, a time of cold and dark and wanting. It seemed nothing more than a tale meant to scare the pups, though it was hard to imagine their mother doing such a thing. Sunlight filtered down through the thinning canopy, bright and sharp against eyes used to the dimness of the thicket. It cast odd shadows on the leaf-littered floor, turning gnarly bramble and naked branches into threatening, dark figures against the azure of the sky overhead. But it took more than that to scare Flair Athesila! She was ready to take on any winter-monsters that might jump out as she navigated the thicket with head and tail held high. She knew these lands like she knew the inside of the pack den, a lack of green wasn't gonna spook her. But it was oddly saddening, to look around and see only brown. She wouldn't cry about the plant's dying; I'm not @Enia! But the forest did feel weirdly empty. Maybe that was why the small flash of green caught her attention. She didn't otherwise care about plants, not like mom and Nia, but she was curious about the forest at large, and seeing green among all this brown inevitably awoke that curiosity. Shifting direction, she weaved between the bramble towards the unexpected life, wrinkling her brows as she came upon the small tree, thriving in a particularly thick ray of sunlight. The leaves were dark, surrounding clusters of dark berries, and unlike everything else, they seemed completely unmoved by the change of season; But why?! Word count: 343 Thoughts ”Speech” |
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