The snow was refusing to let up, and Jeng was starting to get bored. Vikali lapsed into his usual silence as the time ticked by, and he would not be stirred to conversation as he quietly watched the snow falling down outside the cave they were sheltering in. He was very wrapped up in the whole snow thing, but she supposed since this was where he was from, it was a big deal for him. To her, though, everything looked the same.
The same sheet of snow falling over and over, almost impossible to see through. The world just looked solid and white outside.
“I want to go outside and face this storm, like some mortals do,” Jeng said suddenly, and before Vikali could stop her, she charged out of the cave. She was surprised she could get out of there at all, expecting to just run into a white wall, but it was actually something she could pass through. It turned out to be a bad idea, anyway, though, as she was immediately bone drenched with icy wet snow, and it sank deep into her fur and feathers, weighing down her entire body. No wonder the snow was considered so dangerous to mortals: if they had to walk through this kind of stuff for a long time, it would easily kill them! Why would anyone want to live in a place like this? That was the question of the day, and something she would have to have answered by the time they finally reached his pride.
If they ever got there. She realized she was not even sure if she was walking up the mountain or down it, as disorienting as the snow was.
“Jeng, this way. Walk with your head down. You will be fine, I am next to you.” Vikali could not be seen in the snow, but she heard his voice and nodded, in case he could somehow see her. He seemed to blend in because of his color, but also because he was so comfortable in this setting. She knew he was probably still walking on top of the snow with no effort whatsoever. But that was him. This was what he did. Maybe he rescued mortals from the snow. She felt him leaning against her reassuringly and she walked with him, doing her best to charge through the snow as stubbornly as she could.
She made it an impressive distance, considering the odds, and he supposed that was because she was a God. She had a lot more strength to draw from than most mortals did. Anyone else, he imagined, would have been frozen to the bone by now. But he did not want her to keep pushing herself for no real reason. Even Gods could get sick and suffer for their foolish pride, and she was not built for the icy realm like he was.
“We should fly over the rest of it, the top of the mountain should be more clear. Come.” Vikali bumped her and moved to take fly, spreading his massive wings and flapping them hard against the driving snow. He took to the sky and used his claws to hold on to her cloak, helping her up to the sky as well. She spread her wings with some difficulty but managed to flap her way up off the ground.
Soon enough, the two rose up over the clouds and the storm raged on beneath them, rather than all around them. Jeng was much happier once she was flying, feeling a bit warmer and more comfortable than she had been on the ground. Flying was more her speed, anyway, but she did like to experience the things mortals had to go through, just so her stories had more depth to them. It made her retellings dynamic when she had actual knowledge and experience to draw from, after all.
But maybe she pushed that too far, sometimes.
“Well, I would hate to be a mortal, going through that. That is not fun at all.” She sighed, flapping along beside him. Once she got feeling back in her paws, her mood lifted substantially. She wheeled around in the sky, humming to herself as she did so. The clouds below were clearing up and, just like he said, once they got higher up the mountain, the storm cleared away. She flew down with him to land on the top of the mountain’s crest, looking down into a wide valley blow. It was beautiful down there, glimmering with fresh snow and a massive ring of ice. Inside the ring there was a large island, and she imagined that was what he called the frozen isle.
The ring of ice was a large lake in the middle of the valley, and of course the frozen mass inside it was where the pride lived.
“Oh, that’s amazing! This is your home? I’ve never seen anything so pretty! Would they take well to seeing a God in their lands? I know you hide, so I wouldn’t make you show yourself, but if I went down there would it be okay?”
“All visitors are welcome, and since I brought you here, you should be fine. I would be the one most skeptical of you. Your pelt is not blue or white, so the most superstitious of the pride will not mind your presence, either.” He had explained to her that she was not the right color to be mistrusted, and where that whole idea came from. She was not worried about that.
Grinning ear to ear at him, she moved to bump him happily before she leaped to fly down toward the pride. He watched her go, but would not follow in this form. He was very careful about hiding himself when he was in the pridal lands, and this was no different. He masked his appearance and began the slow walk down into the valley. Jeng would already be well at home in the pride by the time he got there, he imagined, but that was fine by him. He would just pretend not to have met her before.
Word Count: 1,022 in Word
