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⬅️ Previous capture (2023-09-28)
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Taisel had never seen a waterfall, and never could she have imagined such a sight.
She heard it well before she saw it. Like thunder, it filled the air, drowned out the birds and insects. Ever present and ever lasting, it hinted at the raw power ahead, a challenger growling deep in their throat, goading her into action. Now, mist condensed on her coat and coalesced into sparkling droplets. Before her, ferns trailed down a sheer rock face, blanketed in white fog that fractured the sunlight into tiny rainbows. This close, the waterfall dominated the whole world, a pillar of white water thundering from such a height that not even the tallest of trees could dream of reaching.
Taisel lashed her tail, itching to investigate this gateway to otherworldly realms, but respect held her back. It was Ki-Relare who stepped first into the thunder, soft paws stepping silently over rock that shone with condensation. Mist clung to her blue pelt and weighted it down, but where another nicheling would appear bedraggled, Ki-Relare stood tall, defiant, as always, against the forces of the world. Behind and to her side followed her second in command Lurro. He had never fully recovered from first the war-beast's attack and then the ape that rogue-born had summoned, and still favoured one back leg, holding it stiffly and refusing to put his full weight upon it. But despite the pronounced limp this gave him, he had followed Ki-Relare for days without a word of complaint. Day after day the pair were the first to press on and the last to stop. Taisel prided herself on being only just behind him in that regard. Her world had grown in so few turns of the moon, now that he and Ki-Relare had seen fit to tear it open.
Now they were on their way to climb a mountain and bring back a god.
Relare reached the cliff face and reared up, steadying herself with one paw. Lurro crouched by her side, glancing back at the waiting expedition. Taisel stayed where she was, never setting a paw out of line. Orders were orders. But when Lurro's gaze fell upon you, it was seldom because he was proud of what you had done. He soon turned his attention away, though, and he and Ki-Relare exchanged words, occasionally stopping to study the cliff face further. Their conversation was inaudible, the waterfall consuming all sound. Taisel did not move even to shake the condensation from her coat.
Eventually the pair came to a consensus and returned to face the waiting expedition. A good amount of nichelings - three threes and one - had been picked to follow Ki-Relare and her second in command to the lands of ice. Ten nichelings, consisting of the best the tribe had to offer, a commendation in itself. Days of trailing the runaways had led them here, and more than once they nearly lost-track - say what you would about rogues, but they and their children had a certain amount of cunning that Taisel had to admire, traitor or not. She lashed her tail again, eagerness welling up inside. What wonders would tomorrow bring? Taisel had heard all the rumours by now - a child-god, a savage war-beast even bigger than the powerful grey nicheling they'd managed to subdue. What could possibly follow?
"Once," Ki-Relare said, "my brother told stories of a place where the land grew tall and reached the sky." She gazed off into the distance for a moment, before turning her focus back to the waiting nichelings.
"May his gems shine in the night," said Lurro.
"It was these stories that he passed on to the snow-seekers, before we knew what they were," Ki-Relare continued. "This is the place. They have followed the river, and so shall we. I task you now with finding the way into the mountains, where we will find the seer and Yuki.
Taisel remembered Yuki, or at least she remembered a white cub with red eyes. They said the child had hidden his nature, though all that had come from a panicked Norokir, and you could never quite trust Norokir, especially not when he was babbling about anything that came to mind in order to save his gems. But while Taisel remembered little of the snow-child, she remembered -Laana- well. She had seen the seer's magic for herself, seen her gems turn to ice after surviving everything the forest and the caves could throw at her. Ki-Relare believed Yuki to be the key. Taisel wasn't so sure about that, but she had enough questions of her own. Why should the snow-seekers have all the power? All her life she'd tried to live with the quiet dignity she was told was befitting of a Taimeran. Now, things were changing. Now, they were prey no more.
But even she could not quench a touch of doubt in her thoughts, like a bud showing its first colours. She chanced a look to either side. The others were thinking it too, she was sure, but nobody wanted to be the first to ask how they were supposed to climb all the way up there. Taisel clawed at the bud before it had a chance to bloom. If the snow-seekers could do it, why not them? "There'll be traces of their passing," she said. "We'll find them."
"See that you do," Ki-Relare said.
The expedition dispersed at these words, each nicheling eager to be the one to find the way. Taisel took one look at the fog-slick rocks ahead and dismissed them. The snow-seekers might have walked out of a storm with a god amongst their ranks, but they were still nichelings, and no nicheling Taisel had ever met could fly. Even if you believed the rumours of distant isles where nichelings grew wings, there wasn't a feather among them. Magnificent as the waterfall was, she turned away into the jungle depths. Ki-Relare had wasted little time setting out, and from the clues that Taisel found along the way she estimated they were only a few days behind. There would still be traces, to the observant enough eye. A stray pawprint, a broken stem, even a few clumps of disturbed earth might point the way. At least they were free of those blasted swamps. But you had to move carefully, avoid wasting time but equally avoid treading on the evidence. Taisel followed the cliff-side, moving further away from the river. The forest grew all the way to its base here, but thinned out somewhat from the extra shade, giving her more room to weave through the undergrowth and scan the area for traces - and, crucially, to watch for predators. They'd been lucky not to encounter any apes or trailing vines so far.
Some of the others had stayed by the waterfall, but Taisel wasn't the only one to think of heading for drier ground. She caught sight of a few others sniffing around the cliff's base, looking for footholds. Among them was Mimi, that sleek little two-gem and sister to Lurro himself. Taisel always had to suppress a shudder at the sight of her. One swat of her heavy digger's paws should break someone so small, and her venom would do nothing to Taisel's toxin-laden body, but she shared a certain intensity, a cold stare, with her brother. You could try to beat her down, and maybe you'd seem to succeed, but Taisel got the feeling you had better watch your back as you turned away. She pushed on. If she didn't keep moving, someone else would find the way first.
"How anyone's meant to get up there is beyond me," another nicheling said, rearing up to peer at the distant clifftop. "We should-"
Immediately, he stopped. Mimi, balanced on her hind legs and steadying herself against the cliff with a paw, glared. The doubtful nicheling dropped into a crouch, sheltering his gems, and for one tense moment silence fell. Taisel didn't even dare to step back. She just watched, ears pinned back, mimicking the two-gem's glare. She'd heard the rumours of the lower caves, of gems stolen in the dark...
Then Mimi returned to her search, and the moment stopped. Taisel returned to her search as though the trailing vine itself had given up its hold on her body. Ignoring the pricking sensation at the base of her gems - -don't think of the dark- - she sniffed at the rocks, taking a few cautious steps from the group. That put Mimi at her back - -don't think of the dark- - but the two-gem was busy with her own investigation. Taisel kept one ear turned backwards all the same, but heard nothing of alarm.
Was that a mark, there? She stopped to take a closer look. These cliffs, like the ones the Taimerans sheltered within, were limestone, relatively soft and possible to scratch with a claw. Something, or someone, had passed this way and done just that. Their scents had nearly faded, but as Taisel looked closer she could see more signs of their passage - claw marks, dislodged clumps of moss. She reared up onto her hindlegs, balancing with her long tail. The cliff was less sheer at this point, and between all those ledges and inclines, there might be a way up.
She let out a gruff bark, drawing the others' attention. The expedition clustered around, and she felt doubt try to bloom again. Had she made the right call? Did more than one of them doubt those cliffs could be climbed?
Did -she?-
"This is the way," she said. "You can see the marks where they passed by."
She waited as Ki-Relare stepped into the circle. The blue nicheling peered up the cliff-side, and though the sounds of the rainforest never ceased, Taisel would have sworn she had never heard such silence in her life.
At Ki-Relare's side, Lurro investigated the claw marks that Taisel had pointed out. They -were- nicheling claws, she was sure of it. She hadn't been picked for nothing. She knew bearyena trails, and the different kinds of ape. But as Lurro looked up and checked the marks again, she fought the urge to check again.
At last he stared upwards one more time and hauled himself onto the first ledge. He stood above the group, his stiffened hind leg raised, but staring them all down without a hint of pain. -Daring- them to say that nobody could make the climb.
"We leave now," Ki-Relare said.
Taisel suppressed a purr. Too much self-satisfaction, and you might draw more attention than was good for you. But as she and the expedition set off on their climb, following their leaders into a sky filled with legends, she could have sworn her gems shone brighter than ever before.
---
A thin coating of frost dusted the pebbles by the riverbank, vanishing under Laana's paws. The morning sun shone blinding upon the snowfields, and the winds from the peak blew chill and sharp, yet they did not bother her as much as she feared. This was not the bone-deep deathly cold of the caves, but a bracing wind full of life, its ebb and flow as vibrant as the tides and sharp as a claw. If she closed her eyes, would it guide her as the seas once did?
She dipped her head to drink. The water chilled her throat, chasing away the last of her drowsiness. Looking up over the ice-coated world, she saw Kois lapping at the stream as well, while a little way off Yuki and Anameis were sharing a story and Kuku and Iskome were digging and expanding the old ramfox holes by the river. The tribe had already started to store their food inside the deeper runs before she'd left, but in the time since they had greatly expanded their system. Kuku had discovered which fruits and tubers were good to eat, and a variety of scents from sweet to earthy filled their stores. Months ago she would have responded to such an idea with bafflement - why take food underground when there was so much all around you? But their world had changed and so had they.
She made to walk off - and a shadow fell over the sun.
It was no more than a flicker of the light in the corner of her eye, but her instincts knew what it meant. She bounded across the river, icy water spraying in her wake, coming to a stop by Yuki's side with her fur bristling. Anameis and Kois had seen it too, and they all watched the dark shape wheeling high above on wide wings.
Laana remained tense as the bluebird spiralled overhead, but either it was not hungry or it had decided to look for an easier meal, and it soon vanished over the peaks as quickly as it appeared. Laana's tail and hackles slowly smoothed down, and she shifted back into a relaxed stance.
"Done saving us?" Anameis said.
Laana breathed in, slowly... and much to her surprise found herself already calm. Why shouldn't she be? The bluebird was nothing she couldn't handle. She purred softly. "You won't need me for that soon," she said. Anameis was small for her age, but about the size where a bluebird wouldn't think her worth the trouble. And Yuki.. even if that bulk was mostly fur, she couldn't ignore the difference since she'd been gone. Slowly, but steadily, her sister's child was growing into the tall, powerful nicheling his big paws indicated he'd become.
"But not just yet!" Yuki said, bounding toward her and nuzzling up against her ruff. Despite her observations, she still drew him close with her nimble paw. He wasn't -quite- grown.
A crunch of stone and a splash of shallow water announced Kois' approach. "I would not worry about that," she said. "You may grow to my size and Laana will still run to your side if so much as a cloud crosses the sun."
Laana let out an amused snort, but after giving Yuki one last lick to smooth down his growing mane, she drew her paw away. The young nicheling reared up to half nuzzle, half headbutt her on the cheek, before pouncing on a stone and batting it into the water with a splash. For a moment he looked lost in his thoughts, then splashed through the shallows toward Kois. "We should show them the cave!" he said. "Nobody's told them about the cave yet!"
Kois gave Laana a slightly concerned look. Only by looking closely could Laana pick out the angle of her ears, a tiny indicator of unease. She was waiting for Laana to say she'd had enough caves for a lifetime before excusing herself... but she felt no such apprehension. "It sounds like you've made some discoveries since we've been gone," she said. "What caves are these?"
"I hope they're not too deep," Anameis said, looking up from where she'd been nibbling at some stray dirt between her toes.
Yuki looked back over his shoulder, and Kois pawed at a heavy stone hidden under the water. "We discovered it in the mountains," she said. "A few of us have visited since, and..." She paused. "Maybe it would be best if you saw for yourself."
---
After Kois and Yuki's assurance that the cave they spoke of was small and nothing to fear, the four of them set out across the alpine valley. They explained no more, leaving Laana and Anameis to speculate. But Laana couldn't bring herself to worry. The sun was high and bright, and while the snows were deeper here, Kois strode through them with ease, clearing a path for the others to follow. Anameis was a little more hesitant - she had never seen so much snow until yesterday, and had never even felt the cold until a couple of turns of the moon ago. But she soon began to pounce on clumps of snow and let out a barking laugh as it sprayed everywhere, and made a game of chasing Yuki around the meadow. It slowed the little group down, but Laana didn't mind - what was there to hurry for?
On the way they passed others out foraging or patrolling, and called out greetings. Snow or no snow, Laana could feel the change. Before, the land had been a stranger. Now it was a friend, opening up to them and sharing its secrets.
She grew a little more apprehensive when she recognised the boulders strewn around the valley's far end, below the looming cliffs. They reminded her of the last time she'd been here, but her fears didn't last as Kois and Yuki showed her and Anameis the way to climb. "I had thought we were well past the need to do that," she said.
"Would it be a special place if it was somewhere you could pass by every day?" Kois said.
"Special, not special, I'm starting to think we should all grow wings," said Anameis. "Wonder if you could ask one of those bluebirds to give you a ride?
"The day anyone takes a ride on a bluebird is the day I decide the world can't surprise me any more," Laana said, flicking an ear.
All the same, all four of them made the climb. It was clear that Kois and Yuki had taken this path more than once before, and they knew which paths to take to avoid the ice and built up snow that might trick an unwary nicheling into causing it to collapse, taking them with it. Like the rest of the valley wall its slope was gentle enough for a challenging but manageable climb, even taking into account the vastly different shapes and sizes of the climber. As before, Laana felt a deep strain in her muscles as she pulled herself up and over the last stretch, but a satisfying one.
But such satisfaction was nothing compared to the view from above. The alpine meadow, speckled black and white where earth met snow, cut a broad swathe across the landscape, like a gouge from a giant's claw. Had the distance they covered been so great and so little all at once? From stone and snow to forests the world fell away, until, in the most distant haze, a line of deeper blue denoted the ocean itself. She touched her nimble paw to her gems in disbelief.
"I thought you could see the whole world from the other cliffs..." Anameis said.
"Seems we have been granted a clear day," said Kois, coming to sit by Laana's side. "We came up here, when you were gone. I wished, sometimes, that if I looked hard enough, I could see you out there."
-It is for the best that you could not-, Laana thought, curling her tail around her side, brushing it over Kois' heavier tail. She leaned in to her side, breathing in her scene on the cold mountain wind.
Yuki, though, still bounded across the stony ground, not in the slightest bit worn out from his climb. "You still haven't seen the cave!"
"In time," Kois said gently, as she rose to her feet. Anameis batted at a pebble as Yuki went racing across the lake whose shores dominated this tiny valley. To Laana's eyes, it looked like a miniature world unto itself. Snow fell deeper this higher up, and the lake at is centre was partially iced over, its surface dappled in opaque, milky blue-white circles. Pebbles crunched under her paws as they walked. Here and there a few hardy, golden-brown grasses poked through the snow, the only signs of live beside the nichelings themselves. Laana could only imagine what lay at greater heights. Climb far enough, and what domain would you find yourself in? It was like coming face to face with the end of the ocean.
"We saw snow up here for the first time," Kois went on, a little more sombre. Was that a hint of regret Laana heard on the big nicheling's voice? No, she must be mistaken.
Their path curved around the lake, to the valley's far wall, where, for the first time, Laana saw their destination. A cleft in the rock formed an inverted V shape, big enough for two nichelings to squeeze through side by side. She paused mid-step - but carried on, surprised yet again at her lack of fear. She glanced at Yuki, trotting along in the lead, undeterred by the snow that reached nearly to his chest. Was this place the answer that she sought?
The remains of an old spider's web brushed against her back as they entered, one by one. This was not the wide expanse of the Taimeran's cave entrance, and there was no hole to let in the light, so all they had to see by was what made it through the entrance. It gave shape to what was no deep cave system but a sheltered crevasse. A nicheling, ramfox, or bearyena could comfortably make a den of this space, but not much more - the four of them only fit inside because of Yuki and Anameis' small sizes. No wonder that Kois had chosen to bring only them.
Even if the cave was good shelter, it was clear nobody had lived here for a long time. Perhaps the land up here was so barren that nobody wanted it. Laana crept forward into the dark, sniffing the air. The scents inside were those of the tribe, but faint. Just as Kois had said, this was a place to visit on rare occasions.
As her eyes slowly adjusted to the dark, what she had taken for a rock formation at the back of the cave resolved into a pile of stones. They were smooth, taken from the lake outside and placed here deliberately. That she understood, but why? She looked at Kois, head tilted.
"You remember the Taimerans and their Memories?" Kois said. "I never saw them, but when you told me about them it made sense, to me. It was to them what leaving your bones in the nest was to a Yukir. I thought that we should have something a little like it, but not the same. Something to be ours."
Laana sniffed at the stones. "These are not marks or bones," she said. "How do they work?"
"It's like a mark," Yuki said, eager to step in. "You choose a stone that makes you think of yourself, and that makes it... -mean- you?"
"The stones were Vankirvan's idea," Kois said, with an amused, rueful tone. "But once he came up with it I could see how it made sense. This way, we can leave stones to remember ourselves, or someone who isn't here. Someone we left behind, or who couldn't make it to begin with."
Laana nudged the nearest stone, feeling it brush against her whiskers. How could a stone be a nicheling? But no, she was thinking of it from the wrong side. A paw mark could be the memory of the one who made it, and this was another jump from that, another island further along the trail of understanding. It was a symbol, like the tides and the clams, but one she would not have noticed before.
What else had she, or the others, never seen, simply because there was nobody to show them the path to understand it?
"I bet Vankirvan never shut up about that," Anameis said.
"He... did not," said Kois.
Anameis barked in amusement. Laana, though, had her own ideas. "Reko," she said. "Is there a stone for her?"
There was not, so the four nichelings returned to the outside, where they were not spoiled for choice. The lakeshore was strewn with more pebbles than anyone could count - they could pick one for every nicheling each of them had ever known and not put a mark on it. Laana turned to Yuki, who was already pawing at the snow to reach them. "Which one do you want to pick?" she said.
"I don't know," he said, gazing off into the distance toward the misty horizon. "When Vankirvan first came up with the idea I thought I should find one for Reko, but..." He batted at a stone a little smaller than his paw, sending it bounding away. "I don't know anything about her. I don't think I could find the right one. But you could! You knew everything about her!" His ears perked up and his eyes shone in the brilliant sunlight. "So I thought I'd wait until you came back... I mean, I always knew you would." He purred and rubbed against her gems, and she nuzzled him in return. "I'd better go and help Anameis," he said, bouncing away. The orange nicheling was pawing at the snow, but her tripedal stance made digging a difficult task.
"Go on, then," Laana said. "I'll make sure to find a good stone." She watched Yuki bound off to help his friend, then set out across the lake shore, occasionally brushing away the snow to see what lay beneath. It was like looking for clams on another, far away shore, now a lifetime away.
So much choice! Well, Reko would have dived in and snatched up the first stone to catch her eye, but she was not her sister. Some things did -not- change, and certainly not Laana's determination to do everything properly.
A crunch of snow and pebbles made her look up. Kois strode toward her, shoulders smoothly rising and falling with casual elegance. Even with her size and strength, the hybrid nicheling had always managed to exude a sense of grace that Laana could not help but admire. She leapt toward her, for a heartbeat as rambunctious as Yuki himself, then paused, only for Kois to lean in and nuzzle her on the shoulder. Her breath made warm clouds in the mountain air.
"Found the perfect one?" Kois said.
"How could I know where to begin?"
"You will. There are stones there for my parents. It took me time to find the ones that felt right, but I did. We could look together."
Kois' big paws were a lot better at clearing the snow, even if they were shaped to tear rather than dig, and so Laana set about searching again - though it seemed she was not even more overwhelmed with choice. A white pebble would match Reko's coat, but which one?
"Laana," Kois said, as she swept away more snow, stones clattering under her paw. "There is another thing. You must not press Yuki over what he is."
Laana's ears twisted slightly backwards. What had she said? Her old fears flooded back, that once more she had broken something precious... but no, she could not carry on like this. She looked down at her gems. "Is this because of them?"
"I can't imagine what else could have turned them," Kois admitted, gazing up into the sky. "But the world is bigger than I ever imagined. -You- did nothing, but -I- pushed him too far while you were gone, and I don't want to see you make the same mistake."
"-You- pushed him?" Laana said, watching him digging up the snow while Anameis sifted through stones. From this distance she couldn't make out what they were saying, but they seemed happy. She chanced a look at the sky, in case Kois had seen something of concern, but no birds flew ahead. What was there to worry about?
Kois laid down, stretching out in the snow, paws before her and head held high like some stone guardian beast. Her tail tapped at the ground in slight agitation. "While you were gone, I took Yuki here in search of snow - that is how we found this place, and where we met the bearyena mother."
"You told me this."
"I didn't tell you it all. But since you told your story, it's only fair I return it."
So Laana listened as Kois told her account of the first time they saw snow, of the boulder fields beyond, and the balance bear. She steeled herself to listen as Kois spoke of how only the combined strength of herself and a bearyena was enough to take down such a creature. Sometimes she glanced over at Yuki, reminding herself that he was safe now. But she listened still, because she owed Kois her attention. How long had it been since Kois had admitted to failure? She had never seen her so defeated since her run-in with the ape.
"It wasn't your fault," she said, as Kois finished the story. "You... you were not to blame for a -balance- bear turning up!" That was a threat they had all known was possible, that she herself had blindly led them into. How could -Kois- be to blame?
"But I still led him there because of what he was to me," Kois said.
"Then if he is not Yuki..."
"Then he is your sister's son, and precious for that."
"Yes," Laana said. She watched as the last fragment of Reko bounded through the snow, still engrossed in his stone gathering. It bewildered her to think that he might have nothing to do with all she and her tribe had been through.
"I am not saying he is not," Kois said. "Only that he should come to the understanding for himself, not for what we push on him."
-Like you?- Laana thought. The last known member of the Yukir lineage, the guardian of their stories? Perhaps everyone held too much of the past. Cautious, she padded through the snow to where Kois lay, and pressed her forehead to hers. Kois purred, a deep, rumbling sensation that was tactile more than heard.
"We are even now, I hope," Kois said.
"We are," Laana said. She looked up at Yuki again and made to move away as Kois rose to her feet - and jumped, as something sharp sliced into her runner's paw, sending her startling backwards.
"What's wrong?" Kois sniffed the ground where she had been standing.
"A sharp stone, I think." Laana nibbled at her paw, and to her relief tasted no blood. "I thought river pebbles were supposed to be smooth!"
Kois peered closer at where Laana had been standing and brushed aside more snow, revealing the pebble in question. Though it was indeed smooth as its fellows, one side had broken off to form a sharp edge. Laana touched the claw-like surface with her nimble paw, the day's strange ideas turning in her mind.
"Reko... this is her stone," she said. "See? It's white, like her, but sharp... like her." She purred in amused satisfaction. "Just like her to surprise me."
"It is perfect," Kois said. "Now," she went on, looking over at Yuki and Anameis, who had now gathered a small pile of stones and were still cheerfully adding to it, "I have to wonder who -they- are all for."
"I think it's all a game now," Laana said. She scooped up the pebble, holding it in her nimble paw like a clam... no, like the rarest of pearls, keeping it close to her gems. She should have been afraid, and overwhelmed. Today only a brief respite of peace, and tomorrow, who knew what would find her? But for now there was no time to worry. There was only the snow, Yuki and Anameis' game, Kois by her side, and the memory of her sister who, in her own way, had followed her to the new lands she would so eagerly have wished to see. She had known it since her time in the Taimeran's caves, but it had been distant, like a footprint nearly washed away by the rain. Now she knew she no longer had to hold grief for Reko. Kois was right - it didn't stop hurting, but the pain was one she could live with.
A deep weight released itself from her gems, the sun shone, and the world carried on as it always had.
---
The peace lasted well into the evening, as the shadows grew long across snow tinted a peach hue by the setting sun. The tribe huddled together in the lee of the riverbank, sharing their warmth as they talked. So warm it was that Laana stretched herself out despite the snow she lay upon, leaning against Kois' heavy bulk. Kois herself look liked a silent guardian again, watching the horizon with her paws stretched before her to display oversized claws.
Eventually she barked a greeting call, and another answered from the distance. Three far away shapes coalesced into nichelings headed uphill, and Yuki, who had been talking with Anameis, dashed off to meet them. At their head was Meana, and she stopped to let Yuki give her a friendly headbutt before continuing with him trotting along at her side. With her was Donnu, and it was clear to look at him that Yuki was not the only one who had grown in Laana's absence. Like Yuki he was far from his adult size, but already taller and sporting a thicker coat. Finally there came Vankirvan, slowed down by the berries he kept tucked to his chest with one nimble paw, and he others he carried by their stems in his teeth. They were a bright pinkish-red against his leaf green fur.
Meana settled into the circle, scratching at her chest where a bare, reddish patch of skin indicated a third gem ready to emerge any day now, though sometimes it was hard to remember it hadn't already. Meana had never been a small nicheling to begin with, and she sat mirroring Kois, paws stretched out and claws flexed. "There's no sign of any balance bears," she reported. "Seems they're still sticking to the heights. No sign of any other trouble either."
"That is good," Kois said. "I wouldn't put them past descending the mountain as food grows scarce, but we're still learning about them."
Meanwhile Donnu rejoined Kuku and his twin, who sat nearby, and Rara spoke up, raking her claws through the snow. "Let's not forget the -other- trouble."
Kois looked ready to say something, until Vankirvan spoke instead, dropping his berry hoard in front of him and combing his ruff. "And I found berries," he said, the interruption for once a relief. "You're welcome!
"You could carry more if you broke off the branches like I did," Anameis said, though she didn't hesitate to snatch up a berry and swallow it in three quick bites.
"Do that to -my berry bushes?-" Vankirvan drummed his flat tail on the ground.
"They're -all- his berry bushes," Kois said quietly, so only Laana could hear. There was an undercurrent of amusement to her words. "Sometimes it is easier not to argue. He -is- good at gathering them."
Not that anyone minded if it meant more food. The tribe were not starving thanks to their well-kept stores, but it was good to see something that hadn't been buried for days, and they all dug into the spoils. "You know," Kois said, licking berry juice from her whiskers, "I wasn't making it up when I said I missed your storytelling. Are you up for one?"
Yuki perked his ears up. "I want to hear a story!"
"Me too!" called out Donnu.
Before long the riverbank rang out with suggestions as everyone called for not only a story, but their favourite, until Kois gently tapped her tail on the ground for silence. "That's enough now. It was only a suggestion. Laana doesn't have to tell you a story if she doesn't want."
"Oh, I think I do," Laana said, stretching out further. Kois was right. It had been too long since she had woven a tale with her words, and on a cold night such as this, the tribe all gathered around, she missed it more than ever. "But you will have to give me a moment to let me pick." -I did not think I would ever have the chance again-, she thought. It had to be something special.
"There is one I wouldn't mind hearing," Kois said.
"What is it?"
"-The Tale of Mela's Fortune-." Kois curled her tail around Laana's body.
"That one...?" Laana said. "Yes. Yes, of course. Well, if you're all ready, here it is..."