Winter Snows

[LadyRebecca 1050]

 

[Ambient Music]

 

Being out there, with no one around you for miles and miles can be intimidating. Not a soul around to break the silence, nor witness what you encounter. The world feels silent, as though no other’s footsteps walk the same terrain you do. Then, there is the addition of an eternal winter. Where the flora and greenery remain stark and sparse, thriving only by the coniferous family and those well adapted to survive the biting winds of winter and the ever present snow. The animals do not dwell in these forests for long, and those that do have also changed to counter the cruel conditions that are the Northern Isle of Ceru.

 

But while the landscape may be barren and white, and the beings that dwell here ferocious, there is beauty in all of this, a beauty that one attuned with nature will know and understand. Standing in a clearing, a tanned figure laden with thick furs and many robes stands with her neck craned, looking upwards to the pine canopy. She smiles softly as her glowing green gaze gently flickers between each tree, studying each and every magnificent, towering pine. To an outsider, the tanned woman would appear to be standing in stark silence, but there was more than the outsider could see, or shall we say, hear. 

 

“These trees are ancient,” Arahaelth thought to herself, reaching her mittened fingers up to her head and carefully removing her hood from her hair. Allowing the fabric to move away from her hair, her long, dark brown tresses begin to sway with the cool wind, waving about her pointed ears and silver circlet. Within the mind of the elfess, she heard not voices, but songs, in a way. As the druidess listened and watched, a low melody, similar perhaps to the tune of a dwarven ballad, began to emerge- the low, rumbling melody of the ancient pines, existent only within herself and the forest around her.

 

As the afternoon sun smiled down upon her and the snow that covered the land as far as the eye could see, Arahaelth too allowed her lips to curl into a faint, appreciative smile, grateful for the gift she had come to master. With a sigh, she shifts her radiating, green eyes elsewhere, noting a creature that stood along the treeline, as still as the surrounding timber. A doe, with a hide as light as the sand after rainfall, and eyes as deep as the night sky did not move and seemed to watch every movement of the woman before her.

 

 

With this creature, Arahaelth heard no song, as such was the case with her and the fauna. She could not hear them, nor understand words as people do, but she could feel what it was that the deer felt, a sort of deeper empathy that surpassed normal boundaries. Within her mind, the druidess beckoned the animal come closer, that there would be no harm brought upon the creature should she approach. 

 

The doe dare not move, as would be expected given the situation. There were very few that ventured into the Wrun Woods to simply look at the trees and gather wood for burning. This place, while sacred to the mali’fenn, was a place to find game, food for the soldiers to hunt and bring back to their families. Nevertheless, the Grand Princess was a patient woman and glanced to the snow beneath her. With slow, careful movements, she meant to sit upon the frigid ground, shivering lightly as the powdery snow had already begun to make its way past her protective furs. She meant to make herself appear smaller, more approachable to the being. While the doe had not turned and bolted, she had not moved closer; in fact, she had not moved at all. Once more, Arahaelth smiled and relayed the feeling and emotion that the deer was safe, that she had no ill intentions and sought to bring no harm to her. 

 

Still, she did not move, frozen in place like the boughs of the pines above the pair. Furrowing her brows, Arahaelth began to think, pondering what she could do to convince the creature to come closer, as the druidess had encountered many animals in her long lifetime, though none had been as rigid and stubborn as this one. She glanced to her satchel and slowly brought her hand within the contents of her bag, keeping her gaze trained on the doe. The movement of various objects within her bag where the only noise offered in the small clearing, the sounds jumping and bounding over the banks of snow between them.  Gently, the elfess retracted her hand from within the confines of her bag, opening her palm and revealing a small offering to the creature- a handful of dried berries. With both her offering and coaxing alike, that was all it took to stir the small, tanned animal to move. 

 

With careful movements, the doe began to lightly tread across the clearing towards Arahaelth, her nose lowered to the ground as her cautious steps brought her closer. Pausing a few feet away, the woman could see the deer gently sniffing, as though she was searching for an answer as to what it was that she was being offered. A small, tender smile blooms upon the wind-bitten expression of the elfess, leaning forward slightly to offer the food to the animal. Glancing between both offering and woman alike, the doe sniffs the food before beginning to eat, finally looking away from Arahaelth to feed.

 

“There you are, little one, it’s alright,” she says gently. With her free hand, she lifted her palm and paused, meaning not to startle the deer as she began to slowly run her palm over her head. “You’re alright, I’m not going to hurt you.” Once she had made light work of the berries offered to her, the doe returned her sights to Arahaelth and seemed to study the glowing green eyes. WIth a shallow snort, the deer lightly takes a hold of the druidess’ mitten, beginning to tug on it. Chuckling, the woman shakes her head. “I can’t give you anymore, little one.”

 

Jerking her head to the side, the deer manages to pry off the woman’s mitten, turning and bounding back to the tree line with it, her tail wagging quickly as she turned back and stared at the woman. “Hey now! You give that back,” Arahaelth laughs, shifting to her feet and stepping into the snow. With her one covered hand, she dusts the snow off her and laughs, shaking her head at the seemingly playful deer. Trudging forward in the snow, Arahaelth walks along the crunching snow slowly, holding out her bare hand to the deer. “Come now, give it back.”

 

However, the doe had other plans and turned, bounding a few more paces away before turning and wagging her tail. This process continued on for a time, Arahaelth getting closer and closer until she was almost within arm's length before the creature would turn and bound away. Tossing up her arms in frustration, Arahaelth abandons the slow movements and simply begins to walk after the deer, shaking her head. “I need that now, I don’t grow fur like you do.” Instead of running off, the deer to begins to walk, trodding along the snow with the druidess’ mitten held proudly within her teeth before she paused at the base of a massive pine tree, dropping the mitten and turning around to look back at the woman, watching as she approached.

 

Pausing, Arahaelth frowned. Within her chest, she felt an odd, tight,  saddening feeling beginning to arise, a feeling that did not belong to her. She glanced about before returning her viridescent hues back to the doe, noting the location of the mitten and what seemed to be a burrow within the massive roots of the towering pine. Cautiously, she crept forward and moved towards the mitten, taking it in her fingers as she squinted, looking into the darkened space beneath the roots. For a few moments, there was no movement and no noise coming from within the hole, provoking the woman to lean back in the snow. Though, as she moved and the snow crunched beneath her, she heard what appeared to be a light, whimpering snort, creating another tingling sense within the druidess’ mind. Crouching down to look into the burrow, she finally manages to adjust her eyes and sees the source of the noise- a fawn, the babe of the doe. Shaking and appearing frightened by the elfess, the little one whimpered and moved as much as possible to get away from her as she reached inwards to retrieve the creature, though it was not much. The fawn was weak, and ill, with hardly any strength to fight back against Arahaelth as she picked him up. There, on the hind quarter of the small deer, was a gash, festering and rotting upon the babe. Nearby, the mother stood idle, watching the woman as she permitted her to hold her child.

 

Tsking softly, Arahaelth takes the little one into her lap, gently petting the fawn’s shaking head on an attempt to calm him, looking over the wound. “Poor oem’ii…” she mutters, frowning as she noted the very linear and well-defined mark, a common sight for someone to have lived around the hunters of the mali’ame for many years. “That’s from an arrowhead…” she murmurs, her expression hardening as she pieces together a possible series of events leading up in her mind.

 

With time, the fawn began to calm in the warmer hold of the tanned elfess, resting its little head atop her knee as the mother watched over her. Sighing softly, Arahaelth reached her hand upward to rub at her frozen and reddened nose, sniffing lightly as she looked at the creature. While ill from the infection, the cold had staved off most of the damage that could have overtaken the little one’s body, leaving the wound open, but frozen. “I think I can fix this…” she mutters, reaching her hand to her side and once more beginning to fish her hand about in her satchel. Extracting her hand once more, she procures a healing poultice, a concoction of herbs already prepared for medicinal usage that she always kept handy. She places the little bundle atop the wound of the fawn, shushing it quietly as he began to squirm, waiting until the little one had settled. Moving now to her water pouch, she would pour a small amount over the bundle of herbs, dampening it before setting her bare palm over the poultice. With a soft sigh, the woman closes her eyes and exhales slowly, beginning to focus her attention on her task and bringing her mental foci to narrow in on the healing process. Nary but the sound of the wind over the snow and the creaking trees accompanied the elfess as soft, melodic incantations began to fall from her lips, communing and healing with her gift given to her by the Aspects.

 

With the sun now beginning to wane in the sky above, Arahaelth finally reopened her eyes once more, looking to the slumbering fawn in her lap and the ever vigilant mother. With her shivering fingers, she slowly removed her healing packet and looked down to the previously injured creature. While she was no cleric or paladin, what little she could do would prove to be proficient. Drawing out the infection and helping heal the scarred skin beneath the fur, the little fawn would be in pain, but would no longer be in serious danger.

 

The elfess herself smiled in relief, herself being a wife and mother and knowing what the pain of watching a loved one suffer will do. Just as she had done prior to retrieving the small creature, Arahaelth took care and gently meant to return the babe to its original place within the burrow, leaning back and looking to the doe who had moved no more than she had when she had first encountered the druidess.

 

Permitting her eyes to fade away and return to their normal brown, the elfess did not need to continue her communion with these creatures, slowly retrieving her mitten and backing away. She knew her actions were right, and there was no animalistic emotion for thank you. But in watching the mother creep back into her den to be with her fawn, she knew it was appreciated, just as she too appreciated all that her deities had gifted her with. So with one last small, gentle smile, she slipped her mitten back over her fingers and turned to gather her firewood and return home.

 

Spoiler

I was doing druid **** and also was really bored the other day so I wrote a thing eeeeeeeee

1

 

[Zacho 2177]

((This is good, good read +1 or whatever!))

[MrMineLoveDude 299]

((Lovely read! ^.^ J'aime ca.))

[Nekkore 641]

((wall of text hurts my eyes

[Delmodan 855]

((Absolutely lovely))

[Archipelego 2188]

A druid somewhere smiles.

[winterblood 11181]

"Perhaps I ought to visit an old friend soon," muttered Nemir as she strolled through the gardens of The Library of Dragur.

[GDPR 014 48]

"Yes. Winter does snow." A mage confirms.

[AfricanGlasses 111]

(( in love

[Chorale__ 2147]

Moved to The Great Library. It shall be sorted into the appropriate category shortly.

 

If you feel this is a mistake, please contact myself or any FM and we'll restore it.