Windrose & Snowdrift

Snowdrift explored the woods, away from the cabin she had always been so attached to. The ice covering the ground reflected to her the last view of the old cabin.

The trees grew thinner the further she trotted, the ice slowly getting thinner until there was nothing but dark green grass below her paws.

She had always lived inside the heart of the forest, it had been serene, peaceful, but most of all quite; however, Snowdrift was now well aware of how much she missed the quite days inside the snowy heart of the forest but she had come this far already.

She saw the birds flying overhead, and all the small critters crawling between the trees, but she still felt alone.

Windrose loved the sound of the forest, it had always been how she lived, it was familiar unlike her new coat of white with the absurd number of tails she had. At least the trees were still the same size, and this forest, as green as they used to be unlike the mono-chrome white where she woke up.

Both Windrose and Snowdrift were aware of each other's presence, it was just that they were the same fox, so there were no "other thoughts", just from one perspective or another and since Snowdrift hated this part of the forest it was through Windrose's perspective through which they looked into the world.

It was the middle of Spring, as the flowers showed her, the constant humming of bugs was still unlikable as always, but she had yet to feel any of the blood sucking ones yet.

The trees were beautiful with different varieties of bark making each tree different from the next. The canopy of leaves danced above, with dancing lights littering the ground she walked on.

There were still many leaves that crunched under her walk, the smell covering any scent of prey and predator alike.

The shrubs here were the biggest difference though, thousands of different types she didn't recognize. Some were thorny, others seemed to be made of silk, and some had already bloomed into flowers of many colors.

As she walked she stumbled onto a clearing where the tree gave way to an out of place stone road stretching as far as she could see. She had learned to avoid roads like these as large metal beasts would regularly roam them and effortlessly crush and smother any poor soul unfortunate enough to be in its path but it was quite, and she smelled no smoke.

Her instincts told her to avoid it to see if there was another path she could take but her curiosity drove her to follow along with it.

It was a long trot to the end of the clearing but she was rewarded with the site of a brilliant crystal lake. The water was unnaturally clear of plants and grime.

In the middle was a large stone statue, carved into the shape of the same kind as her stepmother holding a stick with a sharp tip pointing to where the sun currently stood.

Engraved on a plaque beneath its foot were ruins which looked similar to what her stepmother would write while she was slowly rocking in her seat.

Snowdrift and especially not Windrose could read the text but they could see it clearly from their vantage point.

Windrose decided to jump down from the small ledge she sat on, the water too tempting not to taste.

Snowdrift tasted nothing, to Windrose's major disappointment, but it was clean and she hadn't enjoy the basic of necessities of a regular creature since her death as Windrose, that the action of drinking water itself was enjoyable to her.

Snowdrift looked up half expecting the statue to have point its spear at her but it stood there, remaining lifeless in its life like portrayal.

She looked around, to notice a small cabin, not too different from the one she had just left a few hours earlier, however instead of logs the walls made of stone and instead of thatch, the roof made of wood.

It was quite attractive to her if Snowdrift were to be honest, it was a very nice home but she was not about to get stuck staying with one for another few centuries so she looked away before she wanted to go inside.

She looked back one last time at the little cabin and the crystal lake before venturing further away from the forest's center.

She had moved on Windrose decided, the moment she stepped away from the cabin was when that decision was finalized, and this was just the confirmation.