Wapun Meadow Blizzard of Souls

It was few days now in Elfie's new home in the mountains and for the first time he let Maegi out of his sight and went out exploring on his own. To be honest - it was not done on purpose. He had got distracted and, what had seemed like a blink of an eye, some time had passed, he could neither see, nor find tracks of the she-wolf anywhere.

Therefore he had taken the first path trodden by wolves and followed it. Now, here he was, knee deep in a snowy field, wind howling and engulfing him in a blizzard of snowflakes. Elfie turned around and saw the mountain, then looked the other way and saw hazy outlines of the surrounding scenery.

He was on his own, the feeling was dreadfully familiar, he began to shiver and then he froze. He saw a form rise from the ground and move in the storm. Another followed soon after and then all of a sudden the boy was a witness to horde after horde of dark shapes walking slowly. He could smell the rot and earth and felt the icy cold emanating from them.

Elfie screamed in terror.

Crisscrossing her way across the Teekon Wilds, Chip was pretty content with this life. She could go where she pleased, whenever she wanted, and she didn’t have to answer to anybody. Sure, it wasn’t the most sustainable lifestyle, but it suited her well enough for now. Maybe, in the future, she would seek some sense of settling down, but at four years old, nobody should be holding their breath waiting for that moment to come. Almost her entire life had been spent as a traveler, and she wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. The times she’d stopped were only because of that pesky thing called pregnancy and pups. Even for those, she hadn’t stopped long. Once they were weaned and could take care of themselves, she sent them on their way.

As she was musing about all this, out of nowhere came a blood curdling scream. What was with all these spooky places?! She just couldn’t catch a break. Even though Chip was selfish, she wasn’t cruel, so she figured she should see if somebody was in danger. What she found was a younger male looking as though he’d seen a ghost.

Are you alright, kid? she asked, looking around to see if she’d missed whatever caused him to scream like that.

Elfie squeezed his eyes tightly shut and stood very still. It was hard to breathe, his heart raced wildly in his chest and he fought against his frozen state, eager to run away and leave this horrible place as far behind him as possible. The sickly sweet smell of corpses filled his nostrils and made him nauseous. 

Just leave me alone. Just leave me alone. Please. He murmured to himself in a quiet prayer. And suddenly warmth of a living person and a clear voice cut through the fog of his mind. He opened his eyes and looked in the face of an older she-wolf. Then his gaze darted behind her and nothing of, what he had seen earlier, was there. Had it been there at all?

He shook his head and smiled weakly at the adult, wagged the tip of his tail and quivered. "No... no, I thought I saw something, but it's no longer there. Not real," he stumbled through words. "Who are you?" he asked, eager to change the subject.

So he was seeing things that weren’t there? That didn’t seem good. Chip had never been a particularly good mother, but even that worried her on the most basic level. She bit her lip, glad that he seemed to have snapped out of... whatever it was. He seemed a lot more “normal” now, or at least something like it. He was quick to change the subject, which was a relief to her, because she wouldn’t even begin to know how to fix somebody who was imagining things. Whew.

My name’s Chipmunk, but everybody calls me Chip. What about you? she asked. He smelled like he was around other wolves a lot, which led her to believe he was probably part of a pack. Old enough to (probably) not be lost, at least. The last thing Chip needed was to play mommy to some kid she didn’t even know.

"I am El..." the boy furrowed his brow, remembering that once he had had a long name as well, it was on the tip of his tongue, but, when he tried to remember it, he hit a concrete wall. "Elfie. I live in the mountains with Maegi," he added, when he mentioned his friend's name, his eyes filled warm light and he lit up in adoration.

"I got burried by a lot of rocks. My head hurts sometimes and I... see ghosts. But I know they are not real. And you should not be afraid either," he explained to Chipmunk, full of trust. "Do you live somewhere, Chip?" he asked.

Elfie. Mountains. Maegi. Cool.

So he got buried by rocks, somehow survived, and now he got headaches and saw ghosts. That sounded like kind of a crappy life, but what did Chip know? She wondered briefly if any of her own children were plagued by Elfie’s condition, but she wouldn’t ever know unless they somehow managed to track her down. Elfie assured her she should not be afraid. At least it didn’t sound contagious.

Not really, she replied, I’m a bit of a drifter. Always have been. Always would be. She was already preparing herself for the inevitable “join my pack” pitch.

Elfie would have agreed with Chipmunk - migranes were no fun to suffer from and seeing stuff was even worse. But he had little things to be happy for and Maegi there, which helped him go through all the hardships with a glimmer of hope that things would be better again. 

"What is a drifter?" he asked, having never heard the term before and the first association that came to his mind were the pieces of wood that had been brought to the river-banks.

Oh right. Kids loved asking questions. Chip had kinda forgotten about that aspect of them. At least answering kid questions was better than fielding questions about how she was going to survive the winter and what sort of skills she had.

I wander around a lot. I don’t really have a home base, so to speak. I occasionally settle down for a little while, but only when I have to, she explained. It has its advantages, but also plenty of disadvantages to go with it. Look at you, Chipmunk, you’re doing a teach!

Elfie listened attentively and remembered vaguely, how he too had wished to travel. Maybe he had done it already? He furrowed his brow, holding onto the thread of that thought, but it slipped through his paws into the oblivion. He stopped trying. Focusing on, what happened right now, was way more easier.

"Where have you been?" Elfie asked next, because Chip seemed nice enough to tell more. And he liked her already.

Where hadn’t she been? Chip wasn’t about to list out every place she had visited, that was for damn sure. Still, she could probably sum it up somewhat succinctly. Well, I was born not too far away from here. Then I traveled to forests, oceans, mountains, deserts, and just about everything in between. I don’t really keep track, but the knowledge does come in handy from time to time.

Occasionally, she would be the only one to know a certain word or was the only one to explain some weird phenomenon. Because she’d spent her life listening to stories (and sharing her own), she had plenty of knowledge stored up in that ol’ brain of hers. Not that she often used it for anything except for getting laid, though.

When Chip mentioned all of those places, excitement lit up in his eyes, as his mind tried to visualize, how amazing those adventures had been. It was clear already that there had been plenty of them. Not because the woman had said so, but because she was old. Yet, when no images came before his eyes, emotions took the reign and he felt as if he was on top of the wave. Just the same, if he had been able to imagine. 

"Did you meet dragons?" he asked, surprising himself, because it was not a word Maegi had ever used, but it felt very familiar and a vague memory of someone telling him about them shone brightly like a lonely star in endless dark sky and then the light faded. The face and the name was there, but the boy was unable to reach it.

Oh boy, was she going to have to be the one to tell Elfie that Santa Clause isn’t dragons aren’t real? Chip pulled her lips back and sucked in a breath through her teeth. Well, kid, here’s the thing... she started, formulating the words in a way that might let him down easy. You know how you imagine scary things that aren’t there? Chip paused to make sure he was following before she continued. Dragons are like that, except nobody has ever actually seen one. They don’t exist, bud. They’re just stories.

There were other strange things in the sky. Weird, far away shiny birds that flew overhead and sometimes blinked lights down at them. Occasionally there were closer, much louder birds that even Chip was frightened of. But she’d never seen a dragon (or heard about anybody else seeing one, aside from fairy tales).

"Or you simply have not seen them," Elfie replied to Chip's very adult argument. In fact, since he did not know, where the notion about dragons had come from, it could also be true, what the old lady had told him. 

"What trades do you have?" he asked next, because surely a lady, who had lived such a long time in the world and travelled a lot, had picked up some skills and talents. "What can you teach me?"

Chip is such a jerk, lol. Thank you for the thread!

What? This little shit refused to believe that dragons weren't real. Chip suddenly remembered why she didn't like kids all that much. So defiant and rude. Just like those spooky creatures you saw, huh? she replied with a whole lot of snark, but she dropped it there. Chip knew better than to argue with a child (maybe).

Trades? she asked, I don't think you're old enough to learn what I'm good at. Not even a year old, by her estimations. It's adult business. Chip wasn't a creeper, so she wasn't about to explain that she liked to boink for fun. Besides, she was growing bored of this conversation, and she'd done what she had planned to do: make sure he wasn't dying.

Not to be rude, but I've got places to be, kid. That was a lie. Hope your crazy-ass visions and headaches get better. Chip turned to leave.

Ever since the accident that had left Elfie's brain broken and skull bruised, the boy had become a lot mellower than he had been previously and slow to grasp hidden remarks as well. Therefore he did not understand Chip's sarcasm or that she was not treating him very nicely. He rather focussed on the unlucky circumstances, which prevented her from teaching him something useful.

"Okay," he said plainly and shrugged. After the lady had gone, he too got up and returned to Diaspora.