Sawtooth Spire klettern

"now, @Elke," mahler muttered, motioning to the plush spread of fresh snow higher up the path. "vhat do you think that is?" he tilted an ear toward her as he glanced around for @Ciri, moving beyond both growing girls toward the summit of where stone turned to alabaster. a tall climb for them all, but he was confident in their abilities and his own.

Blonde, still overly large ears perked high, mixed lilac and puppy blue eyes squinting as they looked up at the rocks above covered in white. She didnt know and after a moment grumbled with a frustration in her not knowing. There were very little things in her life she had seen being white other then herself, clouds and some flowers. I dunno... She murmurs, clearly unhappy with being stumped though looks to her father knowing he would explain to her. Is it Clouds? She was wrong of course, however, clouds and snow were both a form of water so she wasnt too far off.

"schnee," he corrected softly. "snow. it is very cold and nice," mahler went on, striding up to gather a drift toward his broad chest. in it he rolled about, flakes curling down his coat as he sat up a moment later to beckon elke closer. "come and look for yourself." she was appearing to take after nyx, he noted fondly, even as ciri seemed to adopt her papa's coloration.

 

Schnee. Snow. The words, or word of different languages, rolled off her tongue as she mimicks her father. She did not know why sometimes there were two different names for one thing, though her father had explained 'languages' vaguely to her. A concept she did not yet begin to have an explanation for though understood for the most part. There were still many words to know, to learn...but for now...

Snow. The pale little girl spoke again, following after her dark father, tail waving wildly. She pounces into the snows as he does, yet jumps up with a sudden start and back. Cold, he had been very right. Nice. Yes, that too, and she found herself bouncing around and rolling in it just the same. Where from? How did this get here? Was there more?

"from the very top of the mountain, vhere the clouds touch the earth," he rumbled back to elke, throwing up snow with his muzzle and burrowing childishly into its cold embrace. "very nice." teeth glowing in an appreciative smile. "vonce upon a time," mahler began, laying back upon the snow, "there vas a little girl named ... elke."
a chuckle. "and she lived in a very hot place, and there vas no rain. or snow," he went on, fixing his daughter somberly with his lavender eyes. "do you know vhat she did?"

The mountain was big, she knew this. Bigger then her father. Bigger then the trees she so enjoyed. 

She lifted her rump into the air, golden tail with blackened guard hairs waving to and fro whist she burrowed her muzzle into the snow like her dad did. When he speaks up again, she bounds forth and slides along the earth, kicking up snow in doing so as she came in closer, ears perked to hear out his story. 

He spoke of a giel named Elke, like her! She lived in a very hot place, no rain, no snow. Elke remembered some days being hot in the forest, during this 'summer' but she had been fortune to live in an area that didnt get too hot. She didnt think she liked hot. 

Wot she do?

little elke romped in the snow; mahler grinned and settled himself deeper into the drift. "vell," he began thoughtfully, crossing paws over his chest as he gazed toward the sky. "she decided she vould go and find the rain first, and then the snow. so she left her home and she began to travel tovard the mountains."
he grinned, cheek pressed against the coolness of the snow as he looked toward his rambunctious offspring again. "do you know who she met in a great big meadow filled vith flowers?"

Noooooo! She nearly whined, her little rump shifting into the snows to find a good comfortable spot as her pale face leaned in. Tell meee! A creamy paw lifted, padding at her father's dark face.

mahler ducked his nose under her small paw, chuckling to himself. "she met a reindeer. it is a big, vhite creature vith trees coming from its head, and it brings the snow vith it. and she said 'vhat is that you have vith you?' and the reindeer," mahler went on, "said 'it is snow.' 'vell, vhat is snow?' elke asked. the reindeer said,"
"vhat do you think he said?" he encouraged of his true-life elke.

A reindeer. It brought Elke back to the deer which Mahler had brought her and her sister before, or what had been left of it after it had died (she now understood). Deer, reindeer and sometime soon to be learned, elk, from which she was named, all sounded like great magical, powerful creatures as her father suggested. 

She was proud to have such a name. 

He said... She thought, It is cold, nice. Repeating what had been determined earlier. It... she debated the word aloud, Its magic.

"yes, little vone," mahler grinned, impressed and swept with its affection. he rolled toward the girl, seeking to catch her between his broad paws for a brief wrestling before he climbed to his paws. "and the reindeer said 'it is magick.' and the girl vas very amazed. she asked," mahler went on, dipping into a play-bow, "'can i learn how to make the snow?' and the reindeer said, 'but you can already make the rain.'"
he paused, looking down toward her. "and vhat do you think elke said?" he asked of his own.

The little cream and golden girl tossed, rolling around happily between the large paws and legs of her father, who as far as she could tell, was the biggest and stronger wolf of all! Like the great deer, like the trees. 

This other girl, Elke who's name matched her own, could make the rain and the deer, made snow. The little girl knew this now, as she was being told this story, that it was magic, that the lands were magical! 

Wot, wot?? She asked, so very curious as she had her front half fall like her father, her front legs stomping around in the snows.

'"vhy! she gasped a bit. 'i can?' she exclaimed,'" mahler chuffed, beginning to churn the snow in imitation of his daughter. "'and the reindeer said, 'yes. just vish that you could have rain.' so elke did. she closed her eyes and thought about the rain, and vhen she opened them"
he paused, raising a paw to sprinkle snow over elke's downy ears,
"it vas raining all around her."

She laughs and barks, happy with the story at this girl who shared the same name as her, found out all along she had the ability to make the rain! Her body quivers with a delight as her dad sprinkles snow all around her and in Ciri fashion, bites at the bits falling down. She wonders suddenly then, Elke go home den? Make the hot place rain? That is what she thought she would do anyhow. Make the place better!

"oof, you are very smart!" mahler exclaimed, chuckling a bit. "yes. then elke vent home. and she made all the hot earth blossom vith flowers. she filled the sky vith vater. she filled the rivers and the brooks and made everyvone happy."
as you make me
"vhat do you think of that story, elke?" he asked, shifting a pawful of snow at her.

Her tail waged wildly at her dad's words. She was very smart! At a very young age Elke was already showing the signs of a wolf that paid close attack to detail and more so, to what others were saying. More thoughts, less so action as her sister was. She had not forgotten that this Elke had come from a very hot place with no rain. Surely she would go home and make it all better! 

Love it. She spoke, snapping her jaws out at the snow her father had tossed into her direction. The water, be it rains or snow, was magical. Brought happiness and life. And the reindeer and the woman named Elke had been blessed with the power to make it.

Of course, those kind of words were beyond the little girl. But she would never forget the story which her father told her today. Am I named after da udder Elke? She wondered then, could she make it rain too?

he had not thought of a story when naming her, only of the nobility he wished to bestow despite her mother's status as his notmate. any child of his would be given such. ciri as well, though like phaedra she had grown quiet, wandering alone upon sagtannet.
perhaps that too was their birthright: distance, wanderlust, solitude.
mahler clamped back the bitter thoughts and winked at elke. "perhaps you are. vhat vould you think if i said yes?" he scooped a pawful of snow, cast it in the girl's direction with a chuckle.

I'd like that. She spoke, shaking her head back and forth at the spray of snow sent into her direction. As she lifted, the shaking quivered down the length of her spine and unto a small pale tail which waved to and fro in delight. I wanna be like Elke... She didnt explain, having not really the attention span or thought to really. But she did want to be able to help like Elke did. Maybe she didnt know how to make the rains, but if she could be anything like her, she could help to heal the land and those around her. Make everyone whole and happy. Elke liked when others were happy, it made her happy. 

Cummon' da. She spoke with a newfound pride. We find deer. He make more snow.

he was happy that he had told elke the story, delighted by her reaction to it. "all right," mahler chuffed in contentment, stepping close and gently tossing the snow from his ruff. "do you think ve vill know a reindeer vhen ve see vone?" he grinned, and turned his eyes toward the view from the edge of the solitary mountain, the dizzying colorful gradient of sky to earth and the browngold stretch of grassland below.

Figure we can close it up here?

She contemplated what her father had said and it had dawned on her that she had never seen a reindeer before. Now, she had seen deer, or ay least reminants of one like hooves and horn which her father had brought to her and her sister, but a full on deer?

Maybe he will tell us? She asked aloud in wonder. He spoke before! At least according to her father he had and maybe, if they were lucky, the snow bringing reindeer would find it to speak to them too.  

Either way, trotting down the mountainside toward the open plains, she was happy enough to spend the remainder of the day with her father.