Northstar Vale Pretty lights on our tree

as indra trailed quietly after her mother's footprints, she thought she heard a slight commotion in the woods ahead. the slender child stopped, her long ears fluted forward in surprise. to her, the noises sound scrambled and desparate -- she felt a cold trickle fall down her spine as she realized the calls were cries of alarm.

she spurned herself into action and flung through the snow until she found dagfinn and tryphon; dagfinn was bent to work, hurling heaps of snow from the earth in heaves. tryphon was positioned not far from him, the two of their heads craned to the ground as their limbs moved beneath them.

indra felt a chill in her heart as she realized the dire nature of their task and the wolf stuck beneath them -- with a cry she threw herself between them and dug faster and more furious than she ever had in her life.