Lake Rodney snow cones

If the younger, paler female had only rumbled off her irritation or struck a spark of aggression, Sassafras would have turned back to the caldera immediately. She had little time for such boring proceedings, and the cold was not only gnawing at her now, but taking a firm hold. Instead, however, there was no mistaking the reaction to her call as anything less than fear, and Sassafras decided she wanted to know why the girl might be frightened. Was she alone out here? In this bitter cold? She quickly decided there were few other plausible explanations and appeared unable to take her interest elsewhere.

She trotted out into the open with exaggerated steps, veering her snowy course perpendicular to the frozen shoreline so that the pretty, grey-eyed female would probably have to try her luck by choosing either the left or the right if she opted for flight. Sassafras truly had no intention of pushing her to do so, however, and flattened her plush ears to the sides of her head when she came to a distant halt to demonstrate the fact that she was a non-threat. She chuffed out a friendlier, intentionally inviting greeting, and called out directly with a bright, “Hey!” Having never been so terrified, she could hardly imagine her could-be companion would find such an approach unwelcome.