Heron Lake Plateau Oh the Weather Outside is Frightful

Hmmmm, said Owen, a skeptical thrumming so low in his throat as to be almost inaudible. He looked down at his feet as they walked for a moment, buying his racing brain some time to think. What Quixote was saying still seemed pretty unbelievable...but Owen's fancy was caught by the notions somehow nonetheless. You could bury deer in the stuff? What about wolves, or did it only work for food? And what would a deer seasoned by stardust taste like anyway?! Cold, obviously, for one, but beyond that Owen was uncertain. He surreptitiously flicked his tongue out on impulse to grab the fattest flake that had just landed on his nose—quick, before it could sneak away and disappear like all of its siblings! Then he had to run his tongue under his front teeth really quickly to try and scrape the foreign taste of it off, though there wasn't much to it besides cold and a bit of wet. Oh, this starstuff was tricksy, yes it was; Owen gave his father a sidelong glance and wondered how he'd convinced the "snow" to play along and pretend it tasted just like frozen water. It was a pretty clever trick, he had to admit, but then again that was probably why Quixote had been made alpha. Owen would have to find some way to surreptitiously check this with his mother; Raven would surely know, if anyone did.

Deer leaving hoofprints on the stars, though! There was just no way his father wasn't pulling his leg now, even if he hadn't been before. Next he'd be telling Owen all about how the deer could fly right up into the sky to get there, and trek all over the moon too while they were at it. (Though maybe that was what all those shadowy markings studding the moon's surface were...? No no no, this was ridiculous. Didn't even bear thinking about.)

Owen kept his thoughts to himself for once though as he plodded along, simply nodding politely in agreement with his father. Yes, yes; that frozen lake stuff all seemed plausible enough for the most part, Owen having already seen the process starting on chillier mornings with his own eyes. Though it seemed very strange indeed to think of being able to walk on water, frozen or not; that was where the boy was starting to grow suspicious again. It was so hard to sort out myth from fact when talking to Quixote, sheesh! He'd keep his counsel until he could talk to Momma Raven, though, Owen resolved to himself, and see what all his sisters made of this nonsense Dad was spouting as well. That resolve was broken only a moment later however as a response was startled out of him at last, as Quixote started listing off more warnings about the lake: The ice makes noises at you?! said Owen incredulously. I didn't think it was alive, or had a mouth to make noise with! Owen couldn't help but notice however that Quixote hadn't said anything about the monster that lived at the bottom of the lake. That seemed much more likely of a candidate to make noise than the water or ice or whatever else over that way, surely...? But the monster— Owen started to blurt aloud before he caught himself and buttoned his lip. Was this a dumb thing to be asking about? Was his father going to pretend he didn't know about the lake monster? ...Or was it maybe even possible that Quixote didn't know about the monster? No, surely as alpha Quixote must be aware of the lake monster! Someone would have told him. And he'd warned the pups to be cautious around the water, after all, right from day one. And there was no way he'd have done that if he didn't Know Something, right? Yes, surely that had to be right. Owen stood and stared at his father in growing doubt as the wheels in his head whirled around and around, trying to sort out just what was going on here and how much of all this he could really believe.