Tuktu Hinterlands Oh heart doth broken

The grey skies concerned Niamh, though they didn't seem to hold too much threat of rain. Not long from now though, she supposed she ought to be concerned for the snow that would eventually fall, and found herself wondering if it would be a civil winter, or a more difficult one. It seemed to her that with every passing year, the winters became more difficult- though she failed to realize that she was also much less disenchanted by the soft, fluffy snowflakes than she had been when she was younger, and that her patience had worn more and more thin over the years. Niamh had never liked the cold. 

So she was bristled a bit as she made her way along the borders, and stiffened further yet when she heard a ragged cry from Primrose- very uncharacteristic for her son who was often more musical than a songbird. She also knew her son to be a very emotionally capricious sort, and had learned not to get too overwhelmed every time the boy's heart was broken so she didn't immediately panic and think that the worst had happened. For all she knew, it was something as simple as a bad dream that had startled him. 

But when she saw him he looked smaller, pained, and distraught...Her ears turned back and she swept toward him with the fierceness of a Nor'easter, and leaned down to touch her muzzle to his face where his cheeks were wet. "Petal, what happened?" She murmured, bracing for what she knew would be a long story.