Duskfire Glacier Howling at the sun and now Im blind

Without either one of them being aware of it, Meerkat took up the torch of tetchiness Rye had only just set down.

A heap of melting snow slipped from a spruce's bough overhead and plopped to the forest floor with a soft sound, causing Meerkat to stop in her tracks, her shoulders coming forward toward her ears as the muscles in her back twitched from annoyance and over-stimulation. Since when she been so sensitive to noises, especially such innocuous ones?

Deliberately coaxing the tension from her muscles, she resumed padding through Bosk Iana, wondering at her recent irascibility. Even with everything going on lately, it was so unlike her to feel so damned grumpy. Perhaps it was a lingering effect of her recent cold; or the dreadful forward march of winter; or, most likely, a byproduct of the negative energy reeling about the glacier lately. Oh, and that... other thing.

Thirst drove her to seek a drink at the nearby lake. When she arrived, she saw Rye also approaching the water's edge. Meerkat let out a breath as sadness washed through her at the sight of him. It was a change of pace from the inexplicable pique, though again she found herself wondering why she felt like such an exposed, raw nerve lately. She hated it!

"Hey, Rye," she called out even as she tried to wrestle her own emotions into submission.