Duskfire Glacier in spite of the uneven odds, beauty lifts from the earth

Draco. Cassiopeia. Perseus. They blinked alive, each in turn, as if having roused from the longest sleep, and she greeted them as friends. She failed to notice the apparition of her company, his silent watch, and his steps toward her. For all she knew, she was alone up here with herself and the soaring light of the heavens.

A gentle sway shifted through the length of her legs as she watched the brightening aurora capture and release the constellations in its dance. The motion was bittersweet; she remembered a time long past when Nanurjuk would dance with the shifting radiance, how, in those moments, the wear of her aged body would seem to fall away to reveal the youth of a heart that wouldn't be contained by her weathered bones. Nanook's anaanatsiaq was no longer here to dance below the lights with her, but Nanook held her memory close and she found herself moving through the circular weave that had been their custom every night the borealis would glow - slower, and nostalgic, but as she turned she felt the rhythm of the dance begin to take her - 

the movement of ivory caught her paws and she seized to a jarring stop. It took her a moment to distinguish the sibling, but the heavens reflected the vibrant green of the other's eyes, and she felt a sudden heat rise to her cheeks. "Ice Bear." Her heart fluttered through the fog of her breath. How long had he been watching?