Nova Peak Open up my eyes to a feeling I can't ignore.

Ciri felt a little more like herself that morning, as she roused at her gilded sister's side to greet a new day. A soft mist hung over he air was crisp, sharp on her nostrils and she breathed in deep, but more curiously the grass around her seemed paled. She observed sleepily in the dim light of a dawning sun, then pulled herself upright to meander over and better investigate.

It was frost that clung to each blade, that kissed the rock faces and hardened the earth beneath her paws. Curious, the little blackbird reached to poke at the stem of a frozen dandelion with her button nose and twitched a whisker, surprised to feel the chill of it on her snout. A strange sensation, but one that she could appreciate.

She departed the rendezvous with a fond farewell to her mother and stepped into the fog, eager to take in all the beauty of Nova Peak's frosted wonderland.

It was the reindeer. She cooed out to her sister, a smile playing over her lips as she dashed up into her direction with a prance. The story their father had told her of sticking with her. He lives high in the mountains. He makes the snow. Elke had not yet fully understood the concept of a 'God' but she would and that is what she would refer 'Elke and the Reindeer' as. The other Elke, that is, for which she was named for. She hadn't ever bothered to think that what @Mahler had said may not have been true.

vaaaaague, but i wanted to at least get a glance of these two before they're gone ;-;

Though loathe to be from his mother’s side for any genuine stretch of time, Thade also felt restless and ill-at-ease, as if he either thought things were out of place or too good to be true. And maybe they were. Because nothing looked or felt the same as it had from all those months ago; from what he could remember. Even Wylla’s very face, the one he had dreamed of every night in his absence, had changed so drastically.
 
The boy could not fathom the dissonance he felt, and it only made him more reluctant to tell any of his family about these worries. He even hid his discomfiture from his bloodbond, his sister, with whom he desperately wanted to be close to again, but could not navigate the chasm between their separately nurtured lives.
 
He was using the frosty morning to mull over these misgivings on his own, but he did not hesitate to indulge in a distraction when he noticed the young Ostregas convening nearby. The golden duchess drew his eye first, and he admired her almost to the point of missing the sister behind her entirely. Yet, once he laid eyes on the umberfawn girl, she engulfed his attention instantly and whole. It was almost hard for him to look away from her, or make any social progression at all, really.
 
He only stood there awkwardly. Silently observing the pair, as he waited patiently, eagerly, to be noticed. He was not exactly privy to the common practice of announcing oneself for attention, and lurking in the background felt like the way to go. It had become his default position, after all, which he easily reverted to in this alien moment.

The voice of her sister sounded from behind her, and Ciri regarded the paler cub first with a backward sweep of her sable lobe. Her head turned smoothly to regard Elke with curiosity, eyes bright at the mention of the beast who allegedly brought the morning's chill.

"A reindeer?" Ciri chirped, sunflower eyes wide with wonder. She'd heard of deer before, seen them graze in the lowlands from a distance, but she wasn't sure what made this one differ from them. The young Ostrega imagined that he might be a proud, pale beast with tall antlers; a Winter king.

Movement over Elke's charcoal shoulder distracted the blackbird, whose expression faltered. She lowered her tail at once, immediately uncertain of the black-and-ash stranger who stared her way. With other encounters with wolves beyond her family bubble having not gone particularly well, Ciri's nervousness bubbled to life in her abdomen. She took a careful step in her gilded sister's direction in attempt to draw comfort from her, bright eyes locked to the young male who lingered nearby.

Yeah I think the pups would have been happier if they knew each other. Bad parents! Lmfao

And he was, just that, a Winter King. She would nod her head, a 'mmhmmm' mumbling from her lips in response to her dark sister. Like other deers. But bigger, pale and where the reindeer is, there is snow. She explained, much the same as Ciri had been thinking, too. Dad said that. She then said, as a manner to show her sister it couldnt have at all been something just made up if their dad had said it. He'd never lie to his daughters. 

And then her sister's body, once of excitement and curiosity, fell cautious and fearful, her body seemingly as low as her tail were. Her dark coated sister came closer to her, feeding off whatever confidence Elke may have held. Elke is left to whip around and face the intruder of their conversation.  What little interaction Elke had with the pack outside from what she knew was her family had not been well for her. It was worse for Ciri, is seemed. 

These, unlike his littermate, was not a spiteful or rude child. At least not in this instant. He was like that Ostrega girl's- curious, cautious, uncertain of nearly everyone around them. Seeing this in Thade, who's body language was not far from Ciri's own, Elke tried to bridge the gap. Hi... A small murmur, a start. But she remained close to her sister, standing taller then the both of them, protective, yet willing.