Submission (#738) Approved

Her feet were freezing on the cold snowy ground, not leaving much feeling in her toes. It had been a long way to Strynhalde’s village in the mountains. Too long actually. Reika felt the cold creeping up under her fur. Her body was shivering. But she had no intention to stop or turn back anytime soon. She heard that a little kittom from the village had gone missing and of course Reika couldn’t turn her back to these news. So she was on the way to the village in the mountains to hear more about what happened and where the lost kittom was last seen.
Soon she was able to see the village at the horizon. She was really glad that she finally was near the village, where she would have a warm place. Reika hated the cold in Strynhalde. Her pelt wasn’t thick enough to keep off the cold. She started running a bit faster towards the village, as it seemed to start snowing. Within a few minutes the snowfall had gotten even stronger and soon she wasn’t able to see the village anymore because of the strong snowstorm it turned into. “Damn it!” she screamed into the snowstorm, but her voice got lost in the process. The wind got stronger was blowing in her face with a lot of strength. Step by step she walked further, leaning onto the stong wind. “It can’t be that far anymore...” she murmured to herself. Minutes turned into hours, but Reika still hadn’t reached the village of Strynhalde. “Why can’t I find it? I just walked straight and I should have reached it a long time ago”, she started telling herself. “I must have gotten lost. I’m really not a bit better than that lost kittom I heard about...”
Just in the moment when Reika thought she couldn’t take one more step, she heard something. Desperately she tried to hear what it was. Was it someone calling her? No, it sounded like a song!
“Up in the mountains cold,
only the bravest elnin go,
when you get lost then you should know,
take shelter in the snow~” she heard it singing.
“Take shelter in the snow... what could that mean? ” she murmured and thought about the song. The melody seemed familiar, but she couldn’t grasp what kind of song it was or what that was supposed to mean.
“I don’t get it... what do you mean!?” she called into the storm and hoped for an answer, but the answer wasn’t coming. Just another song:
“Make it round, round, round, on the snowy ground!~”
“That’s just another riddle...I don’t understand what you mean.” She sighted and let her head hanging low. “It’s so cold. I can’t think anymore and I can’t feel my feet and legs anymore. I’m so sleepy...help me”
She laid down in the snow and slowly her eyes closed themselves while she fell in a deep slumber. Reika dreamed about the village she wanted to reach, about her parents and what they said to her when she decided to travel all by herself. A guilty feeling reached her. She shouldn’t have gone away from home all by herself... Now she was dying alone in a snowstorm without anyone knowing what happened to her. In her last moments she remembered the nice time she had with her mother, when she told Reika about Strynhalde and all the myths of the region. Once her mother told her about a hero that was a really brave elnin, fighting for the villager’s well-being. In one story he got lost in a snowstorm and almost freezes to death. But he was a quick thinker and smart brain and used the snow to build a cupola out of snow. What was it called again...? It was an igloo! Reika had an idea! She could build an igloo to take shelter from the snowstorm!
Reika opened her eyes at once, using all her strength to stand up and start digging and shoving the snow to what she remembered was an igloo. She didn’t have much time left. Her body was already ice cold and heavy from sleepiness. Just when she was almost finished with building it, she couldn’t move anymore. She fell into the snow and into a deep sleep... Everything turned dark in her mind. She couldn’t feel anything. She couldn’t see anything. She couldn’t hear anything.
“Wake up, wake up!” someone called. But who was that?
Reika slowly opened her eyes. Blinking her eyes from the sudden light shining in her face. She couldn’t grasp what were happening. “Where was she? Who was calling her? What happened? Was she dead? Is this heaven?” she thought by herself, still trying to get her sight back. It took a few moments, but then she could see a white little kittom sitting next to and speaking to her. “Who are you and where am I? Am I dead?” Reika asked in a still hoarse voice.
“How could you be dead, if you are talking to me?” the white kittom laughed loudly.
“I found you lying in the snow in that snowstorm and carried you here”
Reika looked around her. She was in some type of cavern. Next to her was a fireplace lit up. The warmth of the fire was making her really comfortable.
“So you saved me, it seems... Thank you. I wanted to build an igloo to take shelter there, but I couldn’t finish it” she said looking at the white kittom. She still couldn’t believe what happened, but was thankful anyway.
“You’re welcome” the kittom answered. “By the way that igloo wouldn’t withstand the storm at all. You also would have been snowed in even if it would hold up” The white kittom laughed even louder than before. Reika blushed and turned her head away. “I really thought that was a good idea...” she murmured.
This little white kittom seemed to have some knowledge about this region and weather...
“May I ask, who you are?” Reika asked the white kittom after a few minutes, when she calmed down.
“I’m Sky! I’m a kittom from the village in the mountains.”
“What are doing here then?” Reika asked.
“I was playing in the caverns. When I wanted to return, I had no idea how to get back. I have been here for about three or four days. There also seem to happen sudden snowstorms in this area and I didn’t know how to get to the village. I wanted to search for a way back, when I found you in the snow and returned to the cavern with you”
“So you are the lost kittom I heard about...” Reika murmured. “Let’s find a way back together then” she said louder and nodded her head to encourage her words.
Sky’s face lit up. “Yes!” she answered happily.
“First of all, let’s wait till the storm let up” Reika said.
“It already did” Sky answered and pointed at the exit. Reika took a step to the exit and looked outside. What Sky said, was correct. It was a quite beautiful weather outside in comparison to the snowstorm that was brewing just a few hours ago.
“Then let’s go!” Reika said and Sky followed her outside. She was still feeling tired and her body hurt all over, but she was determined to find a way back to the village. That was her intention from the very beginning! Without the snowstorm she was a real talent at finding the way.
It wasn’t long till they managed to find the village on the horizon. Nearing it, they started running towards the houses, when an adult female elnin came out of one of those houses. When she saw Sky, tears ran down her face. It were happy tears. “Mum!” the white little kittom called. “Sky!” her mother answered and they gave each other a big embrace. “Thank you...” the kittom said looking back at Reika.
“I should thank you...” Reika answered smiling. Then she turned her back. “It’s time for me to go to my next mission!” the dark blue kittom named Reika said.
“Good bye!” Sky said.
“Good bye! We will see each other again... maybe” Reika responded and walked off in the distance.
And while Reika went away she thought about the white kittom and her mother. It made her remember her own mother. “I really miss you, mother...” she mumbled. “Maybe I should visit her next and tell her about this new song...”
While walking she sang the song that she wanted to tell her mother about:
“Up in the mountains cold,
only the bravest elnin go,
when you get lost then you should know,
take shelter in the snow~”
But who was the elnin who sang that song in the snowstorm? Reika never discovered the truth about that up until now, but who knows? If she sings this song in many different regions in the world of Eyre, she might find an answer some day...