Kiela had been here once before, but this time felt distinctly different. The moon's presence, massive in the clear night sky, seemed almost threatening with its looming presence. For the first time in her life that she could remember she found little solace in its presence, instead longing for the sun to make its return. Night had only just fallen though, and while she was admittedly wary she was hardy afraid. Something was changing - and change seemed to be something these lands had plenty of. Even her adventurous heart preferred when things remained relatively predictable, though she was slowly learning to adapt to this unpredictable world.

She was slow as she moved across the ice, scoping out the vicinity. With winter here again in full force she had no worries about the weight of the ice breaking beneath her but she was ever-wary of her surroundings. She'd already discovered the strange glowing balls of light trapped beneath the ice, that wasn't news to her - but it seemed as if some of the orbs themselves had escaped and were drifting lazily over the frozen lake. But they hadn't, such a thing was impossible. She let out a thoughtful breath as she continued along, watching as one of the orbs lazily floated toward her nose and then disappeared.

It was almost vindicating, the trails the stars painted in the sky seemed to point to him having been right about the stars moving through the sky... Though it seemed his parents were warry of them, even if he himself was more than a little proud that he'd worked it out before all this happened. Haüyne wondered where they went, and that night the young Destruction set out to see if he could follow the trails to a point of origin, a place beyond the horizon where the stars originated. The rest of his siblings had wandered beyond the former pack lands before and for the young man he felt it was now his time.

But there was a hitch in his plan. Haüyne's own damn curiosity. As he'd wandered he'd come across the lake and the gears in his mind starting to turn, with each paw step the ice seemed to light up slightly, in a way very similar to the strange floating blue lights he'd seen at night as of late. The young boy was so wrapped up in his own musing he failed to notice he'd wandered closer to another nighttime traveler on the ice, only spotting her when he lifted his gaze to see they were close enough that he hardly had to lift his voice to speak. He paused, watching her curiously.

Haüyne Destruction

Art by SugarPhlox

If Kiela was in tune with anything at all, it was her surroundings, so the shift that happened had been gradually but palpable nonetheless. The way the stars stood suspended in the sky; the way the moon seemed even larger in the sky than she remembered it; and finally, these little blue and purple fireflies drifting about lazily over the ice. Something about that was unnerving, more so than the luminescent orbs trapped beneath the ice. Combined with the stars twinkling above in the clear night sky, the whole night seemed aglow, ebbing and flowing all around her like a wave.

She too was trapped deep within her thoughts. A stranger's company out here was not at all unwelcome, not when she felt completely out of her element. He was visibly young but maybe he knew something about these parts that she didn't. "These lights," she spoke up, bypassing a greeting and voicing her thoughts before bothering with any pleasantries, as she lifted a paw and gestured in a sweeping motion around them. "These are normal here? Do you know?" Kiela was sure she knew the answer already, but she was hoping for confirmation otherwise.

Haüyne's ears twitched as the stranger spoke, pale blues swung towards her and he considered for a moment, shifting his weight from paw to paw, lifting and lowering them in a clear act of testing the blooms of light that seemed to flock to his paws. He tilted his head to the side before he finally spoke. "I'm not completely sure." Short, sweet and to the point. "The floating lights started up where I live a week or so ago... But I've never seen these before." He gestured at the ice. "They're probably not related." It was an educated guess at best but one he wasn't totally unsure about.

That didn't explain the sky though either...

Haüyne Destruction

Art by SugarPhlox

He was a well spoken boy, it seemed, and Kiela was glad she'd run into him instead of some over-exuberant pup. He explained he wasn't sure they were related, and Kiela nodded slowly. "I've been here once before. These lights, under the ice - they were here before. But not these," she lifted her muzzle toward a nearby group of the tiny blue floating lights. "It seems things are changing.. again," Kiela trailed off thoughtfully. She only hoped that whatever was happening here wouldn't effect her caribou. It'd been awhile since she;'d checked up on the northern herd and she feared this might be a sign of a more brutal winter to come. "The nights have been longer too, or so I think?" When she'd expected the sun to rise it had still been dark, and Kiela was beginning to grow more uneasy at what changes were ahead of them still.

Luckily it seemed the woman had information of her own to share and Haüyne nodded, drinking in her words. He had many questions about what it was that made the ice glow, especially before the strangeness had started but that hardly seemed the most pressing matter at hand right now. The boy's gaze followed one of the floating lights as it drifted lazily past his nose and for a moment he let a little moment of childish instinct take over, his jaw clamping shut around one, before he opened his mouth again and watched the light he was pretty sure he'd caught kept on drifting along, seemingly unbothered by nearly being eaten.

"It is strange that it seems a great deal many things have been in flux as of late." It was an observation, the young boy's attention sliding fluidly between the sky, the lights and the glow under his paws as numerous question flooded his mind.

Haüyne Destruction

Art by SugarPhlox

Kiela

You get the sense that something is wrong. You also find 4 mushrooms. Maybe these are worth keeping…

Hauyne

A chill dips into the air. You also find 2 mushrooms. Maybe these are worth keeping…