Speech // thought

She had watched Citadel look around for a direction to take them on an adventure and suggested northward. She nodded brightly and let him lead the way. It was rare they let the kids go traipsing about outside of the territory, with permission and chaperoned. She was much happier about it this way.

Her paws splayed over the thick ice as if she had dug into the sand for traction. It hardly made a sound under her as she stepped carefully toward a small pine tree.

"Fascinating! Cit this was a great choice." She praised her son. She swept away a drift of snow and saw that below them the tree continued through the ice, down down down through the frigid water. She saw a shadow move under the ice, slick and shaped like a tear drop.

"I wonder if there's places for seals to pop up around here." She mused to him, wondering what he might say.

They moved onto a territory Citadel had never seen before. Despite all his explorings, the world was so vast. here, they found a snowy terrain with trees sprouting straight from the earth, coming though as if you could only see half of them, or just the tops. How did the rest of the trees survive in the snow? He jumped from snow drift to snow drift, before his eyes caught on a frozen lake, dotted with trees. And with so much… life beneath it.

He moved closer to the lake, his nose twitching in curiosity as he paired down through the ice. “How is it so green, mum? It’s like a forest is beneath there.”


"Citadel Fatalis"

Speech // thought

The snow and ice stretched nearly barren around them. The tiny trees along the ice seemed to be more like treetops than half grown saplings! They ere far bushier than saplings for sure. The sparseness between each little tree also seemed to say that they were locked into a submerged state with little growing soil nearby.

At her son's question, she tilted her head and rubbed her warm pad over the space of the ice to melt it into a small smooth surface. The scene started to become clearer as the ice melted into a lens.

"You're right!" She exclaimed, "I think I see the trunk of our tree here." She said pointing at the pillar that grew down into the depths. "It must be green from all the frozen pine branches. How deep do you think it is? The ice seems fairly thick and stable." She mused aloud, gently hopping in place over the ice. It didn't budge. It didn't even make a sound from her effort.

Cit squinted and turned his head different ways, studying the ice. Seemed such a strange thing, and somehow the tree wasn’t dead. That was the strangest part of all, right? He took a step onto the ice and his paw slid out in front of him, causing him to smack his chin on the hard surface. ow! he thought, but didn’t say it out loud. He scrambled backwards with his hind legs, and glared at the suspicious and treacherous surface.

“I guess its pretty thick, do you think we could break it mumma?” He asked, his annoyance over the ocean lost with this new puzzle in front of him.


"Citadel Fatalis"