Snow Angels

[GoblinFae]

Zurna yawned as she went about her morning ritual. Barefoot in the melting snow, she stood straight as a tent-pole with the palms of her hands gently cradling the front of her face. Soft, melodious words flowed from her tongue as she prayed to her Gods thanking them for a new day and the ever-present fire in her family's hearth.

When at last she felt the sun's warm rays caress her face and hands, she opened her eyes and smiled breathing deeply the cool morning air. "Yet another beautiful sunrise, what more could I ever ask for on this perfect day?"

With a sigh she threw on her fur wrap and boots in preparation for a day's work. "Priority one of the day," she said to herself, "find eggs for breakfast."

[Anonymous]

It was freezing out here. How the hell was he supposed to get anything done?

The tundra was a lot colder than he expected, and he was sure he was going to freeze to death out here, and no one would even know where to start looking for him. His body would probably never be unearthed, and he'd leave no one behind to mourn for him. Except for his boss, maybe, and some villagers to whom he owed favors, but besides that, no one would care, really. The thought made him laugh to himself as he hid amongst the bushes, his crimson eyes searching the treetops. Despite the cold, despite everything, he was always a dedicated birdwatcher.

Sketchbook in hand, charcoal held firmly between his fingertips, Janson's eyes was latched onto a bird preening in the treetops. It was an Arctic tern, by the looks of it — a critter he hadn't been documented yet in his sketchbooks, and that meant he hadn't plucked a sample of its feathers, either. Sketching it was the easy part, catching it would have to come later. As long as it stayed still and kept on being a good little birdy, then there'd be no problems, hopefully... He adjusted the black bandana he wore, and tucked loose strands of his long black hair behind his ear, lost in thought.

It wasn't really the most ideal place to sketch a bird. There were a lot of bird nests around, and a lot of eggs, a lot of bootprints in the snow... He suspected that maybe this was a place where natives went to gather eggs, but he wouldn't know the first thing about that kind of work. He was just here to sketch and observe, and hopefully not freeze to death while wandering around out here, positively lost... While he was thinking and sketching, he heard of the sound of what appeared to be boots, crunching in the tundra snow.

His crimson eyes widened, and he gripped the charcoal tighter. "Sssssh," he shushed, turning around to face the stranger — a woman with fur wrap and boots. "Stay quiet," he whispered, imploring. "You'll scare the bird away."

[GoblinFae]

Zurna raised her brow at the man in front of her. 'Shh? How dare he!' For a moment she just stared at him, taking in his appearance and finally the sketchbook in his hands. 'Foreingers,' she thought rolling her eyes.

"That," she hissed back, "is breakfast." With the speed of an experienced hunter she raised a rucksack and brought it down on the bird, catching it with ease. "Hold this," she commanded, thrusting the sack into the stranger's hands. "Whatever you do, don't let her out until I say so. She's going to lunge at the first thing she sees once she's out, and you don't want that to be you."

Carefully, Zurna reached up into the stunted tree. Collecting eggs from the unguarded nests was not always an easy task, birds often had mates, and mates meant trouble. She just hoped the stranger would not do anything stupid with the tern. She really did not have time for more work today.

[Anonymous]

It was, apparently, asking way too much for her to be quiet for a few seconds. He shook his head, dismissive. "Breakfast? No, that's my subject for the day," Janson corrected. The sketch was almost done, he just needed to get the tail feathers right, but of course, his luck just had to fall short.

"Now, if you could keep your voice d—" He stopped, eyes widening as she crept up to the bird, rucksack in hand; he dropped his charcoal, voice still hushed. "Hey! What are you doing, you're gonna—!" he started, but before he knew it, the bird had been snatched up by the stranger, and stuffed in a rucksack. It was promptly handed to him, and Janson, not having much of a choice in the matter, held onto it tightly.

He blinked, unsure of how he had gotten into this situation. He had been so close to finishing the sketch, too! He eyed the bag carefully, raised a brow, then looked back to the stranger. Apparently, according to her, the tern wouldn't be happy when it was finally released from its prison. She seemed to know a lot about them.... He raised a brow, laughed. "So if I were to put my hand in this bag for whatever reason, would it start going beserk?" he asked, half joking, but half curious. "It doesn't really seem like an aggressive bugger to me."

Granted, he had seen his fair share of birds in his lifetime, just never ones in the tundra. "Fine, I'll hold onto it, for now," was his temporary promise. He still needed to collect some feathers from it, but that could wait until later. The tern was buzzing around angrily in the rucksack, and Janson held a tight grip over the top of the bag. "I'm guessing you live around here, then?"

[GoblinFae]

Zurna ignored the inane babbling of the artist behind her as she finished collecting the eggs. She was careful to leave behind the largest of the eggs which had a higher probability of survival. She knew better than to be greedy or wasteful.

Her task completed she braced herself for further confrontation. "Really now, didn't your mother teach you anything? Anything with a mouth can bite. In fact, how would you like it if after a nonstop three day journey across the sea to the coast you stop in a pathetic looking tree to nest only to have someone come along and stuff you in a bag that is a bit of a tight squeeze and steal nearly all of your precious eggs? Would you just waltz right out of the bag and offer to cook up the eggs yourself? I wouldn't," she bit out at him.

'Resist mauling the stranger. Resist killing the stranger. Just go home now and eat and you will feel all better. You are just hungry. The day is still young and easily remedied, she coached herself. On a normal day she really wasn't so caustic, but then again most people knew better than to bother her on summer mornings, especially with pointless questions about of all things, birds.

"I'm a nomad, I live wherever the game goes," she said with finality. She took one calculating look at the moving rucksack and came to an amusing conclusion. 'Forget about killing him, I'll just let the bird do it.

In a sugary sweet voice she wished him a good day. Turning on heel with a smirk in place, she halfheartedly wished she could see the bird in action. 'Perhaps it'll teach him a lesson. Although, she giggled I don't know what that would be.

[Anonymous]

The bird watcher failed to see how her speech applied to him. He stared at her blankly, before holding the bag up, pointing to it, and noting, "I'm not the one who put the bird in the bag, you know." In fact, he wasn't sure how detailing the extent of her injustice toward the bird had anything to do with him at all, but maybe all the natives around here liked to hold morality speeches this early in the morning. Hey man, whatever floats your boat.

Apparently, she was a nomad, something he wasn't expecting. "Really? Same here — minus the 'game' thing. I go wherever the birds are." It was probably pretty obvious looking at Janson, but he wasn't one for hunting; gods, he was all skin and bones, not cut out for tasks that were too strenuous. With his wiry form, he wasn't someone who could handle that kind of lifestyle, despite the fact that he did move around a lot.

She wished him a good day, leaving him with the rucksack. He took one look at the bag, then another look at her retreating form. "Hey, don't you want..." he started, but then shrugged, opening the bag. Like she predicted, the bird came at him, angrily at first. Janson's affinity for birds, however, was handy in these situations.

He hummed a tune under his breath, and gently held out a finger towards the bird. Cautiously, the tern sat on his finger, staring at him curiously. The bird watcher, with nimble, experienced fingers, pet the bird carefully, stroking it, until feathers dislodged from its form. He took up the feathers and thrust his finger upward, and the tern flew up, away, back to its nest. Quickly, he collected his charcoal and sketchpad, shoving that, along with the feathers, into his messenger bag. Affinity for birds or no, the tern would probably be angry when it noticed its eggs were missing...

"Hey, wait up!" he called, jogging to catch up with her. He was pretty quick for someone so slender, and managed to make his way back over to her easily. He turned, jogging backwards so that he could see her face. "So, I think we got off on the wrong foot back there," he said, and placed a hand to his chest. "I'm Janson — bird watcher, scout, and evidently, the most annoying person you can hope to run into in the morning." His self-deprecating humor usually lightened up a situation. He grinned, and held a hand out toward her. "And the lady with the fiery temper must have a name, right?"

[GoblinFae]

He was following her. 'What is he, like some baby bird? You knock it out of the tree and it follows you everywhere.' Not only was he following her, he was bouncing around in front of her and babbling. 'I prayed for a good day and this is what I get? Ansgar what have I done recently to make you hate me so?'

She snorted at his annoying person description. 'Boy, "annoying" doesn't even come close to describing you,' she thought, once more tuning him out. Ahead of them was one of the newly forming streams. A stream that still had a deceptive thin layer of ice on it. A stream that the bouncing "baby bird" was headed right for. She fought to keep the smirk from her face as she finally acknowledged his presence catching his eye.

"Rucksack," she said as she thrust her right hand out between them. 'Three more hops and this birdy's getting a bath.'

[Anonymous]

Rucksack, sure. He cast her a suspecting glance, not buying that name for a second, but hell, if that's what she wanted to be called, then who was he was judge? Still walking in front of her, Janson took her hand as she thrust it out in front of them, shaking it firmly. "Rucksack, right—"

As soon as he had grabbed her hand, however, the ice made a sickening cracking sound, giving way underneath his feet, and evidently, hers as well. He hadn't had enough time to react, and since he had been gripping her hand so fervently, as the ice cracked, it was cracking underneath her feet as well. "Shit," he cursed, releasing her hand; he took a step, and the ice finally broke through.

Granted, he had managed to save himself, if not barely. His lower body had been submerged, but he'd managed to grab onto the sturdy ice around him to keep him from being totally submerged. As a plus, he'd managed to save his messenger bag, full of sketches and feathers. He laughed, shaking his head, pulling himself out of the chilly water. "Does this..." he started, panting, already at a loss of breath. "...sort of thing happen often around here?"

[GoblinFae]

"Blastich!" Zurna cried as the ice cracked beneath her feet. 'I didn't realize how big the stream was getting. I'm going to have to add that to the map when I get home.'

"Don't mo-" He took a step back and the ice broke. 'Too late.' With Janson moving about so much, Zurna was unable to keep her balance and not fell through the ice but was completely submerged in it. Gasping, she launched herself out and back onto solid ground.

She glared at him, her teeth already beginning to chatter. "Yes. Although I am usually not the one who ends up in the water."She reached her hand into her pocket and winced at the gooey sticky feeling she got. Pulling her hand out revealed broken shells and runny yolks. "Blastih," she cursed again.

"Well seeing as you have managed to get us both soaking wet and ruined my breakfast, would you like to come to my family's home? You would be welcome at our fire, unless you would rather catch the ague." Zurna stood shakily. The cold had already leeched all her heat despite the layers. 'I hope mama has some of the bark tea left. I have a feeling I'm going to be sick because of this. I feel like a drowned cat.'

[Anonymous]

So that was something he'd have to look out for on her journey here — the ground falling out from under his feet and being nearly drowned in the cold waters that lurked underneath. He pulled himself out of the stream, shivering at the cold, strapping his messenger bag a little tighter to his chest. Soaked, he was absolutely soaked, but it wasn't something he could help.

 Being wet out in this freezing cold was a recipe for disaster, and he wondered why he thought it was a good idea to come out here so relatively unprepared. Hyoite, he had known it was cold, but he didn't know it was this troublesome.

He did a double-take at her offer, surprised, and he couldn't help but laugh a little, placing a drenched hand to his chest. "You would invite me to your home after ruining your breakfast and got you soaking wet?" He shook his head, smiling. "I don't think I could turn down an offer like that." Not in good conscience, anyway. He literally had no place to go out here and would've probably frozen to death otherwise.

"Thanks," he told her, after a beat. "And, sorry. It all kind of happened so suddenly." Janson rubbed the back of his neck, taking in a deep breath. Boss had been right — he really did attract trouble anywhere he went. Nevertheless, he tossed her a small smile. "And I still don't know your name. Unless you want me to actually call you Rucksack?"

[GoblinFae]

"Yes I am inviting you. If my mother found out I let some poor wanderer freeze to death she would murder me, ruined breakfast or not. Her wrath is something I fear more than anything," Zurna said shuddering. 'It's just the cold,' she uselessly tried to convince herself.

She laughed brokenly at his comment. "No my name is not rucksack. I wanted you to hand me my rucksack back, before you fell in. It seems I have paid for my mean-spiritedness," she said looking down at her wet clothes. "Come, let's hurry. We can talk on the way, but we will get sick standing out here like this." Zurna began to walk briskly again towards home. "It is not far from here."

In the distance the smokestacks of several homes could be seen. "I'm sorry I was grumpy with you earlier," she apologized. "Can we start over? I'm Zurna Nali."

[Anonymous]

Janson wasn't sure what invited the change of heart, but he wasn't about to question her offer, all things considered. He was wet, freezing, and was pretty sure he'd be catching a cold because of this fiasco, but her offer softened the blow of his bad luck, if not a little. He hadn't expected to be given anything after that mess, but it seemed like she wasn't a bad person after all. Hell, she was probably just having a bad day, only to have it mucked up more by some annoying outsider.

Oh, so her name wasn't Rucksack! See, he had a feeling that was the case... Janson laughed, pressing the palm of his hand to his forehead, shaking his head. "I really am an idiot," he laughed, shaking his head. As she introduced herself as Zurna, Zurna Nali, he nodded, giving her a small smile. "Don't worry about it, Zurna. We all have bad days — and if its any consolation, I was being annoying."

The bird watcher was always quick to forgive, always quick to put a past grievance behind him. Life was too fleeting to attempt to hold onto such negative emotions for long.

He wrapped his arms around his chest, attempting to stay warm — a futile effort. He walked briskly in an attempt to keep pace with her, an easy feet, given how light on his feet he could be. She was right — wasting time while standing around and talking wouldn't do any of them any good. "Are you sure your mother won't mind me being there? I wouldn't want to intrude..."

[GoblinFae]

Zurna took pity on him and decided against teasing him as would have been normal for her to do. "Mother will not mind. I think she would be more upset if you didn't come along. She would send me back into the snow after, without even getting warm first."

Rounding the last snowbank, the young woman was happy to see her family tents. One large tent in the center was surrounded by several smaller ones. "Come Janson, bird-watcher. Let's get you warm." Zurna led him over to the large tent but, paused in the doorway. "I guess it might be fair to warn you, I have twenty-five older brothers. Don't take offense to any...brotherly protection? They tend to get a little odd about me and newcomers. But, don't worry, it's been ages since they maimed anyone," she solemnly informed him. Then just before she stepped inside she gave him a small wink.

[Anonymous]

As Zurna paused in the doorway, Janson also stopped in his tracks, eying her curiously. His eyes only widened as she relayed just how many brothers she had. "Twenty-five?" he echoed, unable to wrap his head around it. He hadn't had any siblings growing up, and couldn't imagine what it'd be like to grow up under the same roof as so many kids. His parents had a hard enough time taking care of him, and they hadn't done a very good job with just one kid...

And they— they were prone to 'brotherly protection.' He had absolutely no idea what that meant, but it couldn't be good.

"I'll—I'll take your word for it..." he responded, obviously nervous, wrapping his arms around himself. He was pretty sure he was walking into a death trap of some sort, and half expected all twenty five of her brothers to pop out of nowhere and maul him to death. But he was cold and freezing and was not one to pass up free hospitality. "They shouldn't worry, though — I'm no threat to anyone in this sorry state." And he sneezed, almost if on cue, as if his body wanted to make a point.

[GoblinFae]

Despite her wish to be nice, Zurna could not help the snort that escaped her. "That is exactly the reason they are going to be all protective." Sighing, she wrapped her arm around his shoulder, lending him her warmth and led him inside.

"Here, sit yourself by the fire. I'll get you something to eat," she offered, nudging him towards the large central fire. The tent was very large and roomy on the inside. On one side her youngest nieces still slept. On another her mother was already moving about, working to get breakfast made. "Good morning mother," Zurna greeted softly. "I seem to have brought home a little lost bird. Do you think you can help him?"

The irony of her choice of words was not lost on her. It was not long before the young woman was giggling to herself, much to the confusion of her mother. "Mother this is Janson. Birdwatcher this is my mother, Minali. Good now that introductions are made, may I eat?" Zurna did not wait for answer and began to pull two bowls out of crates and fill them with gruel and dried fruit. One bowl she offered to the newcomer even as she sat to eat from the other.

[Anonymous]

Janson was too cold and far too wet to comprehend how a sorry sap like himself could make any brother be protective, but hell, he would just take her word for it! Instead, he allowed himself to be lead to the fire, and took a seat next to the cozy flames. He grinned, getting cozy near the hearth, reaching out his hands so the warmth licked at his skin. Never before had the birdwatcher been so happy to be snuggled close, next to crepitating flames.

As Zurna introduced him to her mother, Janson craned her neck over to where the older woman stood, and bowed his head to her. "Pleasure to meet ya, ma'am," he greeted, "Don't worry about me! I won't be a bother or nothin' — hell, I bet you won't even notice I'm here!" Of course, Janson always did feel a little bad about taking the charity of others, but hell, who was he to pass up the chance to sit next to a cozy fireplace?

He rolled his eyes as Zurna started laughing at her oh-so ironic choice of words. "Haha, very funny," was his sarcastic retort. It was a good-natured sort of sarcasm, of course — he couldn't very well fault someone who was giving him free food! He dug into the meal, despite it being so different from the rich foods he was used to cooking for himself, back in warmer climates.

"You know, to make up for what happened back there — me ruinin' your breakfast and all," Janson started, looking up at her. "I could help you gather some more eggs, later. I have a way with birds — we wouldn't need a rucksack to do it."

[GoblinFae]

A thick brow raised in interest. "A way with birds? Whatever do you mean? Do birdwatchers have some amazing power I don't know about?" Zurna was genuinely intrigued. The tundra did not often receive many visitors that were willing to talk to her. She was going to take every chance she got to learn about others.

"Maybe later we can go out and fetch some more eggs. But, don't feel obligated Janson. As you can see they are not necessary for breakfast, I just like to have them occasionally. Besides, I would hate for you to get cold and wet again before you have even properly warmed up and dried off. That would be very cruel of me."

She took a few more spoonfuls of food before speaking again. "Perhaps to make up for our meeting, you could tell me a bit about where you come from. I don't really get to hear about other places. No one tends to come to the tundra. It's only a bunch of ice and snow to them."