Grandmother's leg hairs, but it was cold.
Aike sucked in a breath and let it out again, ignoring the way the cold burned their skin the longer their hands were submerged. Still, it seemed the temperature would seemingly not allow for concentration, and Aike was about to withdraw their hands--
When they realized the feeling of cold was not entirely their own.
There. The thread was there, lost under the noise of other, smaller threads. There was cold, and surprise, vigilance and--
Intruders. The telltale thud of large footsteps on the ground above. Grazers? No. Predators? Perhaps. Burrowing was safe, burrowing was warm, burrowing would keep them hidden and secret--
But then there was the intruder. And the intruder was cold, was not blessed with furry hands that kept so warm.
Aike blinked, and looked back to the rocks. They didn't speak for fear of losing the thin thread they had found, instead following the gossamer line of feeling over to the rock. They circled it, once, twice, before dropping down again and beginning to dig through the snow that had fallen there. Their hands ached, but the thread was here, the intruder was here, Lawona was here. They were sure of it.