[Chr24] Frozen Beliefs

"Did you hear something?"

The question came barely above a whisper as Maisiel, leading the group stopped, lowering herself and listening carefully.  She had heard rustling, commotion.  The Glacial Twiwa popped out from her back and began to flap its wings as it looked into the forest.  The trees were dense, and it was hard to see anything far.  Snow rested on the trees above them, keeping the ground below nearly completely snow-free.  The group began to listen for what Maisiel heard, and there it was again.  Loud crunching before a 'buck came running out of a bush, jumping back into the dense forest.

"Wait!" Yvena called out as she could feel the panic the other buck had. 

She grabbed her Polar Bavee and began to run after the buck.  She kept calling out, but the buck didn't respond.  Maisiel, her twiwa, Maki, and Klasp began to chase after Yvena, and the group eventually found the buck lying in the ground.  It was a small clearing, and the buck was injured, and clearly with a child.  Her breathing was heavy, the group slowly approached her, it seemed she could run no longer.  Was she in trouble?  Was something chasing her?  They hadn't seen anything or heard anything more since they had seen her the first time.  She pulled herself to sit up the best she could.  They weren't sure what to do.  The buck seemed uninterested in their help.  Klasp took a quick look around and made sure to take note of the trees, they seemed to curve inwards over the clearing, it was unusual.  Gnarled roots were twisted and strung into place.  The buck had given birth, but the pup was weak, they weren't even sure if it was alive.  The buck tries to hold the pup to keep it warm but her own warmth is leaving her body.

The group watch as the buck lets out a small cry, a howl for her lost pup.  Her body goes limp as she takes her last breath.

Silence fell over the group.

"What's that?" Yvena asks as the group notices a small light seemingly floating down towards the bucks.  It was almost like they could see a form within the light, and soon the light reaches the bucks, seemingly going up to the pup and a small flurry of ice finds its way to the pup and the lifeless body gives a small twitch, at first.  Its fur tints to blue and ice slowly follows its horns.  The light emits brighter before it eventually disappears, leaving the group shocked.  At first they don't dare to move toward it, they didn't want to disrupt anything, but Maisiel soon begins to walk towards the pup.  Her breath hitches as she stands near the mother's body.  The pup shakes off the snow before stumbling back down onto the ground.

"We need to get it back to the city as soon as possible.  We can't let her death be in vain."

Maisiel didn't know this buck, or why she was running, or possibly what her life was like, she just knew that she died trying to protect her child, even if it was stillborn.  She couldn't walk away and leave the child after witnessing.... that.  What was that?  And what did it do to the pup?  How did it save it?  They were all left with more questions than answers, but they all agreed that the best course of action would be taking the pup back to the village.