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| The wind blew harshly against Raleen’s exposed skin, slapping snow and ice into her face. The knee-deep snow hindered her movements and caused her to almost trip every few steps. She choked as a rather large clump of snow slid down her throat. She had never been so cold in her entire life. This was so partly because of her ill-suited clothing. She wore pants tucked into the tops of leather boots, and a thin shirt. A scene from her childhood flashed through her mind: she and her family had taken a trip away from their warm village and into the mountains. It had snowed, and Raleen could not remember a time that had been more enjoyable. They had thrown snow at each other, made figures out of the snow, and many other things that her fuzzy mind tried to remember. Her numbed mind could not understand why this was not the same. She kept her mind fixed on the image of her family playing in the snow. She had been out in the storm for far too long. She could no longer feel her hands or feet, nor her nose and ears. Her hair had frozen, and her eyelashes were heavy with ice. Each step took every bit of her dwindling strength and resolve. Some very small part of her mind knew that if she were to stop, even for a moment, she would never move again. She had no idea how long she walked. It seemed like days and days, more than she could count. Finally, she fell to her knees. Weakly, she struggled to her feet, only to fall again, hands plunging into the snow to catch her fall. She resisted for a moment longer, then her arms gave out, and she fell forward, face burring in the snow. She turned her head to the side, and watched the snow come down in sheets for a moment. How pretty it is, she thought, how ironic that I would meet my death at the hands of something so pretty. Her eyes closed against the view of the falling snow and listened to the wind howling above her. That same wind brought another sound with it. At first, Raleen could not comprehend what it was. Slowly, her mind realized that the growing sound was actually a voice. She cracked her freezing eyes open and scanned the air above her. For a brief moment, she thought she saw a figure coming towards her, but then her eyes closed, and Raleen knew no more. *** Raleen opened her eyes slowly. She looked around for a split second. Then the pain hit her. She moaned softly and closed her eyes again. Her entire body felt as if the skin had been stripped away, little by little. Her hands and feet felt as if they had a dozen knife cuts on them. It was pure torture. “Ah, good! You’re awake.” Raleen opened her eyes again and was met with the sight of a young woman standing above her. “How are you feeling?” She asked. “Terrible,” She croaked. Her throat felt dry and constricted. The young woman placed a cut of something warm at her cracked lips. Raleen drank greedily, not really caring just what it was she was drinking. When she had finished, the cup was taken away. “That was quite a close call you had there. I thought for sure you were dead when we reached you.” Raleen looked around, and not seeing a second person, asked: “We?” The young woman nodded. She disappeared out of sight for a moment, then returned with something gray wrapped in her arms. Raleen gasped at the sight of the creature. “Is that a… a dragon?” The girl nodded. “She sure is! She’s just a baby now, but just wait until she grows. Then she’ll be able to pick me up!” She said laughing. Raleen stared at the little thing for several long moments. It was the cutest thing she had ever seen. Soft, gray skin; little baby wings, still wrinkled from being inside the egg; but the most notable part of the little one was her brilliant green eyes. “What is her name?” Raleen asked breathlessly, her pain forgotten. “Yuki. It means snow. And I’m Deborah.” Raleen repeated their names to herself as the medicine in the drink pulled her asleep. *** Raleen recovered quickly. Her frostbite and exposure healed with time, care, and rest. Deborah insisted she stay in the little cabin that was in the middle of the snow covered land while she recovered. Raleen didn’t want to impose, but Deborah took care of her anyway. While recovering, Raleen got to know the little Yuki. She was a quite youngling, and it took her quite a while to warm up to Raleen, but when she did, she was very cute. When Raleen had recovered enough, Yuki and Deborah took her out of the cabin to see the rest of the land. It was one of the most beautiful things she had ever seen. There were waterfalls that would freeze over on the coldest of nights, and in the morning, they would begin to melt again, until by afternoon, it was running free again. The stream also froze sometimes during the night. The blues and whites would glimmer and sparkle in the morning light. Little Yuki loved these places. She would bound across the ice with amazing skill. As they days went by, Raleen couldn’t imagine life anywhere else. She adored Yuki, and Deborah had become a friend. She decided she would stay with Yuki and the little dragon’s bondmate. |
| Name: Yuki Gender: Female Age: Adolesent Color: Blue Type: ? Mate: None Yet Parents: Pre-Clutch |
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