Snowy days.

He was thinking again- that's why he was quiet, staring at Loki and trying to figure out the creature's angle. Why was he so intent on getting Sora to join by the fire..? Then someone else came in, and his eyes widened as he tried to hide himself further without using magic (mainly because he was too lazy). Thankfully, she paid no attention to him, so the elf breathed a slight sigh of relief as she sat down by the other person- Percy, was it?

"N-no, as I said, I'm fine... Thank you, though." He tried to smile sincerely, but he felt it came off a little weak; Sora hadn't tried smiling for a while. Well, no, that wasn't true... He could remember when he was fighting, but that was different, that was when he'd been smiling because he was so much stronger than his opponents. At least, he figured he was stronger- he was still alive, wasn't he? Idly, he pressed a hand to where his heart was and couldn't resist letting out a thankful gasp when he found that it was, indeed, still beating. It was silly of him, to be so worried about being dead or not.

Yet again, he paused, doing his best to figure out the right way to say something. "You can come over here, though, if you want... I mean, you don't have to, I wouldn't be offended..." Sora added, shaking his head and shivering slightly.

Shelby jumped a bit in surprise when the man, Sora, was it?, spoke-she hadn't noticed that there had been anyone else in the room. She felt bad for him; he looked cold. She rose and walked over to him, reaching out to grab his arm. "Hey, c'mon, it's alright. None of us bite." She tried for a reassuring smile.

"Some of us do," Salah said with a small wink at the party gathered around the fire. She walked gracefully down the staircase with a bounce in her step. She stood by the fire, holding out her cold hands to its warmth. She sighed happily. After three days worth of reading, she had finished the four elven texts Sam had assigned her. And she had worked on learning more of the ancient language.

It was a good day.

The lake is frozen... a sullen voice said in her head.

It appears to be snowing. That might be why, the rider joked with her dragon. The white dragon sniffled.

I hate snow...

How can you hate snow? You love water almost as much as you love me? It's just a different form of water.

The dragon paused for an instant before replying. Snow is sticky...

"Keen observation," the vampire muttered under her breathe. She felt her dragon's laughter in her mind.

Felkaranos came to a steep hill. The snow made it hard to walk and he struggled his way up to the top. But when he reached it, he could see that it was really worth it; he could see the castle from there. Now the only thing he had to do was getting inside there with the egg. And it had to be fast.

When he tried to take his first step down the hill, he tripped and fell, which sent him rolling down in the snow. He hated snow. At least this goes faster than walking, he said to himself while moving down the hill at thirty rotations per second.

Inside the caverns under the castle, Ana shifted, ears pricking up. Hush a moment, she urged the small orange-and-yellow dragon beside her, Terlu, who was complaining about the state of his feathery mane. Someone's coming.

I don't hear anyone, Terlu sniffed, then remembered there was more than one way to hear and let his conscience spread like wildfire. Underneath his conscience was Ana's, the serene blue of an undisturbed lake, and a human-sized spirit with a small, round one floating beside it. It was a curious image. Should we do something? he asked the blue dragon.

Ana considered, then grinned a dragon grin. Not yet. It would be interesting to see how this folds out.

They waited awhile, but nothing happened. Terlu began shifting from foot to foot impatiently, then eventually complained to Ana, this is boring. Let's do something all ready!

Ana narrowed her eyes in displeasure at his lack of patience. Very well. Then she walked off. Terlu followed her. After a while, they reached a spacious cavern.


This isn't right, aren't we to warn the humans? Terlu wondered. But Ana just gave him her trademark grin.

Suddenly, she thrust her head up through the ceiling of the cavern.

Ana blinked at the sudden light, then smiled at the intruder. Hello, there. What are you doing here at our fine castle?