Woolyne: Winter Solstice 2023

On the next day, everything was quiet in the house when Sion woke up. The silence was almost eerie, which was why he didn’t dare get up right away, but when he did he tip-hooved around to check if there was really no one. 

He found the common room in chaos, and he could only venture a guess at the state of the rooms upstairs. He even dared to venture all the way to the door of Cag’s room, and heard two snores coming from within. It seemed that Brock had gotten what he wanted after all. 

Sion left the common house through the back door, but not without his shifter stone; some sort of instinct, maybe the idea that he was going out on his own, compelled him to get it. He discovered that Kou had been right: it had snowed that night. The world was now covered in a quasi-pristine layer of white, as far as the eye could see, and the sky had had the time to clear enough that the rising sun shone upon it unbothered. It was a bit blinding; he raised his hand to protect his eyes. 

That is how he made his way towards Bernard’s home. There was smoke coming out of the chimney, so he realised that they were probably awake. He knocked at the door. 

It was the little sister that opened. She didn’t say hello, she simply stared at him, and Sion didn’t know what to do. That was, until the arrival of what he could only assume was the mother of the family. Both were striped orange and brown with piebald patterns, but only the mother had the same intense green eyes as Kou. 

“Oh, what are you doing, sweetie—” she said as she seemed to be initially fetching her child. She was startled to see Sion standing right outside. “Oh! Oh— You are— Oh, I see. You must be Sion, right?” 

“Yes ma’am,” said Sion. 

“Yes, yes— Come on in, then. My husband said that he had invited you to come for a visit, so we were expecting you… maybe a little later, but you coming now is fine by me.” 

She opened the door to let him in; Sion was careful to wipe all the snow off his hoofs out of respect. 

“This is Faye,” said the woman, gesturing to the female kit, “and I’m Palla. We’ve met last year, but you might not remember me…” 

Actually, Sion had a vague memory of Palla, he had already noticed that she had the same eyes as Kou. “I remember you,” he said. 

“Really!” 

“Yeah, but not your name.” 

“Well, that’s good then— Welcome in. Are you hungry? Do you want something to eat?” 

Sion was going to say that he wasn’t hungry but, right on cue, his stomach grumbled loudly. He felt his cheeks warm up as he cast a downward glance. 

“I’ll take this as yes— Come right this way.” 

She guided him through her home. The entire front part of the house was occupied by a single large room, where all matters of furniture and activities seemed to be taking place. She showed him to the kitchen corner, with its table and sturdy chairs. Sion noticed that some seemed to have had their backrest carved. 

Faye sat right next to him and kept staring at him. Sion tried to recall the last time he had seen her blink and failed. She was younger than him by at least a few years, and right at this age where kits could be a bit strange without realising. 

“I told Kou to wake up already, twice,” said Palla, “but he’s still not up. I’ll just go fetch him quickly, so you can eat together and discuss…” She shrugged “Battle plans, I suppose. Today’s a big day.” 

She disappeared in the back. Sion heard her call her son, and her tone of voice was suddenly very different from the soft, gentle demeanour she had had before her guest. 

“Can I measure your hands?” asked Faye. 

“Erm— sure,” said Sion. 

He didn’t quite know what she meant, but he guessed she wanted his hand. He gave one for her. She immediately pressed their palms together to compare finger lengths. 

“Your hands are very big,” she said. “That means you’ll grow big.” 

“Ah. That’s nice.” 

“The hands grow first,” said Faye, absolutely serious. “Kou’s hands are small, so he’ll stay… ti-ny.” 

She giggled. Sion guessed that this had to be an argument she used to tease her brother, otherwise she wouldn’t be this gleeful. 

Palla came back, and she was once more the gentle, soft-spoken creature that had answered the door. “Do you want some milk?” she asked. “We like to warm a pot in the morning.” 

“Yes, please!” 

She smiled at him and turned around to prepare it for him. Sion wondered if she was nice to him because she had heard that he was an orphan from her husband. 

He didn’t have much time to ponder that question; right at that moment, Kou came in and all of his attention seemed to focus on him automatically.