(TWWM) [Winter Expeditions 2] Kiran + Rosemary

“K-K-Kirrraaaannn!!!”

Kiran turned at the sound of Rosemary’s voice squealing his name. They had been tending to one of the stray cats that had fallen off the trail and wandered into the woods, especially in these harsh conditions. Snow was covering every inch of the forest and the pasture nearby, and the roads themselves were icy.

Perhaps too icy?

“T-Turn the light off, I-I can’t seeeeee!!” She cried, and Kiran’s eyes widened as he realised she was sliding towards them at full speed, her paws unable to grip onto the ice to stop herself.

Kiran could barely even comprehend what she was asking as panic filled him, forgetting about the light that always shone around his form, and right as she was about to collide with him, his body turned to mist, and she skated right through him, sliding further down the path.

A Rosemary-shaped hole ran through Kiran’s body, slowly reshaping itself over the next several seconds as the mist regathered. After all pieces were back in order, his body shifted back to solid, and he glanced down the forest path, the little brown cat also perking up to look down the bend to see if the young esk was alright.

A loud thud came from further down the path, and Kiran winced sympathetically.

“Rosemary?”

“I’m okay!” She yelled back, her voice distant now but the wind carried her voice up enough for them to hear. “I used a tree to stop my fall!”

Kiran laughed fondly, quietly, not wanting her to hear. His antenna flicked slowly and his wings fluttered just a little - not enough to disturb their little spider, but enough to express his amusement. He looked down at the cat that he was tending to, turning themselves slowly. “Come on, I can bring you back to the correct path - and we can check on her together.” He chuckled.

The cat let out a trill as it hopped up onto his back, crawling up to lay in between the wires of his wings, curling up between his shoulders, snuggling into the warm fur there. As the cat laid across them, they became a part of the silhouette, and the light slowly began to shine around them as well.

Kiran was careful as they walked down, sticking to the frozen snow on the edges of the path rather than stepping on the ice rink that the forest path had become. Getting down to the lane that sat right outside the pasture, Rosemary was sitting before a tree, presumably the one she used to ‘stop her fall.’

Kiran began to chuckle again as he approached - he just couldn’t help it. “Are you- Are you alright, Mary?” He couldn’t stop the laugh permeating his voice as he talked to her, the silly little esk never failed to amuse him.

“Are you making fun of me?” Rosemary huffed, her paws rubbing at her snout. “I’m fine!”

Kiran snickered. “No, no, absolutely not, I just-”

“Can’t even help yourself in the face of your created?” She huffed, her tail flicking angrily. “I could have died.”

“You’re already dead.” He teased, moving closer to her and nudging her gently. “We’ve established that.”

“You don’t know!” She pouted. “I could die again- I’ll be the first.” She puffed with pride, turning away from the affection given to comfort her. She wouldn’t let him know that it worked. She refused.

“You were also very determined in life, I’ll give you that.” He hummed, looking over all her spindles to make sure they hadn’t snapped off, and checking that her scarf was still there. “Looks like everything’s still intact, except perhaps your pride.”

“N-Not funny!” She pouted, and Kiran snickered a little. “I-I was just having a bit of fun, I wasn’t expecting to go sliding down the hill- nor was I expecting to have to try and navigate around your dumb light.” She narrowed her eyes at him.

“And I wasn’t expecting you to come sliding down at me full force while I was tending to a stray.” He remarked, turning so she could see the cat curled up between his shoulders through the wires. His spider had begun to weave a new web within his wings, right in the line of sight for her to look at the cat.

Rosemary glanced through the webs, squinting through the soft light that trailed around her creator’s form. The cat blended in well amongst Kiran’s fur, but when she did eventually find it, she visibly deflated, seeming to try and make herself smaller.

“O-Oh goodness, I hope I didn’t scare the poor thing. Lacey would kill me…”

“Lacey wouldn’t kill you.” Kiran laughed softly, nudging her softly. “Come on, I have to bring this cat to her and get it back on the road. I imagine Lacey will want to keep him in the barn for a couple days until this freeze passes.” He hummed, turning about to head towards the fence line, hopping right over it with ease, careful to keep his body horizontal as not to disturb the feline.

Rosemary followed sheepishly, nearly slipping on the ice once again as she made towards the fence, crawling in between the posts instead of going above them. “I don’t understand how you’re not scared of her…”

“Why would I be scared of her? She’s not much different from a cat. Probably because she was one.” He chuckled.

“I-I don’t know! She’s scary…”

“She’s very determined, just like you are.” He murmured. “She’s trying to restore her pasture.”

“What happened to it?”

“Do you remember what I told you about the Wanderers?”

“Yeah. You said they were like troop leaders.” She murmured. “They’re like… the head honchos of the different biomes. You said the Plains one is who made Lacey, like how you made me.”

“Mhm.” Kiran twisted around, facing the barn. “He burned down this whole pasture and killed everything in it, including her. He didn’t mean to, Vetru has good intentions…” He glanced away. “But he also killed her friend, and she’s never forgiven him for that. She’s very angry because of him.”

“I-I would be to.” She murmured. “If… all of my friends hadn’t also been turned.” She murmured sheepishly, and Kiran chuckled.

“It’s alright to admit you’d be angry.” He hummed. “I think most people would be in that situation - careful, some parts of the pasture have frozen over as well.” He murmured, watching her paw slip, not catching on the ice. “We don’t have paw pads like cats do, you need to be careful, or learn to float a little faster.” He teased.

“It’s no fair.” She huffed. “Why couldn’t I have gotten wings like you did? You were the one who made me, you could have just given me wings.”

“I’m not a normal esk like you are, Rose.” He murmured. “This isn’t how I looked when I was first created.” He murmured. “I’m glad you didn’t meet me like that, I was very sickly. But I had to work for these wings - and you will too, especially with that attitude.” He teased her.

“You didn’t always look like that?” She asked slowly, hopping over the ice, her tail flicking back and forth, the bright red a stark contrast to the glittering white snow.

“That is perhaps a story for another time - come now, we have to bring this stray to Lacey before he freezes out here.”