Hushed Voices

Blitzen sighed, his breath turning foggy in the crisp winter air. The trees bordering Knot Hill were largely bare and stripped of any lichen or thick pieces of bark to chew on. Not that he was particularly hungry, but it had become an unusually long winter. The food stores were beginning to look lean, but he was surprised how quickly the village caribou had harvested the nearest food source. These trees were sure to become firewood come summer.

Gala lay not too far from him, stretching her hooves in the snow and meticulously grooming every inch of her bright white fur. That was another thing these caribou did - groomed and preened constantly. Knot Hill caribou might have been odd, but Blitzen thought Gala was beautiful and perfect and carried herself with a quiet grace, even though she was so big now.  He told her that once and Gala flushed and laughed and reminded him that the calf had to grow.

He supposed that was true.

He trotted back over to her, touching her shoulders and leaning down to nuzzle against her cheek.

She giggled and squirmed. “Dear, that’s indecent.”

Despite her protests, he can feel her smiling against his temple. Affection was supposed to be reserved for places behind closed doors, but that was merely another local custom Blitzen paid no mind to. Even if it did catch the attention of prying eyes.

Like the attention of three matronly cows, all bundled up and huddled close together, for example. They were murmuring amongst themselves and casting disapproving glances towards himself and Gala. He caught a few snippets carried on the wind, such as “not appropriate” and “lewd” and “white blight.”

That last one made Blitzen’s ear twitch.

He rose to his full height and Gala seemed to sense his quickly souring mood, her ears flattening. He stepped over her swollen middle to stand protectively over his mate and soon to be calf and fixed the nosy group with a glare. It was all it took to send them cantering off in a huff.

“No need for hostilities, my dear,” Gala said soothingly, though there was a note of worry in her voice.

“They were…” He shook his head and let out a great sigh, some of the tension leaving his shoulders, “I didn’t like how they were lookin’ at you…”

“Be that as it may, pay them no mind. Their gossip is a momentary quibble.”

He didn’t know how she could be so calm about this. Talk of obscene behavior or of Blitzen’s own crassness was one thing, but the things he heard hushed voices say about Gala-

“You’ve heard ‘em, right? Sayin’ nonsense like yer making the snow and the cold last so long. That yer an omen,” His words were snowballing on top of each other and he couldn’t stop, “They say yer gonna bear bad luck.”

The silence was deafening. Blitzen kept his gaze on the horizon, feeling a little ashamed for blurting everything all out at once though it had been weighing heavily on his heart for a good while.

Gala made a point of tucking her hands into her fur-trimmed sleeves and leveled him with a serious look, though her unseeing eyes focused somewhere on his chest. “Do you think me misfortune?”

“What? No, I-“

“Do you think I will bring calamity?”

“No-“

“Then that’s all that matters,” she gave a resolute nod, “I am going to have a happy, healthy, wonderful little calf. Surely we can only be blessed.”

That, at least, was something Blitzen wholeheartedly agreed with.