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Tilian continued on his way, leaving the friendly jills behind that had saved his life. Before he left he had another talk with their tribes leader, Koji, who was a little suspicious of the kupfer hob, but expressed that he’s always welcome back if he needs anything.

He smiled at the thought of them. It really was a great pack to be in and maybe someday he’d return, but for now he still had the feeling he had to be somewhere else.

His whiskers twitched as the scent of a rabbit entered his nostrils and he froze immediately. With slow movements he scanned the area and walked carefully closer to where he smelled it. The forest seemed rather dark and dense here and it was difficult to find the creature. Finally he managed to spot it: a rather small, brown hare, digging in the ground, its back turned towards him. Occasionally it raised its head, pricked up its ears and looked around, but it didn’t seem like it had noticed the Saliko yet. Tilian licked his lips in anticipation and crouched down to the floor until his belly touched the earth, his tail low and twitching from time to time in excitement. He wiggled his butt to balance out his weight, then pounced and caught the hare before it could run away. With one quick bite in the neck, the prey was dead, dangling lifelessly from his jaws. Now he just had to find a calm and safe place to eat it. With a few graceful leaps he climbed a tilted tree and lay down in the branch fork at the top, skinning the rabbit and taking a bite from it with relish. The meat was still warm and delicious.

When he was done, he studied his surroundings, identifying his location to be on the northern edge of the Tatra biome, close to the arctic border. The forest was not only dark, but there were many conifers around as well. Tilian didn’t want to stay too long, trying to avoid the gloomy parts of Ibea and looking for a nice, sunlit place to settle down in.

It was getting dark, but since Tilian wasn’t tired yet, he decided to keep going and use the stars as his guides. From the top of the tree he could see the sky and while there were some clouds covering the stars, he could see Demetos’ eyes and knew which direction to head towards. He wanted to go south, so he turned his back to the two bright stars, jumped down the tree and continued walking.

The hours went by and the hob with the kupfer pelt had left the woods behind and was in the middle of crossing a mountainrange. He knew he’d be at the right spot as soon as he left the mountains behind, as the weather and vegetation would be completely different on the southern side of the rocky ridge. The path was steep and still quite long, but Tilian was getting exhausted and had to find a place to rest. Snow was covering the area and he was pretty high up, the wind pulling on his fur all the time. He shivered and shook his pelt, floofing up his chest to create warmth. After walking a bit longer, he finally found a gap in a few rocks and put his head inside. It was a tight spot, but would be sufficient for him, so he squashed in and curled himself into a little ball, closing his eyes and drifting away immediately.

When he woke not long after that, he squinted into the sunlight, shining into the rocky den. He left the hole and stretched himself, but noticed quickly that despite the sun being out, it was still cold.

«What the..? Alright, let’s get this over with. Where do I go to get away from here as fast as possible?»

Suddenly he heard pawsteps coming towards him. He tried to get back into the den to hide, but wasn’t fast enough. A giggle sounded form behind him.

«I already saw you, no need to get back in.»

Tilian turned around cautiously, his ears back and tail low. He didn’t want the stranger to think he was raiding their territory.

«I’m sorry, I was just on my way through, when…»

Just then his gaze fell on the Tatra before him and he saw a young, rather small jill with grey fur and bright spots standing before him, a bright smile on her face and her head tilted in curiousity.

«Don’t worry about it, you’re welcome here. I’m Miyuki. What’s your name?»

«Uh…I’m Tilian. Nice to meet you, Miyuki.»

«The pleasure is all mine. So, what brings you here to my snowy mountain? You don’t seem like you really wanna be here.»

«I’m trying to cross to the south and find myself the perfect place to live. Haven’t had a lot of luck about that yet.»

«I see. Do you have an idea what it should be like? Not that I know a lot about the world at the foot of the mountain, but I’d really love to hear more!»

«Well, not really. I’m just looking for better weather, nice sunshine and green leaves, that’s all.»

«Okay, yeah, you’re definitely not going to find that here.»

She laughed and Tilian joined.

«What about you, have you been living here for long?»

«As long as I can remember. Had an elder living with me who raised me when I was still a whelp, but…they passed away many many moons ago.»

«Oh. I’m sorry.»

«It’s been a long time, life goes on. So, I’ve stayed to take care of the nature and guard its inhabitants here, you see? Making sure no one disturbs its peace.»

«That’s quite noble of you! I’ve never seen anyone like you before.»

«Thank you.»

She blushed and looked away, then collected herself once more and walked up the mountain, towards the top.

«Come on now, I’ll help you find your way down.»

Happily, the kupfer hob followed her.

They’ve been walking together so long that the sun had started to set once more and just reached the place that Miyuki called the ‘heart of the snowy peak’, which she had made her home. Tilian was pretty tired again, since he didn’t sleep much before and the climbing was quiet exhausting for him, as he wasn’t used to it. Miyuki noticed and made a suggestion.

«We’ve been out and about for a while. It’s dangerous to go down the mountian in the dark and you seem very tired. My den is close by, you wanna call it a day?»

He thought for a bit and nodded smiling.

«Yeah that would be great.»

They turned away from the path down and climbed a few more rocks up and down until Tilian noticed the air getting warmer and smoke was rising to the sky before them. Just as they reached the top of a little knoll, he saw a few hot springs with trees growing around them, bearing fruits and blossoming in beautiful colors.

«So…what do you think?»

Miyuki had appeared next to him all of a sudden and looked very proud of her home.

«This…is what you’re protecting?»

«Yeah. It’s my little paradise, hidden amongst the snow.»

«It’s beautiful!»

She grinned from one ear to the other, then ran to the trees and climbed up. Standing in the crown of the tree, she called down to the male.

«Are you hungry?»

«Uh a little, yeah.»

«Alrighty!»

With claws and teeth she removed some branches with blossoms and fruits from a couple of te trees and gathered them in a soft, dry trough next to the little pools of water. Tilian wasn’t sure if he’d like the food she had gathered for him, as he’d always eaten meat before, but he didn’t want to be impolite and tried a few things. The fruits were sweet and delicious, so he really loved eating those, though the blossoms weren’t quite to his taste. Miyuki noticed, but wasn’t offended by that, she just shrugged her shoulders and, after licking her lips, nibbled on the flours herself, which seemed to be her favorite food.

«You know, the strange climate has changed the way the plants around here grow. They bear fruits and bloom all year around. It’s magical.»

They looked around in awe as a slight wind rustled the leaves and carried the blossoms from cherry trees with it, swirling through the air and dancing in a pink storm.

They talked a bit longer until they almost fell asleep sitting up, then both wished each other a good night and lay down, a respectful distance between them.

Tilian woke to the sound of water splashing and jolted awake, confused about where he was. As he looked around and saw the hot springs, he remembered. The jill with the spots like snow was bathing in the warm water, almost fully submerged, eyes closed. She seemed to be completely relaxed.

He sat down at the shore and put a paw into the water to test it. It was very warm, but not unbearable.  The scent of minerals, sulfur and herbs was in the air, creating an interesting mix of smells. The grey jill opened her eyes and looked at him.

«Oh, you’re awake! Didn’t want to disturb you, you seemed to need the rest.»

«Yeah, thanks a lot. Had a rough trip the last couple days.»

She smiled, got out of the water and shook herself, water droplets from her pelt flying everywhere.

«You ready to go?»

«Yeah. Thanks again for showing me the way. I wouldn’t be as far now as I am if you hadn’t found me.»

«You’re welcome! I always love to help.»

They continued until the snow around them was gone and the rocky underground gave way to the soft forest earth once more.

«Alright, this is as far as I can go. I hope you find your own home soon, Tilian.»

«Thanks! I’m sure I will. »

«Feel free to come visit me whenever you want! You know the way now.»

He nodded and bunted her head in thanks, then turned around and followed the trail through the woods. Instead of conifers, there were primarily deciduous trees around here, leaving through much light and creating a nice play of colors on the ground. Tilian knew he was getting closer.

Lost in thoughts he kept walking and walking for hours until he noticed he felt so at peace and happy with himself. Tilian walked through the trees and the sun painted stripes onto his fur with the shadow of the thin trees surrounding him. He looked around and found himself in an aspenwood, completely enclosed by the white barks and fresh green leaves. He sat down, overwhelmed by the feeling he got. This was it, the place he’d been looking for so long. Carefully Tilian checked the area to see if anyone was living there, but it seemed uninhabited. There was a lot of prey around, a few cool, slow streams with small fish in it, sunny clearings and great den locations in hollow trees and rock formations.

Collecting a bunch of twigs, fur, feathers, moss, grass and leaves, he padded the inside of a hollow stump and and depressed it all into a nice, soft nest with his legs. He rolled himself up in the middle of it, listening to the birds chirping and wind blowing through the leaves, while the sun was warming his pelt, making it glow like fire.

Just like she said it would be – his own personal paradise.

As he lay there he thought about all the nice Salikos he had run into lately. How appreciative he was that they were so kind and helped him and that this whole journey could’ve turned out completely different if hadn’t met them. He promised to himself that he’d return that kindness to any stranger that would come by, as long as they were polite and friendly towards him as well. Tilian knew the balance of mother nature had to be kept and he’d be there to uphold it in the future.

He began to hum to himself, striking up a beautiful, melodic song...