Tisis

The cold season (N)

After the incident with the dragon, things changed...albeit not for the better.

As it turns out, Sirus had quite a steep price to pay for his little stunt that saved our hides.

As he tried to get up, he grimaced and cringed.
A preliminary examination with my limited knowledge about their physiology revealed multiple fractures, an untold number of bruises and I don't even want to know, how many unseen injuries lurked within.

Without a doubt, he was in no shape whatsoever to traipse around, left alone go hunting or...perform other sorts of physical activity.

After the initial cleanup, I take Sera for a ride to the crash site to fetch the medical scanner we left behind.

To be honest, I don't feel very comfortable with leaving Sirus behind like that, but I need to make sure that there wasn't any internal bleeding that was slowly killing him from within.

Plus, I need the time to think about a few things.

'I look cute when I get all flustered', he said.
Was he really just teasing me, when he said that...or was he being serious?

Sure, he claimed to just have been joking and all, but...was he really?
Certainly I cannot not look all that appealing to him...my once beautiful and shiny long hair is dirty and disheveled. My clothes are rags, my expression has hardened...the other day, when I look at my reflection in the river, I hardly recognized myself.
But I guess that's the power of desperation...when given no choice, you take whatever you can get...which would be me in that case...or him, for that matter.

But was I really ready for this kind of step?
What if...if that changes things between us?

Countless thoughts swirl through my head, as I chase the wind on Sera's back towards the crash site.

Upon arriving, I come across a sad sight.
The beacon had fallen dead, the circuitry had melted, all the lights are out and residue of various liquids leaks from every second opening.

It doesn't take me long to put together what happened though.
After all I had a front row seat, when the heavens split and rained fire on us. And without the energy heat absorption shields, the windshield that was supposed to protect it from rain had little resistance to offer to the onslaught from above.

I sigh and look around if there was anything at all left to salvage in the pod, but I am out of luck.

The rain of fire did a great job destroying everything.

Merely Sirus' monument of rocks, spelling 'SOS' remained now...and without any signal going beyond the orbit, there was now a chance of exactly zero of anyone ever finding us.

We are doomed to remain on Tisis for the rest of our lives.

I guess, I better get used to being a Tisidean now, huh?

I laugh nervously at my own joke and my thoughts return to Sirus and how to break the news of all hope of getting found now being lost to him.

But then again, we've been the better part of a year here by now.
It would be foolish for him to believe any better than that at this point.
But to have little hope and to know for a fact that help won't be coming are still two different things.

While rummaging through the escape pod, something wet and cold falls on my back. I startle and reach for my back, afraid that some sort of parasite had decided to land on my back.

But there is nothing but my own skin and a trace of moisture there.

I look up and see tiny specks of white descend from the heavens.
One of them lands on my hand but quickly turns into a drop of water.

Snow.

I've read about it, frozen water that builds tiny crystals and floats to the ground.

The first snow of the year...the cold season had come.
And we were nowhere near ready for it, no thanks to those stupid interruptions, for some of which I have only myself to blame.

I abort my search and return to Sera, who anxiously looks up to the skies herself.

"Yes, it's going to get a lot harder from here on out..." I say, more talking to myself than her.

I mount her back and we return towards our homestead, the snow becoming more dense with each passing minute.

Honestly, whenever Tisis is doing weather, it never does it halfway.
If this keeps up, the snow will soon begin to pile up, making moving around a lot more difficult.

Fortunately the ground is still somewhat warm, allowing me to return to the mountain safely and without any real troubles after a few hours.

Sirus also seems to be doing well, although it is obvious that he is bored out of his skull.
I fixed up his legs and arms the best I could, but without any advanced tools, it will still take a long time for his natural regeneration to give him back his full mobility...if he ever fully recovers at all, that is.

"Did you find what you were looking for?" he asks me after I lead Sera to her resting place and feed her a treat.
I take a deep breath and decide for the quick and painless option, "No...the rain of fire apparently completely destroyed the shuttle...it...it's all gone, Sirus. The beacon, the tools, everything. Nobody is ever going to find us."

Sirus tries to get up, but I quickly give him an angry eye and he plops back down before saying, "Don't worry too much about it, Nym. I mean, we both knew that the chance of anyone finding us was near non-existing anyway. It's not like we are sitting on packed bundles or anything."

Huh...he's taking the message of the complete loss of hope a lot better than I thought he would. But then again, maybe I was the only one who held on to this silly hope to begin with.

"So...what's with the white stuff? Should I be worried about it?"
"Eh? Oh, that's just snow. Frozen rain. I told you about it, remember."
"Yeah...so I guess this 'winter' thing has started, huh?"
"Seems that way...well then, I guess I should be going again."
"And...where to?"
"To hunt, Sirus. Unless you want to starve, I'll need to hunt for you."

I turn around, when he suddenly asks, "Nym?"
Without turning around I ask, "Yes?"
"Thank you. For...for everything."
"Don't sweat it. It's my job to look out for you, remember?"

With that I start walking.

I still need to sort out that problem.
But for now, I need to make sure we don't starve.
Time for me to do my job...and maybe this time I'll get it right.