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| You begin to walk down toward that tundra-like whiteness you see in the distance. The path is well maintained, and the going is easy, but you're noticing more and more snow on the slopes around you and can't help but worry about ice patches. You have no wish to add falling off a mountain to your list of accomplishments. As you make progress, you see that what you thought was simpley a barren expance is actually an ice-covered lake. In places the ice is broken, and you can see the dark waters glinting beneath. With the mountain reflecting onto the lake, and the white expanse dotted with white frost-covered trees stretching beyond, it's really a scene of stark beauty, and you can't help but admire it despite your shivers of cold. You just aren't clothed for this kind of climate, and you wish you had a big, warm cloak wrapped about you. Or else that you were sitting in front of a roaring fire. By the time you reach the base of the mountain, you're sure you've got frostbiten toes, and are anxiously examining your finger tips for any kind of a blueish tinge. So far nothing, much to your surprise. They feel cold enough to fall off. You rub your hands together then stuff them in your pockets. Suddenly it occurs to you that you don't have a particular destination, and you should have just turned around when you got truly chilled. You groan to yourself, looking back up the mountain. Now if you want to go back, you have to climb the whole way up again. You've decided to do just that when you hear a female voice exclaiming with startlement. |
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| You glance up and see a woman in a white gown and a long white cloak standing a little way in front of you. She seems to have just come from around a large rock. "What in Araidh's name are you doing here dressed like that? You'll freeze to death! Do you not have any sense at all?" She berates, apparently without thinking. She has a roughed voice, as if her throat is damaged, but sounds very competent. It's not what anyone would call 'pretty' and is entirely at odds with her delicate appearence and bone structure. She breaks off her barrage for a few seconds, and you open your mouth to speak, but she picks up right when the first syllable was about to leave your lips. "Well, neither do I, since I'm keeping you out here to lecture when I should be getting you a blanket by the fire! Come with me." She turns and walks back around the border. It apparently doesn't |
| even occur to her that you might not follow her order, for she doesn't glance back. It really doesn't matter, though, because you are following her no matter what. A blanket by the fire would be wonderful right now. Hidden from site behind the border and under an overhanging rock shelf is a small stone cottage with a thick thatched roof and a iron-hinged oak door that looks like it could hold off a dozon horses for at least an hour. The authoritive woman wraps her hand in her cloak to keep it from sticking to the icy metal of the latch, then pushes the door open, allowing warm orange light to bathe the snow outside the door. She gestures for you to precede her into her home, and again you comply instantly. She closes the door after you, grabs a blanket off the chair by the fire, and practiclly forces you into both before putting a small cauldron of water over the fire, apparently to make you tea. Only when you both have a drink in your hands and you are feeling reasonabley warm does she speak again. "So. My name is Nyisa. You may call me Ny. I live in this cottage so I can take care of the beings out here in the snows. Things like making sure everybody stays safe but still gets fed. That explains my presence to you--now what were you doing out there by the lake wearing clothes that look like they wouldn't keep you warm even if you had the pelt of an ice-bear rather then human skin?" she smiles a little, to take the sting out of her blunt words, and you explain that you were just so happy to get out of the mountain that you weren't thinking practiclly about which way to go. Nyisa raises an auborn eyebrow, but simpley nods. "Alright. I'll loan you a cloak and some clothing--I think I have some that will do for you. Then you can either go back up the mountain, or you can explore the tundra in comfort. Sound fair?" You nod and thank her for the tea and clothes. Soon you are warmly dressed in some slightly over-large garments and a white cloak like the one she'd been wearing earlier. Ny looks you over criticlly, then nods. "That should do. Come outside, and I'll help you get your bearings, hm?" Follow Nyisa Out of Her Home |
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| Home Nyisa From World of Saya Background From Absolute Textures Arcive Mountain Lake Image from Webshots |