278Cinder had never understood why so many people hated the winter.
Any normal person would see these months as a time of cold, death and darkness. But to her the fresh snow represented a clean slate. A new tapestry waiting for the hand of an artist. A chance to begin again after whatever mistakes had scared the warmer months.
It was a beautiful night in the highlands of Atlas and for the moment she was alone in in her own private room at the edge of this small log cabin resort village. The various people she came here to meet with had left for the night to contact their supporters abroad, or were otherwise engaged with normal nighttime activities.
So there she sat on a wooden rocking chair, staring out through the glass doors leading to her snow covered balcony and out into the night.
While Cinder did enjoy winter she saw no need to be out in the deathly cold at this time of night, unlike her two protégées who were spending a few days out in the wilderness as part of further "training".
Cinder had honestly just grow tired of their company for the moment and so she had convinced them that their survival skills were sorely lacking in a few departments, so they were spending a few days out in the wilds. In the mean time she met with members of the White Fang and some necessary but unsavory characters from other parts of Vale and the other three kingdoms to finalize plans she had for the near future.
She sighed quietly looking out at the stars, this far away from any large city there were more than she had ever seen before. It was a rare moment of tranquility in her chaotic life.
But her small moment of peace was interrupted suddenly when an unexpected borealis cut across the night sky.
It was far from an unpleasant surprise. Cinder had been hoping to see one of the fabled light shows on this trip but had so far been disappointed.
The locals however had not done this display justice with their description. There were no wavy blue green lights floating through the darkness. This was a much more majestic column of red and purple fire burning tall in the night sky.
Such a rare occurrence took her breath away. The sky seemed to boil around the edges of this display. But it seemed that the sky was full of even more surprises tonight. As a comet streaked out of the fiery pillar and sailed down toward the greater mountains on the horizon.
3 days later
Mercury was miserable when he was cold and when he was miserable he bitched, he bitched a lot. And Emerald couldn't decide whether this was preferable to his normal shady snarkiness and just irritating demeanor as they trudged through the pine forests.
This little exercise hadn't been all that bad in her opinion. They had fire when they needed and good thick winter clothing. Nothing had attacked them and neither of them tripped and sprained an ankle or something else embarrassing.
She just didn't appreciate the way that she got grouped together with Mercury in every way possible in Cinder's eyes. Meaning that whenever the idiot pissed off Cinder in some way Emerald had to share his punishment.
And thanks to however he had irked their teacher this time, the punishment was this little nature hike through one of the most dangerous forests on the planet, during one of the most hostile times of the year.
No one knew exactly why but the creatures of Grimm thrived under the bleakest of circumstances. Some theorized the more hopeless people became the greater the strength of the Grimm was.
More practical types spoke of easier prey and mating cycles. It didn't mean much who was right to Emerald, all she knew was that she had to be extra careful of her surroundings.
Mercury was mumbling to himself about something or other again, wet boots, hunger, Emerald didn't know. And she didn't care either as long as he was paying attention while on point she would tolerate his whining.
While rounding a corner on a downward sloping path Mercury suddenly shut up and knelt down in the snow. Emerald was just about to rip him a verbal new one when Mercury spoke.
"Look, blood trail." He said, reaching out to the ground in front of him.
"What?" Emerald asked.
He ignored her, "Fresh too."
"It's probably an animal."
"With a print like that?" He replied pointing forward.
A set of very human footprints was pressed deep in to the fresh snow. They were a decent size so it couldn't be a child, so either an adult or older teen. Emerald squinted, taking a closer look.
"No shoes, must be a hermit running for help. Definitely going to have a case of frostbite if they didn't have time to dress properly."
To their left several snapped branches in the tree line indicated that the stranger had not known about the path or was in too much of a hurry to care.
Mercury turned from the path to follow the signs of damage. Emerald stepped in front of him,
'Where do you think you're going?" She demanded.
"After our lost friend," He replied. "This is the first interesting thing that has happened all week."
"We're supposed to be back in town by tomorrow. If we keep going we can make it by dark."
"Yeah we have plenty of time."
"We don't know who this is, a pack of Beowolves or who knows what could be through there."
'Exactly I'm bored as hell."
With that remark Mercury pushed her aside and disappeared into the brush. Seeing no other option Emerald took off after him.
An hour later after following the slowing path of destroyed forest, less and less blood, and footprints grouped closer together. They finally found who they were pursuing.
A tall, muscled teenager sat on a fallen tree in the middle of the snowy clearing. Trying to scrub blood off of a large bite mark on his left shoulder with a piece of tattered cloth. The angle of the wound looked like a Grimm had gotten him from a high angle while his back was possibly turned.
That wasn't nearly the most shocking thing about this boy.
He wasn't just lacking shoes, the only thing he was technically wearing was a tattered blanket or some kind of tarp over his right side of his body while he attended his wound.
Aside from that he was naked as newborn, which let the companions see the other shallow slash marks from claws and minor scrapes which must have been from branches. He was a surprisingly healthy color, he didn't appear at all effected by the cold, and there were no obvious signs of frostbite that they could see from afar.
As Emerald and Mercury approached the boy he noticed their approach and suddenly stood up clutching what looked like half a jaw bone from a Beowolf in his right hand and held it like a knife in what wasn't really a threatening gesture, but still didn't ignite any warm feelings in either Mercury or Emerald.
They stopped dead in their tracks. Emerald stepped forward hands raised before her, not wanting to alarm the stranger who seemed primed for violence.
"It's okay! We just want to help." She called.
No sign of understanding crossed his face and the boy began to step back into the trees.
"Mercury put your hands up and talk to him." Emerald whispered, turning her head and trying to maintain eye contact with the stranger.
"Why he's gonna run."
"And we need to stop him."
With a resigned sigh Mercury also raised his hands and tried to put on some sort of smile aside from his usual stupid grin.
Emerald took a few more steps forward and was almost within arm's reach.
"It's okay we're friends."
Tension left the boys muscles and he slumped back down onto the log, looking up at Emerald as they approached. Mercury held their first aid kit and began examining the bite mark.
"What's your name?" asked Mercury
He turned his head toward Mercury but said nothing, just giving him a look of confusion trying to understand the words.
"Do you speak Vytan?" Mercury asked.
Again silence, not a word of anything at all.
"Maybe he can't talk." Emerald suggested.
She reached into Mercury's bag and pulled out some of his spare clothes which only earned her a scowl from him. She just smiled.
"You want to keep staring at all he's got to offer? I think I misjudged you somewhat my friend."
Mercury just turned back to stitching the puncture wounds closed, scowling even worse.
Half an hour later they had dressed the silent boy's wounds and got him decently clothed against the elements. He still had not said a word aside from slightly sucking in air through his clenched teeth when they had poured disinfectant on some of his cuts.
Together they walked back to the path and resumed their trek back to the village.
Both Emerald and Mercury continued questioning the teen and still only got silence for an answer, but at the same time they were speculating wildly in their heads.
"Who was this kid?"
