Just Another Day

The residents were just as uneasy as she and preparing for the coming storm. Little rodents hid within their burrows and larger game huddled in thickets. Shanku managed to spook one deer-kin into fleeing his bramble and took him back to her cave for her supper.

As she slowly roasted the young buck over her fire, she looked out into the darkness beyond the cave as snow gusted and blew down.

"The storm is starting," she remarked softly. The little dragon lay beside her, watching the snow come down.

"Don't worry, I've never known one to last more than a few days," Shanku laughed. The dragon trilled and resettled himself.

"If we eat light, we'll be fine," Shanku said as she lay down on her stomach. She grinned slyly at the dragon. "Wanna have a snowball fight later?"

The dragon trilled indignantly at her and turned away.

As best they could tell, night came on. The darkness outside became blacker and the wind howled fiercely outside. Shanku passed the time cutting cooked meat off of her buck and setting it aside so it wouldn't burn. When she was thirsty, she would go to the entrance of the cave, scoop some of the snow into her tin cup, and set it by the fire to slowly melt.

"Ya know, the trouble with storms is how boring they are. And when you're bored, you wish to eat!" Shanku said restlessly. She made a wild gesture at the cave entrance. "Of course, we can't just go out there and get something! We'd be lost in the white and freeze to death."

Suddenly, she was interrupted by the sound of something hitting the rocky floor with a wet flop.