Exploring | Spring from the Valley

“It’s this way, I know it!” Hansel trotted past Onyx and Blizzard, wagging his tail.

“Slow down, boy!” Onyx increased his pace but Blizzard shouldered into him to slow him down. 

“Let him.”

“I thought you didn’t believe him when he said he could find the pass.”

Blizzard narrowed one eye in indecision. “Well…regardless, we can’t beat him to everything. That’s what ‘friends’ are supposed to do, right?” 

Hansel’s waving tail disappeared around a bend and they could hear him humming happily from beyond view. It was one of the children’s songs the young in the village would sing when playing with him to pass the boring winter months.

The lilac male studied Blizzard’s expression, smiling slightly at her as they walked. The smile disappeared just before she turned to focus on him. “Right,” he said. Then he turned to look around at the slopes that rose to the towering peaks above them. “Do you think we should be worried about avalanches? Spring melting could start a massive shift.”

“Contrary to what Hansel thinks most of the spring melting has yet to start up here,” she said. “As long as he doesn’t start bouncing off the slopes and howling up a storm we will be fine.”

Onyx nodded.

The sound of crumbling rock came from behind them and the two lilacs turned to watch a small outcropping tumble down into the hollowed out area of the pass. The human-head-sized chunks of rock rolled and bumped against one another before finally settling in a heap.

“What was that?” Blizzard asked.

Onyx followed the visible trail of still-tumbling pebbles to the outcropping it had come from. He could neither hear nor smell anything out of place.

“Come on, guys!” 

Blizzard sighed and turned to walk around the bend. When Onyx joined them Hansel was pawing at a half-tumbled wall of snow. The white powder was scattered all around them in drifts. Paw prints trailed through a few of them, the only mark of smaller animals that had attempted to pass this very way before they arrived.

Hansel turned, panting happily, to look back at him. “If we can just break through this last bit we’ll be able to see those flower fields.”

Onyx shook his head. “A secret ever-summer–”

“Evergreen,” Hansel corrected.

“–hunting grounds in the mountains? That’s too much to believe, even with a deeper valley than usual.”

Blizzard nodded. “Even valleys are prone to a little frost around the edges.”

“It’s not a hunting ground by design,” Hansel said. “It’s Aippaq’s Garden.”

“We’ve been wandering around the Qrivyx Mountain for days. Every other pass like this has turned out to be just a maze to nothing.”

“E-excuse us.” 

The three tokotas turned, all three pairs of ears perked in question.

A gaunt snowshoe hair crouched in the middle of the path, trembling. Under the gaze of the three predators it shrunk down on itself.

“Uh, w-we were w-wondering if y-you were, w-well, that is, th-there was, uhm, a–”

“Ugh, goodness, spit it out!” Blizzard snipped.

“Meep!” The hare jumped back and cowered lower. “I-I-I was o-only tr-tr-trying–” It gulped, unable to speak clearly as hard as it was shaking. 

Hansel approached at a walk, head lowered, and lay down before the hare. He lowered his head to the ground, watching the much smaller animal and wagging his tail.

“It’s okay,” Hansel said. “We already ate. You’re safe.”

Blizzard snorted.

“What did you want to ask?”

“Hansel.” Onyx took a step forward. “There are more.”

“More what?”

“Around the corner.”

Hansel looked behind the hare at the bend they had come around. At first he saw nothing, then furry ears preceded the faces of more prey animals peeking out at them: squirrels, badgers, voles, foxes – even owls glided down to perch on outcroppings. They waited huddled in a group, some still bearing their winter coats, a few in spring colors. 

“Woah.” Hansel raised then tilted his head. He looked back down at the hare. “What’s going on?”

It stuttered, still trembling beneath Hansel’s nose.

Blizzard growled. “I’ve had enough of this.” She leapt forward and pinned the white hare to the ground. “What is it? Speak or I’ll make you my next meal – right now!”

The hare shrieked, “Wewerewonderingifyouareheretoopenthegateshome!”

Onyx blinked and laid back his ears. “What?” 

It swallowed and this time spoke slower; “We wanted to know if you could be opening the pathway? It closed in early autumn and we were locked out. We were hoping…”

Blizzard stepped back and sat, eyeing the other prey animals with narrowed eyes. They were all starved and haggard from a long winter with ribs poking through fur and breastbones prominent under feathers.

“Of course we can open it!” Hansel jumped up and turned to face the wall. When he crouched on his front paws Onyx and Blizzard jumped in his way.

“No!” Blizzard barked. “You go plowing around and we’ll all be buried under an avalanche! You don’t know how stable those slopes are!”

“You can’t be swayed by the words of simple prey,” Onyx said. “Don’t trust what they say. It’s never truthful between prey and predator.”

“Don’t worry, friends,” Hansel said. “I know you’re unsure. I have enough faith to carry us through!” With that he charged at the snow barrier. His bulk was such that Blizzard and Onyx could only jump out of the way as he flew past in a flurry of churned up snow. A few strides before the tokota reached the wall Hansel yelled. When he collided with the snow barrier it sent back a burst of the white stuff. Onyx and Blizzard turned until the spray ended.

A Hansel-sized hole – or perhaps it should be called a short tunnel – led the way through the barrier of snow. Small chunks crumbled down around the edges. 

“Now you see!” he called from beyond. “The way is clear, friends, come through!”

“That little brat,” Blizzard said. “It’s about time I gave him a piece of my mind!”

“Wait.” Onyx leaned forward. “Do you smell that?”

Blizzard frowned but turned towards the hole. At first all she sensed was earth and rock from the mountain and cold and wet from the snow. Then there, just under the distinct flavor of condensed water she picked up something.

“Is that…honeysuckle? And ghost orchids???”

The prey animals crept up behind the lilacs, the snowshoe hare the closest right by Blizzard’s side where it balanced on its hind legs. “He did it. The gates to Aippaq’s Garden are open for the spring.” The hare lead the way forward, a rush of furry bodies flowing through the hole after. Then Hansel stuck his head back through the opening.

“Come on, you two! We’ve got more exploring to do! I have a feeling this one will be the best yet to take back to the pack!” The curly tokota popped out of sight again as he bound after the smaller mammals and avians.

“Well,” Onyx said, “there’s only one way to find out. Shall we catch up to our bold companion?”

Blizzard grumbled and grudgingly followed Onyx forward. “If this place is real and we’re pinned down by Aippaq’s fabled four I’m going to school our friend on every lesson he should have been taught from puppyhood.”