>>177460It is worth mentioning that the ice-entombed plants Amber sometimes drags the sled over are dead. The trees, were they not slain by the Blast, would certainly be in torpor. The layers of snow and ice are thin, thinner than the snow that would sometimes fall on Amber's farm back home. This place is not only dark but dry, and Amber has not seen a single snowflake fall from the clear, black skies above. The grass and bark of the plants, however, are often singed, charred, or outright destroyed by fire, and the ponies (except Amber) have to lower their heads as the pass under a burnt log that has fallen over the creek bed.
Father turns back to Amber and pats her head in a way that is likely more to reassure himself than her.
"Well uh, to see what that Vaeltaja is up to. You wanted to see the holy site, right? That spiritual site? Well all the same, we are just investigating." He says and smiles weakly.
Jakala behaves herself, more or less. She got off and walked when Amber had to drag the sled over trunks. When Amber reached the ice, she hops onto it again. She stays silent, though she does start talking,
"Do you hear that? It's a crackling. Like a fire.
crack crack crack crack."
"Shhhh" Father says, looking back to Jakala, who stops speaking, and then over the side of the creak. And the ponies do hear sounds. Once, some kind of mammalian sound. Amber can't say if it is a wolf, or something else. The ponies stop moving, look over the side, and their ears go back. They don't seem too concerned otherwise. Later, there is a sound closer to an insect, like a cicada. This disturbs the ponies, and they move to the other side of the stream.
The ponies continue along the stream. Father again turns to Amber and whispers,
"Did you want to see the stone?"
>>177461He nods
"Do you have your arrangements for where you will be staying?"
>>177459Deer is patHer fur is short, and just a little coarse. Her ears move back, then up.