The World Looks Glorious in the Snow

Chapter 8: "about going too far"

The sound of footsteps was familiar, and every time, it drew the same response from the young boy, who promptly snuggled up in the covers and closed his eyes, feigning sleep. His first guess was his parents. Perhaps Daddy was having trouble sleeping again due to his headaches and was searching for their stash of medicinal herbs. The sound, however, had a different quality from the soft but heavy thuds the boy was used to. These were lighter, quicker, yet more cautious, and far more intriguing. Most young children his age would have ignored these factors and stayed put where no adults would chastise them for being awake at such hours, but Teucer was notoriously curious, and this curiosity would never be satiated until he found out the truth.

Teucer slowly slipped out of his bed and crept across the room. He had practiced these late-night maneuvers many times and found that in muffling the sound of his feet on the hardwood floors, socks were quite effective. After carefully coaxing his drawer open and pulling on a pair, he approached the exit of his room. The door was barely ajar, allowing a tiny sliver of hazy light to filter through the crack. His hand found the edge of the door and gently inched it forward until his small frame could just barely fit through. At last, he had entered the hallway.

If the menacing effects of darkness had been partially nullified by the safety of his room, the hallway retained none of it. The dark pounced on him immediately, rendered him blind and helpless, doomed him to feel his way through an obsidian world. In the absence of sight, his ears became especially keen, detecting every suspicious noise and sometimes tricking themselves. The mysterious night-walker's footfalls were the only thing steadying his trembling body, keeping his feet moving forward in their practiced cycle: lightly press to test the floorboards. If they feel firm, slowly shift weight. If not, gently lift and test an adjacent spot. Only proceed if you are certain that the floor will not creak under your weight.

Two thoughts went through Teucer's mind when he reached the stairs. On one hand, creeping down them without being caught would be much more difficult; the squeaky wooden planks would make sure of it. On the other hand, he could just barely make out a person in the living room, pulling on his coat and snow boots. He was tall, with a familiar head of tousled red locks, and a strong, youthful bearing...

Big Brother?

Just the thought of the best brother in the world made a smile spread across Teucer's face. Surely, Big Brother must be going to sell toys, or to attend a meeting with the Snezhnayan Institute of Toy Research. Perhaps he would share with them any information he had gathered in Liyue. Warm giddiness spread through Teucer's body and made him take another step forward just to get a better look. Big Brother was heading out the door now, slipping away, closing the door and placing a barrier between them that Teucer couldn't stand. He had to get moving. Now.

The instant the door clonked shut, Teucer scurried down the rest of the stairs and shoved open the closet near the entrance where the family stored their snow gear. He was no longer as concerned about making noise, now that the only people in the house were both upstairs and asleep. Although he was in his pajamas, he saw no problem with pulling on his waterproof socks, snow pants, coat, boots, gloves, scarf, hat...after years of repeating the same routine every time he went outside, Teucer could assemble everything within two minutes, and the absence of real clothes underneath did not bother him.

Worried that dressing for the unforgiving Snezhnayan night may have stalled him too long, Teucer yanked open the door and stepped outside. There, he met a delightful surprise: snow, everywhere he looked, hailing down from Celestia to grace the earth with its silvery splendor. Not far ahead, he could make out his brother's tall silhouette, falling knee-deep into the icy cushions with every step and heaving himself out again. He hadn't gone far, most likely hindered by the fresh layer of snow, and his grunts of exertion prevented him from hearing the small boy trailing behind him. Teucer strategically walked in Big Brother's footsteps, where the snow at the bottom had been packed tight so that the boy fell no further into the holes. The snow persisted deep into the forest, getting only deeper the farther they went, and as long as Teucer stuck to the path of footprints, he could stay far enough behind to avoid detection while knowing exactly which way to go.