[13+] Taezan & the Mice [Kim Taehyung] Christmas 2022

December 13th

When Taezan woke up the next morning, his mind was in disarray. He had opened his eyes, but even so, everything was dark. Furrowing his brows, he double-checked that he had, in fact, opened his eyes. It was still dark.

Was it still night? Should he try to get another few hours of sleep?

"Taezan, get up!" Someone called out; their voice loud and close by.

"Who's there?" More than a little worried, Taezan tried to make out a shape, but it was impossible. "And why are you up in the middle of the night?"

"It's not night!" He heard a 'fwoosh', and was immediately blinded by a sharp light. A few seconds passed until he regained sight, and he now saw his guest.

It was Kaya, and she was holding a small candle.

"It's just dark since the windows are all covered by snow." Kaya sighed as she pulled on his covers. "We're having an emergency meeting in the town square."

Facing the window again, Taezan nodded. That made sense. Normally he would see the stars, or at least some lights, but now there was nothing.

"Come on!"

Grabbing hat and scarf, he hurried after Kaya. She walked fast, and there was a haste in her steps that made him worry.

What could have happened? He hoped it wasn't anything dangerous - oh no. Could the beast have- No. Kaya would have mentioned it if it had, right? But she hadn't, she had only talked about the snow, and the soft and white dust couldn't be a problem, could it?

Oh, how wrong he was.

The town square was already crowded with jittery mice as they arrived. Worried mumbles filled the air, but none of them seemed to know what was going on.

In the front, Sado was standing with his head hanging low, while beside him, Mosu was pacing back and forth.

Seeing Alex to his right, Taezan walked closer to see if he might know something.

"Silence!" The voice boomed, the authority in it catching everyone's attention and stilling the cacophony of mice. Mosu coughed, his paws rubbing together as he addressed his crowd. "Thank you."

"What's going on?" Ruby's squeaky voice cut through the silence.

"I know you all have questions, and I shall address them soon." Mosu assured. "But first, I'm sad to inform you that we are in a crisis."

There was a collective gasp; worried whispers and panic spreading like wildfire.

"Let me explain." Sado had stepped forward, his rumbling voice having no trouble reaching the back. "The snow fell earlier than usual this year, and that made the humans careless." Gesturing to the window, he continued: "They plowed last night, and not taking care, they covered the windows; effectively blocking the sun."

"What is he talking about? Plowing?" Taezan asked, poking Alex to get his attention, and bombarding him with questions. "Why is the snow blocking the windows? I thought snow was good and fun? Is 'no sun' bad?"

"Yes, very bad." Alex whispered, signaling for Taezan to pay attention to the front.

"Why?" Taezan whispered back, trying to get answers.

"Without the sun we don't have light or warmth." Alex explained as he kept an eye on the mayor. "And without it, we won't be able to heat any of the food."

"What? So no hot chocolate?"

Alex shook his head. "No hot chocolate, no baked bread, and no warm raisins."

Taezan's mouth dropped open. No more warm raisins?! This was terrible! The worst! Clearly a crisis. "What do we do?"

His voice must have come out a bit louder than he thought, cause it wasn't just Alex that had heard his desperation.

"We have a few regulations." Tito stepped up. "Firstly: We must cut down on the daily rations." This was followed by several outbursts of disapproval among the mice. "I know, it's drastic, but it's a sacrifice that we all must make."

"And it will only be for a short time!" Mosu added, raising his arms in an attempt to calm the masses. "It's a precaution we'll have until we have enough to last us through the winter. This brings us to the second point: Everyone is to search and collect everything edible and deposit it in the kitchen with Sado, so that we know exactly how much we got."

"Everything?" Shay asked. "Even the snacks?"

"Even the snacks." Mosu nodded gravely. "Anything edible."

"We will also halt all non-essential activities, so that as many as possible can join the gatherers, and give them the opportunity to reach further to find new, untapped sources of food."

"But the beast!" Slim protested, his wooden paw clacking angrily. "He's out there. What if he catches us unaware in an uncharted area?"

"Well, we must just hope that does not happen." Tito said as he looked at the mice. "But, it is either this, or we will all starve before winter's end."