Roses and Thorns

13- Safe To Shore

I awake to darkness.

Dirt falls around me like rain, at first nothing more than a drop or two, but then I realize it's picking me up. "Ivy." I nudge her. "Ivy."

She's not waking up.

"Ivy!" I kick her side, and her eyes jolt open. "We need to get out of here!"

"What's... what?"
I rush her out of the house and into the frigid night air, panic flooding us both. Adrenaline still racing, I run towards the central Glade as the sound of distant cracking grows louder still. The snow must be up to my legs and yet I can't stop myself, can't slow down, utterly refuse to die. My breath clouds the air and Ivy's fur against mine is my only reassurance.

We turn once we're well past the set of buildings, just in time to see the end. With one final heave, the earth gives way and the tree comes crashing down, settling between two buildings and running its branches like wicked talons down the side of the storehouse, which is covered in a thick layer of snow.

Ivy peers up at the wreckage, the furthest branches just barely missing the fur on her head and her horns. "I have dreams like this." she mutters.

"Y-you don't think..." I close my eyes. The cold floods my body, the dwindling fall of snow still bitter on my pelt. It's not a dream.

It's not a dream.

"Was there anything in there? A-alright. I had the journal, some ambrosia, a few books... Ivy, which books did I bring to the library? I haven't had the time to read, so I thought that perhaps... I..."

Ivy turns back to the Glade, her breath more of a smoke than a steam. No matter how lucid she is, the trail from each of her exhalations have an almost sinister consistency to them. "Someone's coming. I can smell violets."

"I thought violets were weariness." I murmur.

"Well, both, but you can guess who's coming."

Sure enough, Ace comes rushing up with snow flecking him like the spots he'll never have. Anue is not far behind, hobbling along in snow almost up to her belly. Before either of them can reach us, Hirina and Alabaster bound up, fear and worry emanating from them so strongly that I need not be an Empath to smell it.

"What happened?" Hirina asks.

"Weather's bringing trees down." Anue says. "Ay, this is a bad place to talk. Ivy's calm, but Rose may go into shock soon."

"I'm not!" I lie, shivering. "I-"

"Let's get you out of the cold." Alabaster adds. His coarse fur slides against mine, and I'm so grateful for the warmth I think I might cry. I collapse against him like a pup, and he guides me through the darkness. Already I'm going numb in all senses and can hardly see anything, not even a light in the distance, but I'm still aware of a distinct change, the slamming of a door, and a warmth as if I'm stroking the sun.

Someone is standing overhead. I recognize snow-white fur, long and soft and a voice that rings against each hair on my frozen ears, lighting something strange and beautiful within me, a kind of remembrance. "Are you okay?"

I give a stiff nod.

The figure does not change, does not move, but I know she's happy when she speaks again. "That's good. You just keep being okay for me. That's all I need."

"That's all I need." I repeat. "Have I seen you somewhere?"

"I think so." she says.

I begin to fall away from her, as if suddenly the floor has become rapids of darkness, something thick, intense, and comforting.