Snowcon Forest

Memory: Power Out

Warm light lit up the small library as the child and her guardian both sat on the sofa, each relaxing as the snow storm raged outside.

Winter had arrived in an explosion of snow, ice, and freezing temperatures that encouraged everyone to stay inside. Most off planet missions had been cancelled due to the dangerous conditions in the atmosphere and only those with the highest priority were still allowed to continue.

Trying to land a spaceship was challenging in the best conditions, never mind when your view was completely obscured by precipitation.

So just about everyone was inside, clinging to the heat coming from the furnaces of their homes and huddling together with their loved ones.

Tim was leaning back, hands tucked behind his head as he listened to the rattling of the window. The winds had only grown stronger as the night went on, whipping ice through the air in the process.

Hat Kid, more interested in the sight outside rather than the noise, was leaning with her stomach against the back of the couch, her curious blue eyes just barely peaking over the edge of the piece of furniture so she could watch the blowing snow.

It looked... eerie outside.

The busy streets were empty, made all the strange because Tim lived at the core of the city, and she could barely make out the lights from the other buildings through the wall of snowflakes.

The warm glow seemed muffled, as if the snow was trying to smother it.

"Hey Tim," Hat Kid began, learning forward to get a better look at the abandoned streets. "Why's the snow so bad this year?"

"Weeeeeeeell," The old man sighed, opening one of his eyes to glance over at her. "That's a complicated combination of wind patterns, precipitation, and temperature involving insulation from the sun's rays and our relative distance to the star."

The child blinked.

Tim chuckled.

"Tiiiiiiim!" Hat Kid whined, shifting herself so she was now facing the smirking old man. "You're being a butt face again!"

"You make it too easy sometimes, kid." He muttered, further leaning back against the sofa and looking up to the ceiling as he spoke.

It was a desperate attempt to avoid the puppy dog eyes being thrown his way.

The wind continued to blow, rattling the windows and distracting the duo from their earlier conversation. Hat Kid returned to her previous position, looking outside and forgetting her minor annoyance at the old man in the process.

"The snow's getting pretty bad, isn't it?" Tim sighed, shifting so he was now able to look out the window into the dark streets.

The child let out a noncommittal hum, still focused on the snowstorm raging outside. The sight was so hypnotic, the way the snow swirled around in the strong breeze...

Then the power went out, plunging the room into darkness.

Hat Kid let out a yelp, clutching at the sofa while Tim remained unaffected by the sudden loss of light. It was strange how sometimes he seemed to know when certain things were going to happen and was prepared for them.

The child had no idea if this was some natural ability of his or some kind of side effect of guarding the Time Pieces.

"Calm down kid, the power just went out." He muttered, standing up to undoubtedly find another source of light.