[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/HX9chmu.png[/img][/center]
Atzi grinned, giving her left arm a flex.

[b]"Feeling jealous, Maira?"[/b] she winked. [b]"Goes to show that you should've ate more cheese and veggies back when we were kiddos."[/b]

More serious matters put a bit of a damper on the otherwise beautiful situation though. Despite the threat that the larger critters created, the Sage's Lake really was a perfect place to relax in. Winter made it so that even the afternoon sun had no warmth in its rays, but the kaleidoscope of color cast by the reflection of light from the waters gave it a hue unmatched. It was beautiful enough, even, that Atzi scrubbed at her bloodstained skin with snow rather than water, unwilling to pollute the lake more than necessary. Perhaps, once all this was over and the village's short summer arrived, they could all go on a picnic here. Maira, Akando, Lazhira, Calra, Bolcha's boys, Nylah, heck, maybe even Vammy if she promised to behave herself, and Lissa, if that Raam stuck around long enough.

Sauces made from summer berries, goatmeat fattened from good grazing, maybe even a bottle of wine from Mie's stock. The village back on track, the forest's bounty rejuvenated, their days monotonous and content...

Atzi traced the scars on her body. Felt the burning ache of the arm she lost.

Those days weren't going to return. Those days, perhaps, had never come about to begin with. And the blood of the bear had tinged the Sage's Lake with a murky darkness, the fish flocking towards it in greedy schools.

She pulled it out, buried it in the deep snow, and picked up her studded club once more, her single-eyed gaze set on the ruins, the stone stairs that Maira had set out for and had not returned from. Breath escaped between clenched teeth in terse bursts. Paranoia made even the light of the afternoon noteworthy only for the length of the shadows cast.

The Storyteller held no direction for her, only an immature pity gracing the goddess's rounded mien.

So be it.

Atzi stalked off, following the footsteps of her friend.