There are happy memories here.

Aodaun bumps into her and she feels love like warm fingers playing in her head, and she laughs softly, amazed by the winter wonderland all around her. The blizzards had calmed, the ice melted, and she was lulled into a sense of security. If it had just passed over the Eastern reaches towards the West, why would it have reason to return back that way? So she allowed herself this moment of peace, watching the cold clouds of her breath, feeling the cold upon her cheeks, shivering contentedly in the frosty air. It was breathtaking. Thick blankets of pristine snow, untouched as the celebrations go on and on at the entrance of the Sanctuary. At the lands of homes they have returned to. And Lakota?

She is alone again. As it always was, surrounded by snow as the day she had first wandered into Helovia's reaches. It is a new day. A new start. And she wishes she could erase it all, smudge it until it is a blur, return to the moment she had crossed the Threshold into the life she lives now. But through all the pain, of every kind and flavor and shade she has experienced, she would never take back the decision to stay. Head tilts to gaze down at the ice bear at her side, lime orbs calmly staring back, and she knows that she has been blessed. She had suffered so much to earn that blessing, but in the end, did it matter? Days like this, the innocence of the snow that covered the wickedness of Helovia beneath its cool embrace, it reminded her that no amount of sorrow could not be overcome. After all, if the snow had the power to blanket all of Helovia, then she had the power to lift herself from any hole she could possibly fall into.

Aodaun nudges his fuzzy head into her forearm, running into the snow, spraying it up around his sides, barking and leaping around. Inviting her to play. She laughs and runs forth, kicking up the snow all around her, thick and deep and soft in ways strange to her for the wet sensation it brings. It had been seasons ago, when the two of them, newly bonded and beautifully naive, had youthfully played in these same meadows. It was nostalgic, but new memories would always bring forth joy, and together they ran and jumped and rolled together, laughing and barking and growling in a chorus of carelessness. They were finally free from the prisons of the Sanctuary, and their revelry would simply not cease.