18 - Winter has Come!

“It’s… it’s finally over!”

“Muu!”

The snowstorm had subsided, allowing me to barge out the house to an open expanse of white as far as the eye could see. My first experience with snow was of me diving face first into the thick layer obscuring all the plantlife I’d become so accustomed to seeing every morning, my face rapidly chilling from the frost.

“Ooh, so this is what true cold feels like!”

For the first time, I shivered wiping snow from my grinning face. It was about as cold as I could get to freezing; about the equivalent to being blasted by an air-conditioner.

“Whee!”

I dove into the snow, sending white fluff all over Woolie’s face, the trickle of snot dripping from his nose already beginning to frost up.

“I think I’m made for winter, Woolie!”

“B-brr…” Woolie mumbled, retracting his head fully into his coat.

He then puffed out his wool, his stubby little legs now completely hidden under the combination of fluff and snow. The only part of him that wasn’t white was the little bit of his face still visible from under his coat.

“Ooh, this ground is… a little difficult to move around in-!”

Because of the snow’s depth, I had to raise my legs a lot higher for me to walk.

“This’ll be great for training!”

“Muumuu…”

“Come on, Woolie! I’ll race you to the lake!”

“Muuuuu-!”

Thump, thump, thump.

The sound of crunching snow resounded with every heavy step I took as I tried my best to run. It took considerably more effort to do so, but my energy levels were at their very peak.

It was amazing how different everything looked with the change of seasons. The lushness turning into pure white was something I’d only seen in pictures and videos, having gave up experiencing the real thing back on Earth.

“That tree’s bald!”

Indeed, trees that once had a full head of green now had snow covered branches instead, whatever greenery they had left completely buried under.

“I wonder what spring will look like… and summer? Ahh, this place always has something new to show me every time!”

Woolie chased after me as I ran on ahead, until I arrived at the lake I frequently used as the halfway point for my morning runs.

“Wow, it’s completely frozen over.”

The once clear waters were now a sheet of crystal ice, shimmering from the sun’s rays.

Thunk, thunk.

“Oooh… it looks pretty solid.”

I cautiously placed one foot on the layer of ice, then another-

“Woah! It’s so slippery-! Woolie! I think this could be decent balance training!”

“Muu!” Woolie called out to me with worry.

“It’s alright, Woolie! Look, I can jump on this ice and it holds! I guess I’m light enough that it won’t-”

All the air was sucked out my open mouth as the ice beneath my feet gave way, sending me plunging into the freezing water.

“Gasp- AAAARGGHHHH!!” I cried out, flailing about.

I can’t swim!

“Muu!”

By the time Woolie grabbed onto my collar and pulled me out the water, I was curled up in a ball, my entire body violently shaking.

“Abababababa-”

I’d only been in the water for about ten seconds, and I already became a chattering mess.

“W-W-Woolie… shorry, lemme iiiiin…”

I crawled into his abundant coat, covering as much of my body in the woolly warmth as possible.

“Mehh-!” Woolie whined from my freezing body.

“S-Shorry… gimme a beeeet…”

It was then that I learned a valuable lesson; no matter how resistant I was to the cold, I wasn’t invulnerable.

I guess there are things even this body of mine can’t handle.

Fortunately, my insanely high resistance also meant it only took about a minute for my body to warm up again, and another minute for it to return to its default state.

“Okay… let’s not do that again.”

“Meh…” Woolie nodded in agreement.

“Still, do you think there are fish living underneath all this ice?”

I’ve heard of ice fishing, but I didn’t know enough about it to figure out if I could spend the winter fishing up dinner.

Then again, I never have any luck using a rod anyway.

“God knows I’m not gonna stick my arm in there scooping up fish. Come on, Woolie. Let’s head for the Screeching Forest and check out the situation there.”

*

Wandering about the forest was a whole new experience in winter. There was no need to hack away at overhead branches and vines; the once dense woods were now so sparse I found no need for the blades on my back.

The spring here was frozen over as well, and I was suddenly hit with the realization that I’m going to have to interact with the frozen hell to get water.

“Oh boy, I hope my fists are enough to break the ice…”

The screeching birds of the forest were gone too, no doubt migrating somewhere warmer until the next season. While I did see a long ferret scampering about on the ground, it was pretty much the only creature I encountered that day.

“I don’t think there’ll be any boars around either. But just to make sure, keep on the lookout.”

“Beh.”

After a quick session of foraging, I came up mostly empty-handed for the usual array of herbs. However, new species of plants unknown to me took their place, leading me to pick them one by one for Woolie to appraise them.

“Oh, look! Berries!”

I was somewhat relieved to find out the red berries that consisted the majority of my diet were going strong even in the frosty winter, giving me confidence I could make it through the cold season with little issue.

“It’s quite amazing how these new plants just seem to sprout up out of nowhere. Oh, this one seems like a thorny guy-”

“Muumuu!” Woolie smacked my hand away from the thorny stem with his head.

“Ouch- what’s wrong?”

Woolie shook his head vigorously, signaling the plant I was about to pick up spelt trouble.

“Is it poisonous?”

“Meh!”

“I’ll make a note of that… are any of these antidotes for it?”

“Muu.”

It was our usual back and forth, and I found comfort knowing even after such a harsh change in environment, our routine had hardly changed. Here Woolie was, pointing out the dangers of the highlands while showing me the tools needed to cure myself.

I plucked some of the strange, blood-colored grass indicated to me as an antidote by Woolie, making it a priority to turn that into liquid for easy consumption when I got home. These prickly things grew in abundance and were easy to miss, so I wanted a cure at the ready in the event I cut myself while foraging.

“Looks like I’ve got some new ingredients to work with,” I smiled, basket full of new curiosities to experiment with.