The blizzard was slowly dissipating.
At first, the wind merely stopped tearing so savagely at the air. Then the heavy curtain of snow, which had poured endlessly from the sky, began to thin as well, turning into weary tufts that drifted gently down.
Mia sat on Aisha's broad, warm back in the snow two kilometers outside the Military Camp. She could clearly feel the change.
The bone-piercing chill was receding. It no longer assaulted her relentlessly like needles, but had become a gentler, more "normal" winter cold.
Her field of vision gradually expanded. The world, once squeezed by wind and snow to within arm's reach, stretched into the distance at an astonishing pace. She could see the snow-covered conifer forest far away, and beyond it, the vague outline of the Military Camp's fence.
Mia could even vaguely make out people pacing on the camp's watchtowers, people dressed in white... her own people.
Aisha, her loyal, powerful companion, seemed to sense the change too. It gave a soft snort, and its ears, which had stood slightly erect in vigilance, turned loosely as though catching sounds beyond the wind and snow.
Then it laboriously raised its head and grunted a few times at Mia on its back.
"They won? Oh, wonderful. They..."
Mia mused, bundled in a huge, fluffy, snow-white coat. Looking like an arctic hare perched on a pig's back, she thought seriously for a moment, then nodded firmly.
"They can have ten pieces... no, eight pieces of candy."
Aisha immediately lifted its head and grunted in protest.
"Oh, Aisha gets some too. Eight... all right, ten pieces of candy."
Mia showed Aisha all ten of her fingers. It was very clever, but it could never understand numbers above ten... perhaps because Mia only had ten fingers.
With Mia's promise secured,