[SE] become the gold

Alys

It was easy to forget that no one had really met Sascha yet, except for Tal, since he'd been with her when she'd found the cub. It felt like the ursur had been with her forever, and that she'd been with her for no time at all. It was a very strange sensation, truth be told, but Alys wouldn't trade it for the world. "Oh," Alys said, cheeks burning as she realized that it probably looked quite strange to have an ursur cub padding alongside her with no explanation. "This is Sascha. I found her just before LongNight. Her mother was killed, and... well, I'm not really sure. She's bonded to me now, anyway." As though to say hello, the cub bleated a greeting of her own and, seemingly deciding that Deimos was not an immediate threat, toddled over to a nearby snow bank to start digging at it.

As for Alys, she looked around and found a snow shovel conveniently leaning against a nearby wall. Deciding that the owner wouldn't mind if she borrowed it for a while, Alys retrieved it and began the painstaking task of digging out the road. It would be faster if she had the same magic that Deimos boasted, but she was beginning to take comfort in the abilities she did have rather than worrying about the ones she did not. "How was your LongNight?" Alys asked as she shoveled, one eye on her mischievous cub and the other on her friend.

funny how it all works out in the end
you dance with the devil and you lose your head