Cold was no stranger to Tala, she’d lived on a tundra planet for her whole life. That cold was different. This one enveloped her entirely and bit at her skin harshly, her several layers of reindeer pelt clothing made some difference, but not enough to provide her any measure of comfort. Still, she’d been cold before, and she’d been uncomfortable before. She knew she’d be fine so long as she kept moving.
So she wandered onwards and onwards, resisting the urge to stop and rest for more than a couple of minutes. Perhaps she’d come through the wrong portal. She knew from the stories in her homeland that they all led to the same planet, but why had she gone and picked the one with ice and snow through that mirror like image? Familiarity, she supposed. It seemed to have been a bad choice to make. Tala was beginning to reason with the thought that she may very well die out here, before ever having a chance to establish a life the way she wanted. She longed for the way her clan would huddle together and rest with the reindeer during the harshest blizzards. All alone she wasn’t sure if she had much hope to survive. Until she saw buildings.
A renewed vigor took over her and she tightened her gloved, chilled fingers around the wooden quarterstaff she trekked with. It felt like it took eternity to reach the settlement, but she made it at last and began frantically searching for an open door to give her respite from the blizzard outside. She spotted someone entering a building that resembled every other house, but had a sign that told her it was a business, somewhere she could go.
She stepped through the door and froze as soon as it shut. The clutches of anxiety gripped her heart as she glanced around the room, fully realizing for the first time that this was an entirely different world. But she saw antlers on the wall, and something about that familiar sight, knowing that creatures like her own reindeer must exist here, caused her to relax ever so slightly. The fire was by far the most inviting element of the room, and she hurried toward it to begin to thaw out her freezing limbs, too distracted by the discomfort to acknowledge other people around her until the warmth began to permeate.
Tala
there's a world that was meant for us to see
