A Hint of Cinnamon and Ice 3
name, and his breath rose in small clouds as he stepped closer, with his large paws sinking soundlessly into the powdery snow. Lianna’s stillness fascinated him; unlike the others who bustled and shouted - always busy with their weird instruments, she seemed to listen—to the ice, the wind, and perhaps even to him. Her scent was strange yet comforting, a smell Koda never sensed before - Cinnamon. He believed that she looked at his home differently… as if she could sense the stories the ice had to tell. Lianna was so concentrated on her drawing of the moving sea ice under her that she did not notice her new admirer. Slowly and carefully, Koda placed his large paws forward. The ice now crunched barely audibly under his weight. Lianna, concentrated in the fine lines of her sketch, only noticed him when she looked up to relax her stiff neck. Her eyes widened, and her breath formed small clouds in the cold air. “Hello, you,” she whispered softly. Their eyes met—hers filled with wonder, his with a curiosity. For a heartbeat, the boundaries of species, language, and world dissolved. Lianna’s fingers twitched, as though she might reach out to close the gap between them. But she knew better. “What are you doing here? Are you searching too?” she whispered, her voice barely audible. Koda blinked slowly, as if to say yes, as if they were both wanderers lost in the same vast, beautiful world. Koda tilted his head, his ears twitching. Curiosity burned within him, an inner drive to understand the world of humans. They often seemed restless, yet this woman was different. She sat quietly, as she was watching the ice under her, he watched her do it. Koda wondered if she couldn’t hear the ice and its stories. Something was different about her, but before Koda could find out what it was that made her so special it happened...
NANUK’S CHRISTMAS STORIES
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