'a-ah! it'sss s-so col-t, now'

she stood shivering, listening to an unheard response

shook her head in disagreement as gloved hands rubbed warmth into the arms of her coat

'th-at'ss t-t-true. i di-dn't mean to ta-ke ss-oh lohng'

a moment

then the crunch-crunch-crunch of snow compacting under footsteps

'i j-jusst forgoht- bl-bloody freez-z-zing!'

a vision of blue-vested shoulders shaking in mirth,

hand reaching up, pulling down a red-white hat to hide the laughter

'that-t life g-get-ts b-busi-er an-d buz-ier, puSHing aw-ay promis-sess a-an' p-p-pee-ple,

esp-eshially if th-ey leht iT'

instead of more snow,

her booted foot lands on a small rock,

causing her to stumble

slip on a patch of gravelly ice until finally,

she catches her footing, holding onto the grey stone wall beside her.

'an-d m-maybe i j-just didn'-t wahnt to f-face yo-u so s-s-soon...'

yellow flashes past in her peripherals

quickly she turns,

hoping to spot-

..nothing..

thinks of voice raspy with solitude,

battle-hardened eyes lightened with exhilaration,

smile conveying nothing and everything

blue electricity sparking through feathery raven hair-

hunches in on herself for a minute.

two

on the third,

she physically pulls herself together:

tensing and relaxing [still shivering]

pushing out her chin while rearranging her clothes for maximum warmth

lop-sided smile and berating chuckle

'ohf c-course h-ee isn'T'

then heads deeper into the cave:

following barely-there markers and unchanging landmarks,

moving around various pitfalls and untouched snow,

wary of making unnecessary noise in caverns or open areas,

taking hours just memorizing everything all over again

.

.

.

reaches the top of mt. silver

takes in the wind tugging at frozen crystals,

clouds misting and lighting on fire by the sun's grace,

blue-white sky, arresting and freeing at once,

dark green of trees under swaths of icy blankets,

grey stone pointed and steadfast, marked by streaks of rivers thawing and cooling by the passage of time-

takes position in the middle of the opening

looks about, hoping to spot something familiar

just silence

'..hah'

covers her face with a hand

slides down until she's sitting

'w-Hat a w-w-wasste'

takes a moment to lay down

forcibly forgets the cold to relax-

shoots up to get a closer look at the lip of the ceiling

'd-did h-h-hee rea-Lly..?'

scraps of fabric were arranged in the shape of an arrow

dumbfounded,

she kept staring until-

'FURR-ET!'

a long, cream and brown furred Furret materialized

the pokemon waved its tail in the adult's face,

forcing her to sneeze as fur made its way up her nose

'St-OHP i-iT!'

the normal type did as suggested

looked in the direction its trainer couldn't stop gaping at in an unsophisticated manner.

just blue-colored human-fur.

funny shape,

kind of looks like a direction on that funny shiny that stops working near nosepass or probopass

in fact,

that piece of tree looks like something Trainer might want

smells like Red-Trainer

faded scent, though

the normal type scrambles towards the edge of the pointy part,

avoiding its trainer's dashing behind it

and-

pulls out a Rare Candy and Sitrus Berry!

Oh, how it loves Red-Human~

throwing the tree-piece towards Trainer,

Furret begins to savor its treats.

[meanwhile,

the woman was catching her breath and holding her scarf in front of her mouth,

hoping she won't freeze or get sick due to sweating and breathing in the cold or even losing so much body heat.]

another few minutes pass before the shivering is bearable, paper crushed in her left hand

she begins to read

then laughs

and laughs

and laughs

and laughs until she could barely breathe-!

'a-aft-er all thi-S time!'

laughs again,

gulps air desperately,

eyes crinkling with much needed joy

grins

tucks away the note

laughs out '-i'll find you'