The snow fell lightly to the already frozen ground. White, knee-deep heaps formed for miles and miles to come. The sky was painted a depressing gray color and lacked visible clouds, for they were just as gray as the sky itself. The sun did not shine in this area. This is where I was born.

I woke up in a daze, to find myself in a more shallow pile of snow. The discomfort of the freezing, wet substance caused me to shudder and let out a slight groan. I stood up in a hurry to see the landscape ahead of me. Snow, trees, snow, trees, snow, trees.

"What am I doing here..?" I asked myself, my knees shaking beneath my thin clothing.

I tried to remember what happened before...before what? I couldn't remember any events before this past minute. Fortunately, however, I hadn't lost memory of how to speak, though my vocabulary seemed rather limited.

"Help!" I called with tears in my eyes. I fretted the thought of being alone in such a place.

In an attempt to find someone, I realized it'd be impossible to tread through the deep snow, at least, if I didn't want to kill myself, which I definitely did not. So instead, I just took refuge under a tree that was near enough to reach without sinking. Sitting down on one thick root, I held myself in my tiny, pudgy, and tucked my bare calves under my white baby dress, stretching out the elastic material. Suddenly, I found the tears being held on top of my bottom eyelids slipping down my cheeks. A small whimper escaped my lips which turned into a horrible sob. My face became flushed from both the weather condition, and the crying, and I looked like a mess. I curled up into a small ball, managing to balance on the rounded tree root. At this point, I was expecting death. Call me dramatic, for I had only been there for a few minutes, but I was small, and confused, and scared, and couldn't find a way out.

I lied there awake for what seemed like hours. At last, I decided this was pointless, and I had to make an attempt to find a person. I grasped a large fallen branch in my small, cold fingers and batted at the snow. It was no use. So I dug. But my fingers were unprotected, making for unbearable pain (note that again, I was a toddler).

After a few attempts of clearing a path, I finally sat back down in defeat. But this time, I wouldn't dare cry. Determination burned inside of me. I wanted to live real bad! My final thought on the matter was to sleep and hope the snow melts, just enough for him. But I was nïave. Miracles aren't real. At least, those kinds of miracles.

...
(3rd-person POV)
Meanwhile, a large animal walked through the snowy tundra with ease. It's hooves clung to the icy ground to maintain balance. It's long, shaggy fur made sure that warmth did not leave its body. The snout was large and cow like, and the eyes, also resembling the cows, were brown, or possibly hazel. It came to an abrupt stop when it saw a sleeping child. It seemed to be deciding what to do about this small, out-of-place human. As it came closer, something clicked on inside of it, telling it to do no harm, nor leave the young one. The creature lied down next to the little Russian boy, despite the discomfort of the lumpy tree roots, elevating certain parts of its body.

Evening becoming night, the large, hairy beast fell asleep with the boy. The two slept peacefully and warm, waiting for the sun to come back and wake them up.

...

...

(Back to Ivan's POV)

To my surprise, I woke up next to none other than...an ox? The creature was lying next to me, sound asleep, at what appeared to be later morning. I didn't object to this whole ox thing though. It's fur was so soft. Dirty, yes, but soft. And warm, too. I decided not to scoot away from it in order to maintain a necessary heat source. Even if it did (for some reason) suddenly developed intents on killing me, it's not like the cold and lack of essentials won't do that already. Besides, it seemed sweet enough. I was given exactly two seconds to close my eyes again and soak in the wonderful feeling the fur had given me, before I was forced to bolt into a sitting up position, due to a loud grunt the animal had made. I supposed it was just because it was waking, but it still scared the fuck out of me. I stared at it with wide eyes. It stared right back at me. What a calm animal, I thought.

It must have an owner! I should ride it to see where it goes...if it'll let me...

The ox stood up, knees shaking as it forced it's heavy body up. I lightly tugged on one tuft of fur on it's side. As expected, it's attention was forwarded to me. I wrapped both of arms, as far as my small body could manage, around it's sides, reaching for its back. It was a wild assumption, because not all oxen and yaks are very smart, tame or not. But it seemed to get my message completely, and knelt down like a knight to its liege. I scrambled on top of him, attempting not to hurt it in any way. My left leg struggled to get over the beast's wide back, and fidgeted a little. But eventually, I made it on top of the animal, who began walking when I made a small "fu~" of satisfaction. The ox was not going all-too-fast, but I felt it was just a world of a lot more safer if I gently clung onto it's neck fur. I couldn't see anyway there could be anyone for miles to come. The land seemed to stretch forever, showing traces of mere trees, rocks, and snow piles. I sang a song quietly as the ox carried my small, malnourished body to wherever it hales from. In total, the entire trip took three hours, in which I sang or twirled my hair in my finger, just out of peer boredom. When the three hour trip was over, I saw myself in the middle of a small settlement, or tribe, or whatever this place was. The people sounded a little different than I, but were very similar. I had a feeling that I was no longer in the same country anymore. How bothersome, for I hadn't even known which country I was in the last place.

The ox and I, sadly, parted our separate ways. But I do hope dearly that I see it once again. Though, my main concern shouldn't be on an ox right now. Here are my problems:
I don't speak their language.

I do not know where I am.

I have nowhere to go.

I am alone.

As a couple passed me, laughing it chatting, it made a retreat to a snow-eaten bush. I felt that I could not trust anyone, and if I did, I'd pay dearly. It was just me being a worried little boy, though. As they passed me, I sighed and crept out from behind the bush. My small hands brushed dead leaves off of my little gown. Then I took off. As I passed through the small, poor town, I noticed there was a stand that sold some fruits or vegetables (preserved by pickle method). My stomach was empty and growling at me noisily. I toddled over to the produce-seller. Tugging at his long coat, I spoke in my native language (a/n: italics means it's a Russian translation, bold and italics is Ukrainian).

"Sir, if you would so nice...c-could I have some of your food?"

The man cocked his head, with a confused expression on his face.

"What?" he spoke in a different language than me, so I could not understand, which freaked me out.

"A-Ah, food?" I pointed to the pickled vegetables.

"Ahhh!" he said in understanding.

He handed me a random vegetable that I did not recognize. Then he held his hand out. At the time, I didn't understand the whole payment thing, so I cocked my head in confusion. The man gave an exasperated groan. He pointed to himself, then to me and then the vegetable. Then he pointed to my face, and pointed the finger back at himself. This only confused me a bit more.

"W-What?" I asked, stressing out.

Then he yelled at me in his language, only scaring me. I screamed and ran away, bursting into turns. But he chased after me, in hot pursuit. My crying grew louder, for I had no idea why this man was chasing me.

"Don't hurt me!" I said in English, hoping he'd understand that better (as a country, I've always known English as a second language)

He didn't seem to understand, but kept chasing, shouting frightening sounding things. Suddenly, I felt myself being picked up from the back of my shirt. The person who was holding me was not the angry man, but an older woman. Her glare was horrifying but at least she was not yelling at me. The man caught up with us. The two exchanged words as I hung from the woman's grip, weeping silently to myself.

"Do not kill!" my English wasn't too good, but maybe the woman could understand?

She looked at me strangely. Then she set me down. When she did, she gave the angry person something, causing him to leave. She looked down at me and nodded.

"T-Thank you..!" I wished she could speak my language so she could know of how grateful I was.

She smiled, so I was assuming she knew what I was saying. Then she positioned me in a different direction and waved her hand, shooing me off. I ran off, rubbing the wetness from my face. I sat at a dead tree, in the light snow. I took a small nibble of the foreign vegetable and swallowed. It was so good, considering I hadn't eaten a lot lately.

Night settled in and I had finished the food. I could not savor it long enough to have it for a few days. But I at least could fall asleep with a stomach that was not quite that empty. I curled up in a bush that had a few surviving leaves on it. Quickly, due to the exhaustion of the day, I slipped out of consciousness, and was able to sleep soundly.

...

...

My mouth opened wide to allow myself to yawn. My eyes were watery and blurred from sleep, and took a bit to adjust, with the help of me, rubbing them with small knuckles. Blinking out the last bit of sleep, I let the setting sink in to my mind. When it finally hit me, I bolted upright with eyes, as wide as the moon. A small structure was housing me. There was only two other rooms, besides the one I was in. And also, I was lying on a comfortable pile of skins. That was nicer than a partially dead bush.

"H-Hello..?" I stuttered, pulling one of the skins up to my chin.

A lovely young girl came out of one of the rooms with a bright smile on her face. She was no older than eight years. Her hair was long, blond, and braided. Bright blue irises gleamed in her eyes, and a green and brown dress draped down her frail body.

"Oh, you are awake. Good morning," she chirped, walking up to me slowly. I flinched when she crouched down beside me, causing her to withdraw her movements.

"I'm sorry, I do not mean to scare you," she apologized.

I couldn't speak. My voice was lost down my throat. This girls hospitality took me aback, and it made me feel gracious, but she was still a stranger to me, and I was absolutely frightened. But she looked as if she were expecting me to reply, so I felt a bit embarrassed.

"T-Thank you..." I finally said sheepishly. Tugging at my sleeve, I looked down at my knees, which I had dug out from the animal skins.

Her smile widened a bit.

"No problem. Are you hungry, dear?" this girl spoke with much maturity. Was she alone?

"Uh...um...y-yes..." I squeaked, turning red. It felt bad, taking someone's food, but I was hungry.

In reply, she walked off into what I assumed was where she kept the meat and bread. As I suspected, she came with what looked like some sort of meat.

"I had prepared this for a long winter, but I think you really need it, so you can have it," she held out the meat to me. I felt myself drool a bit, but I felt I could not accept this. She had said it was for winter. From her storage. Cured by her.

"N-No, you need it..."

"I insist!"

"If I m-must...we will share?"

She thought for a second, then finally nodded at the comprise. But she ended up giving me the larger half, despite my protest.

"W-What is this?" I asked shyly.

"Reindeer, of course..?" she titled her head.

"O-Oh..."

A stare of surprise was laid on me.

"You know...I have not seen you around here before...and what were you doing out there alone?" the girl asked.

"Oh uh...I...um...I don't know..."

"Hm? Then...what's your name?"

"I d-don't know..."

She looked at him with surprise again. But her lips curved into a small smile again.

"Let's call you Ivan until further notice then, okay?" Ivan nodded quickly. He honestly didn't care what he was called, he just didn't want to be nameless.

"By the way, my name is Katyusha, nice to meet you!" she held out a small, yet strong hand to my even smaller, and weak hand. I didn't know how to respond and cocked my head. She just grinned and grabbed my hand, shaking it lightly. It was a weird display of friendliness, but I did not care.