A/N: Oh man it's been a million years since I've ACTUALLY attempted at fanfiction… (And if I Update this fic relatively well, I'll return to Sapphire!)

DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own any part of the "Tiger's Curse" series, that problem is Colleen Houck's.

And a personal disclaimer, I've only read as much as dear Nella has shown us Chez Ap. followers, so I will likely get everything canonically wrong here...

This story, the keep in tie with the theme of not-understanding-anything from the books, I did not research Alaska at all (or at least attempted not to); and the plot is all about the End and arise of the Golden Age in Hinduism. (Plus fairies, because I will it.) I'll try to put as much corn in Kadam's dialog as I can muster, but no promises!

The concept of entropy (the increase in disorder over time) can be expected to provide a direction of time. A movement into the future can be recognized by observing deterioration and decay of things in the past. — World of Physics

Kelsey Hayes watches snowflakes whirl passed the rental car, as the vehicle drones steadily down an industrial road. All around, mounds of new-snow bloom across the stretch of hilly landscape. Kelsey hadn't taken her gaze away from the growing scene, not since getting into the rental at the airport. And even on her flight, she had looked out the window beside her airplane seat; watching as earth thousands of miles under her shifted from an urban coast to the bleakness of the Alaskan frontier.

She sighs and the window glass stains with her breath. Finally she looks away.

Matt Davis, her foster brother, has been nearly as silent as Kelsey, staring out his own window, lost in his own thoughts. Their foster parents—who somehow convinced the California CPS' to move two teenagers with them to Alaska, of all places—continue to talk eagerly with each other; about the awaiting tourist destinations, social events, and(, more importantly,) they talk about their new cabin. Their perfect, dream home cabin; snug in the cold Alaskan woods, overlooking the small body of water called Sir Laka, where the neighborhood residents are free to do their fishing and rock-skipping.

Sarah and Mike had tried to engage Kelsey and Matt in the beginning of their trip, but Matt would shrug them off with a disheartened comment, and Kelsey would barely respond. She still couldn't believe she was leaving her home of twelve years.

Kelsey couldn't say that she hates the idea of Alaska. She's sort of an introvert, so the idea of being secluded doesn't bother her. The cold, however, makes her weary; living in the warm California sunshine most of her life has shied her away from subzero temperatures. Isn't there that phenomenon where the sun doesn't show for months? she shudders at the thought.

Matt had expressed his own opinions about Alaska to Kelsey back when they thought their trip would just be a vacation, before Sarah and Mike found their perfect cabin.

"There's a guy in my class who'd just come from there," he'd told her on their walk from school back in March (it was now September). "He says it's always freezing, and dull, and with hardly any people!"

Matt is more of an extrovert than Kelsey, always trying to make friends with anyone who comes his way. He frets that living in a town with a population below 200 will be his end.

"Hey, sleepy-heads," Mike calls; he smiles at them via the rearview mirror. "We're almost in our new town. Alaya, Alaska: Home of the Tigers," he recites the town's high school hockey campaign.

Matt groans and presses his face against the window. "Tigers aren't even native to Alaska," he complains.

Sarah shares a look with Mike. From Kelsey's point of view, sitting just behind Sarah's shotgun, her foster mother looks almost worried.

"It's okay, hun," Mike comforts his wife. He turns his attention back to the back seat. "I guess they were just trying to be creative, Matty."

Matt rolls his eyes.

"Hey, hey, Kels-ey," Mike singsongs. "You've been real quiet this whole way. You doin' alright back there?"

"I'm alright," Kelsey says. Mike looks at her—turning his head to really see her—and she gives him a small smile.

Mike looks back to the road. "Any of you thinking of joining a team for school?"

"Oh, I don't know," Matt says sardonically, "what will they offer? Uhm, dog sledding?"

Sarah frowns at him. "Matt, please."

The rest of the way down the industrial road is silent. Kelsey continues to look out the window. Snow builds all along the side of the triple-lane highway; but avoids landing on the asphalt, which had been covered in salt crystals the night before. The sky is slowly overcome by the precipitation-full clouds, and the distant sun tries to bleed its waning light through the thick darkness.

By the beginnings of sunset, they make it to the little town of Alaya, Alaska. The first snows of winter, now reflecting the orange of the burning sunset colors, blanket the tops of the buildings and the alleys in between. The buildings are either covered in wood paneling or made by thick plaster-like material. The only signs of 21st century living are the McDonalds on Browsheld Rd. and the updated movie theater at the corner of Main St. Surprisingly, Kelsey and Matt spot an open Blockbuster Video, probably the only one in all of America. Kelsey sees a foreign shop nestled between a 70's style drug store and a camping-supply-specialty shop. The foreign shop's windows are clouded, but beaming with bright lights placed around shelves and other surfaces. She doesn't have time to make out the odd words of the shop's title, as Mike turns the corner quickly, anxious to get to their cabin, but that only mystifies the place in Kelsey's mind even more. She notices that her eyes linger on the direction of the building, as if she can't look away.

But when Mike breaks suddenly, her attention is brought back to reality. She sees that Mike's eyes and mouth are wide open, and Sarah has instinctively shielded her arm in front of him. Matt is leaning forward in his seat, trying to get a better picture of outside the windshield.

"A deer!" Matt says excitedly, "A white deer! How cool is that!?"

"Thank God we didn't run over the poor thing," Sarah says, clutching her chest.

Kelsey rolls down her frosted window to get a better view of the dark woods beside her. A chill runs up her arms and back, starting goosebumps all over, but she wonders if it's from the cold gust of wind she let in or the growing unease.

As Mike drives away, Kelsey swears she sees glowing blue orbs watching her, like eyes of a mystic creature.