A/N My quickest update yet. ^^ Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Mabinogi belongs to Nexon and devCAT. I own absolutely nothing in relation to it, except for the characters I thought up.

White. It's all white.

It's all white after white after white…

Xarah doesn't try to run back. If she turns she will be overwhelmed by the sheer amount of white. She's barely holding on as it is.

So she keeps running and running, moving past rows and rows of completely whited out trees, desperately searching at the end of the white path for something that simply isn't white.

Why must it all be so white?

Why did the path turn so white?

Why is the Goddess torturing her, why is she making her blunder through this burning, blinding passage of white?

At this rate, Xarah will die in an environment so derisively white she will never be able to make out her friends' faces.

No! She cannot think this way. She pushes on, willing her legs to move faster, faster…

"Umph!"

Bouncing back into the snow, she opens her eyes, and immediately almost vomits. The all-white scenery has been replaced by all brown, shaggy-fur like view that Xarah shivers and backs away from, decidedly terrified. She is about to turn and brave the white again instead, when the hulking mass of the terrible brown turns.

Instantly her eyes are captivated by its face. Its black eyes have an intelligent quality about them that she thinks she could see. Its muzzle attracts her attention next, a relieving gray tone in the middle of a tidal wave of brown, with a cute dark nose right in the middle. Xarah instantly recognizes the quadruped animal from a description given to her by Kaven, an animal he had only barely managed to kill; a fully grown brown bear.

She stares, astonished, at the bear for a long moment, and the bear stares back, perhaps wondering why she isn't running and screaming bloody murder like any other sensible person who slams into its rump.

This comment makes her giggle, and then she stands confidently. "I can work with you!" she declares happily, before scooping up some snow off the ground and flinging it at the bear. It rears back, and Xarah frowns. "Stay still!"

Surprisingly, the bear obeys, though it seems wary as Xarah scoops up more snow, and tosses it onto its head, back, arms, legs, and sides. Most fall off, but Xarah is satisfied with her final product, and expresses this with a comment. "There! All better!"

With another total disregard for whatever sense Cyntia should have hammered into her, Xarah promptly snuggles up to the bear's side.

A moment later, the bear only puts its arms around her, and grunts in what Xarah would consider an awkward tone if the bear is a human.

Chapter Four –

The Mage of Sidhe Sneachta

"You're a nice friend, Mr. Bear," the little girl sighs happily. "I didn't know animals were as nice as you. Maybe I could have talked to the coyotes too."

The bear only grunts again. Xarah guesses what it means, and frowns.

"No, really! I accidentally walked into a lot of coyotes with their cute little pups too!" Xarah ashamedly sighs. "Actually, that's why I had to run here. The coyotes looked really scary, and Kaven told me to run this way and wait with the first person I met. You're not a person, but you count!" The girl hugs the bear enthusiastically, though even with her arms stretched they reach not even half of the bear's neck.

When she pulls back, the item she had tucked into her shirt much earlier somehow falls out, landing on the snow below. Xarah frowns and picks the mana herb up, then checks under her winter outfit. The shirt she still has on doesn't look like there's anything wrong, but when she puts a hand into the same pocket she had put her medicine into, all her fingers feels at the bottom is air. "Oh, darn. Cyntia will have to fix that later."

She is about to put the Mana Herb in a different pocket when the bear suddenly moves its head closer and sniffs at product. Xarah blinks before something occurs to her. "Are you hungry?"

The bear sniffs again, a sign that Xarah takes for an affirmative. "I didn't know bears ate Mana Herbs! Here," she says, and thrusts her package to the bear's face. "I would've brought more, but usually I just put them in Cyntia's drawer back at our hut. I only had this one because I was in a hurry. Sorry." Xarah sighs. "Sometimes I wonder why I eat it at all – it tastes so, 'Bleah!' But Dilys said it's the best thing for nightmares, and Duncan, Kaven and Cyntia all listened to her. She told us I didn't have a good amount of mana in my body or something like that. It doesn't make sense at all, if you ask me. Can you ask me?"

When she faces the bear again, she notices with a mild bit of annoyance that it is staring at her with wider eyes and its mouth somewhat open, as if it is a human in an animal's mind. More importantly, even though she offered her medicine to the bear, it isn't taking it.

So Xarah, against whatever sense that should have been there in the absence of the common one, simply sticks the hand with the herb straight into the bear's mouth.

"Ew," she says as she withdraws her saliva-dripping hand and wipes it on the bear's pelt. The bear in question is hacking and choking, and Xarah feels a moment of guilt as she watches her new friend. "Sorry, Mr. Bear, but I really didn't want to eat that today."

As its noisy digestive problems trail off, its head lets out a low growl from its position in the snow. Xarah smiles cheekily, having heard a similar tone from Kaven and knowing exactly what it means. "Aww, did I hurt your feelings? How about a kiss to make it all better?" she says, and follows up with a noisy smooch straight to her newly-appointed big brother, who bats at her with a massive paw that probably should have sent her flying if it wasn't so careful with being gentle.

But speaking of her big brother...Xarah braves one look at the path she has come from, that blizzarding hailstorm of absolute blankness. She has enough time to think that whatever Kaven is doing to the coyotes, it shouldn't be taking this long, before the sheer overwhelming colour overtakes her senses once more and Xarah has to turn her face away quickly, to the bear's questioning face.

"You think I'm stupid, don't you?" she suddenly whispers.

The bear doesn't react.

"Yes, I guess you'd be right. I should be scared of you, like Cyntia and Kaven are. Actually, I am scared of you. It's just...that scares me more." She gestures her hand to the general direction of the winding path, at which the bear gazes for a moment before turning back to her, though it doesn't seem to be enlightened by her comment. "No, I guess not," Xarah mumbles, "you're just a bear, after all. Don't leave me, okay?"

And with that abrupt statement, she leans her entire weight onto the bear, and closes her eyes. Instantly the darkness becomes pronounced for her, and though she tries to fight it, she falls asleep with the same conditions that has plagued her mind every time she had gone to bed – terror of the black that swallows her alive.

Can you hear me?

This nightmare...it's different somehow. It's still dark, and it's still scary, but Xarah can tell there's something different. Last time, it had been her friends' presence.

Cyntia. Kaven.

And they always disappeared.

Ah, so you can hear me...

Oh, there had been other presences as well. A shadow, darker than black. A silver-then-black piece of armour. Gold scales. A quill pen. Red hair.

None of them are here at the moment. But what is?

Suddenly Xarah sees it – a stone platform, with pillars placed on the edges like the hours of a clock, comes into view with a pool of water in the middle. More importantly, standing on top of the water is a woman with an elegant white dress and black hair.

She also happens to have black wings.

Xarah starts to feel a little calmer when she sees this woman, and even starts walking over.

And then suddenly stops.

She has that – that feeling, somehow. Even though Xarah knows she hadn't met this woman before, she somehow knows –

This woman is scarier than the darkness that surrounds her.

Fear grabs her heart again, squeezing it with utter disdain, far more powerfully than she ever felt before. Her fear of uniform colours, that – that is nothing, a raccoon scratching at her legs at best. This woman – this woman, is a four-headed snake, one that could spit fire, freeze her, strike lighting, or poison her with the merest hint of a wish, before swallowing her piece by agonizing piece. With nowhere to run, once she got in the middle.

The solution is clear. She can't get into the middle.

I know this is a difficult request...

Xarah hears only that line before turning and fleeing into the darkness that suddenly seems like a teddy bear in comparison.

"Xarah! Oy, Xarah!"

Someone is shaking her.

The woman is shaking her.

The woman is about to get her.

Her eyes flash open as she reaches for the first thing that comes to mind – the Royal insecticide pouch that usually has a home on her shorts' pocket, her first line of defence by throwing it into something's face. When her fingers grab nothing but snow, and she realizes her change of outfit, she decides to go for the next best action – a shrill scream.

"Gah! What the hell!"

That does not sound like a woman. The voice is a little too deep. Xarah cracks one eye open, afraid it truly is the winged woman from her dreams, but all she finds is a recognizable, annoyed face.

"K-Kaven," she stammers as she tries to push herself up, but is saved the trouble when Kaven hoists her and loads her on to a nearby snow-covered rock.

"Just a hint, Xarah. Don't do that. Not unless you were planning to give me a working ear for the Last Samhain."

This comment is absurd enough for Xarah to stop hyperventilating and start giggling, although it quickly turns to a gasp and lightheadedness when she only sees white. She quickly refocuses her gaze to Kaven's somewhat worried one.

"What happened? I hold you to get to the first person you see. Why did you stop here?"

"S-saw someone," Xarah responds shakily. "He's a bear, and he was friendly. He warmed me up."

Kaven's face is unreadable for a moment, and then he glances away. Xarah follows his gaze, which lands on the spot he picked her up from, though she sees nothing useful, only her footprints, coyotes' occasional tracks and the paw prints from the bear she talked about.

Apparently deciding not to question her, Kaven asks, "Another nightmare?"

"It – it was scary. There was this woman, this black-winged woman, white dress, she looked really nice, but she – she – she was asking –" The girl shudders involuntarily. "I don't want to see her again."

"We'll put Dilys' prescription in your lunch from now on, then."

"Okay." The girl shivers again. "Can we go now?"

Kaven simply lifts her off and sets her on his shoulders, though he grunts as he does this. He starts moving, but then he stops.

"What is it?"

Kaven doesn't answer, only moves more cautiously forward again, so Xarah takes a look at Kaven's face's general direction.

She does not see anything immediately, only the snow that starts to make her feel sick again, but her attention is called to fine, straight lines on the ground she had missed at her preliminary sweep.

It looked like: uoplipL.

"Wo-pli-pel," Xarah reads, and her face lights up. "That must be the bear's name!"

"Um, Xarah –"

"Oh, shush, Kaven! Bears can write too!" And then, Xarah hollers into the sky. "Thank you, Uoplipl! I'll come back and see you soon!"

And then quietly, Xarah mutters excitedly, "Next time, I'll have lot and lots more mana herbs for you to eat!"

If you're feeling confused about the personalities, remember that different perspectives show different views. In Xarah's view, Kaven is a smart older brother. In Kaven's view, Xarah/Sarah is an annoying little brat that he shouldn't have to deal with if it wasn't for Cyntia.

Reviews can tell me how well I illustrated this in-prose. ^^