Author's Note: Fun fact: When I first brainstormed this idea, I figured I could tell it in around 60 chapters. We are now officially longer than that, and still at least 20 (probably a lot more) chapters from the beginning of the climax. Oops.
Alright then. Snow looked at the deer and thought. What did deer do? What did they want? . . . Did deer eat fruit? Snow thought so.
Okay. Snow imagined the most delicious apple possible. It was a deep red and perfectly smooth. It was huge, the size of her fist. She imagined how crunchy and sweet it would be. She imagined it in her hand, her fingers wrapping around it. Slowly, concentrating on holding the image of the apple in her mind, Snow reached out and touched the deer, leading its attention toward the apple in her hand that existed only in her mind, and now, through her bridge of focus, in the mind of the deer.
The deer visibly perked up, but didn't move. After a long stretched out moment in which it did nothing else, Snow became too frustrated to maintain focus, and dropped the connection. She turned toward Grenarin to vent, but at his mild curious expression directed away from her, Snow turned to look at what he was looking at. It was the deer she had been trying to affect. It was still looking around alertly, and sniffing at the wind.
None of the other deer were doing that. What could it be looking for? A moment later it hit her, and Snow felt like an idiot. She had "told" the deer that she had an apple, but the deer had no idea where she was. This time she paused before acting to check if it was actually a good idea – and then slowly slid out from behind the bush into full view of the deer, though being sure to hide her left hand behind her back. Immediately upon her appearance the deer turned to face her – visibly tensing – and then bounded quickly away and vanished into the undergrowth. All except the deer she had been "talking" to earlier, which stood there – still visibly tense – but with a cautious kind of curiosity.
As it became clear the deer did not intend to come any closer Snow began re-crafting the idea of the apple in her mind – the same plump roundness, deep red and crisp sweetness, but adding a sweet smell as well, located in her hidden left hand. Once more, she reached out and touched the deer's mind, guiding it once again to the imagined apple that was in her left hand.
For one long moment nothing happened, and Snow could feel her frustration growing, when finally, the deer took a single step forward. Snow held very, very still. Another moment passed, and the deer took another step. The distracting frustration from earlier had been replaced by equally distracting excitement, and Snow tried to push it aside and focus only on the link between the deer and the impossibly delicious, tempting, red apple in her hand.
The deer took another several steps all at once, closing the distance between them to only a few yards. When that produced no response, the deer took another two – so that it was only a yard from Snow, and suddenly it was all too exciting, and Snow felt her focus break.
The deer tensed again, and when Snow unthinkingly and instinctively reached out to soothe it, it bolted, vanishing into the trees in moments, and leaving Snow standing alone and feeling very disappointed.