Steam rising with every breath, damp on cooling cheeks as snow melted around a bodies heat only to reform as solid ice from continued cold. Gasping at the frozen nature of air within her lungs, Kari pushed herself upwards only to discover the wind bitter and striking her bare skin with tiny ice knives. She shivered, her clothing not suitable for such a frozen wasteland and equally unprepared her reddening skin.
Sliding onto unsteady feet, the little girl looked around at the scenery with a hand shielding her eyes the best she could. Quite desolate in appearance, rocky outcrops moving down the hill top she stood upon until in the distance a thick density of trees protruded from the grey and white like a welcome haven. She sighed with some relief at the forest, lifting the collar of her shirt over her nose to keep what little heat she still had circulating around her body rather than lost to the atmosphere. It was a start, a shelter to focus on until she could figure out what next to do.
Trekking downwards, slipping several times and dropping unsuspecting into a snow covered dip, Kari made her way towards the outline of trees. The wind was relentless, without mercy and her braided hair frozen solid before she came anywhere near her target; at least the burning pain within her fingers had finally dulled into a numbness, though on second thought that probably was not a good sign.
Teeth chattering but relieved, she limped in amongst the trees and settled into a nook of rocks out of the cold wind. She had to keep rubbing her limbs, hands, breathing into her shirt to fight the painful cold and proceeding stages of frostbite. Where was she? Why had he sent her here? Would her grandfather come to get her soon or was this a mess she would have to find a way out of? Her mind was a buzz with questions without answer; distracted completely until the soft mewing sounds besides her caught her attention.
She looked to her right, further inside the rocks nook was dark but filled with gentle movement and the song of infancy. Blinking in shocked surprise, Kari crawled in closer and reached out to touch a soft fluffy bundle of mewling wonder. There were three of them in total, white and grey with black splodges and barely opened eyes confused and hissing as she picked up the closest kitten – roughly the size of Griffin in all honesty.
"Aren't you cute." Kari cooed at the hissing, wailing, unable to manage his own thrashing feet cub. "Where's your mummy?"
The answer came far more swiftly than she had ever anticipated, though in truth she had not expected an intelligible response in the first place. There was a deep guttural growling above, Kari pulling the kitten closer to her chest as a protective response and peered up at large grey eyes furious and indignant at the trespass and kidnap. It was a snow leopard, though many times larger than one uncommonly found on earth and issuing extreme levels of warning to the small human shaking now from fear rather than cold she could no longer feel.
"Please…" Kari breathed, wide-eyes fixed on the grey orbs above her and warm mewing bundle held tight to chest. "Don't hurt me…"
The mother continued to glare, though softness penetrated that burning gaze at the girl's persuasive words and dampened the warning growl to that of a wet sounding chuff. Kari remained transfixed; blue caught in grey but for the first time in a long while she was unsure which was the capturing predator. This beast was no green-eyed monster like someone she knew; how did he have so much power over her anyway? Was he able to use some sort of mind control like her too? There would be time to think about those kinds of questions later, if she survived, but for now things were in a dire seesaw.
She offered up the squirming kitten in her arms to the snow leopard, their eyes never breaking as the cat obliged the gesture and took her mewling infant by the neck scruff. She hopped down from her rocky perch, cub held comfortably between her jaw and skulked into the den full of hungry kittens. The mother coiled her body protectively around her children, gaze focused on the small intruder but no longer threatening as the cubs settled in to feed.
Kari sighed her relief, heart rhythm returning to normal as she curled her legs up against her chest and felt somewhat safer under a mother's watchful eye. No wonder it had been so much warmer here, the ground covered in a thick layer of shed white and black-grey fur creating a soft carpet. It was a perfect spot for both their needs, sheltered and out of the watchful eye of predators, but where were they? By the sheer size of the leopard, Kari was sure they were not on earth; could this be another part of asgard? Or was she in a completely different realm? If only cats could talk, she would ask the diligently cub licking mother to her right.
Days went by, or so she thought not entirely competent with the telling of time wherever she was. Her new friends had grown accustomed to her presence, even allowing her to cuddle amongst them at night to enjoy joint body heat. As dawn and dusk came, the snow leopard left her lair of cubs to hunt and partake in big cat rituals. It was hunger on the third day that finally stirred Kari from the den to follow the big cats elegant stocky build into the forest. Such a long beautiful tail, she wished she had her sketchpad and pencils with her to capture the creature's majesty but more important was finding something to eat before she passed out from hunger.
The leopard paused her patrol, pawing at the ground to release a feathery leafed plant from the snow before consuming parts of it in an amusing fashion. Kari stared at the display, coming closer to the plant when the leopard was finished and gave it an incredulous sniff. It did not look edible for humans but at least the mother cat seemed to enjoy the taste.
She skipped off after the big cat once more; following her to a stream where she paused to drink. Water; possibly better than food if her cracked lips and dehydrated eyeballs had anything to say on the matter. Kari kneeled beside the cat, dipping her hands into the stream and drinking in huge cold gulps of the fresh mountain water. It was not until she finally quenched her thirst that the presence of fish caught her eyes. She stared at them longingly, huge, silver racers swimming past at increasing speeds. One would be enough for a few days but how to catch one? Fishing had never been a skill she was taught by anyone though the basic principle seemed easy enough. A net of some kind? Perhaps a cage?
She sat there, knees cooling in the snow beneath her, thinking harder than she thought possible on the subject of catching fish. Twigs, that strange plant she saw before as makeshift string and some patience was what she needed. Collecting the items, she sat once more beside the stream and began constructing a crude cage as her snow leopard friend carried on her patrol catching several hares further on. The first cage had scattered apart the moment a fish had confusedly swam inside, the second lasted a little longer but too snapped open as soon as she tried to lift it with the added weight. In the end, Kari had to remove the threads braided into her hair so lovingly, though it pained her to do so, to reinforce the third structure but the sacrifice had paid off when she finally caught a fish only to scream terrified at the huge slimy creature now flopping on the bank desperately trying to get back to water.
It slipped passed her cowering form, back into the stream much to her dismay and mutual relief before swimming away happily. How was she supposed to eat a fish that was still alive? Could she actually kill it? It was a horrid thought, murdering some poor innocent creature just so she could eat it. Now was not a good time to become a vegetarian however, her stomach was growling impatient for feeding and fish was all she had.
"Ok… I can do this." Kari straightened her back, enthusing some confidence into her posture and mind alike.
She tried again, fish out of water, flopping, diving to catch it on the ground only to miss and hear the 'plop' of failure as it rejoined its fellows in the stream. Again, she tried her luck; fish out of water, flopping, throw a rock at it and miss to hear the 'plop' of failure. Three times, four times, five times growing increasingly frustrated and growling with annoyance at every 'plop' of escaping fish. She tried sitting on the sixth one but then squealed at the wet, wriggling nature of the creature below her and rolled out of its freedom seeking way.
As she pulled the twelfth fish from the water, she was reasonably furious enough to grab it by the tail and hit it as hard as she could against a tree trunk. It stopped moving; she dropped it and stared at the death caused by her hands. Tears were welling up, hands covering her mouth from the shock of seeing the large lifeless eyes staring up at her but she was hungry, starving even. It was all right to kill if it was for survival, right? You could kill someone who was attacking you to survive but that thought brought her little comfort as the roles in her current scenario were very much reversed.
A noise broke her from her reverie, a booming applause of huge hands clapping behind her followed by laughing cheers. Her spine grew suddenly icy, hairs rising on the back of her neck as she pivoted on the spot to stare at the gigantic blue figures sitting across the other side of the stream. So caught up in fishing mischief, Kari had not noticed the pair of Jotun's sat on a fallen tree trunk and enjoying the show she entertained them with. She paled under their gazes, stood still as a statue as if this might make her invisible but it did not.