Too Hot!

The normally soothing breeze blowing though the grasses of Mulgore today carried nothing but more of the oppressive heat. Even the grasses themselves seemed to wilt under the unrelenting summer sun. Gentlewind lay among those grasses next to the small creek near her village, her fur still wet from rolling in that same creek. It didn’t help. She wanted to fuss and whine but mother would tell her that whining accomplished nothing. Gentlewind knew from experience the only thing it accomplished was a scolding!

She had shed her brightly colored patchwork leathers before splashing around in the creek and as she looked over at her tunic didn’t look forward to putting them back on. With a heavy sigh she looked back at the creek and wondered if she should just lie in the water to keep cool. She scratched at an itchy spot and grimaced. Even her own fur was too hot!

She nibbled on her lip trying to think of something she could do to ease her discomfort. Nearby her rocketbot clanked listlessly. Even HE seemed overwhelmed by the heat! She scratched at her fur again as a bug skittered across her arm. She rolled over on her stomach to let breeze blow across her sweat-dampened back. Still the heat built up on her fur and the breeze gave little relief.

Already she had spent enough time in the creek to count for a month’s worth of baths. Her leathers lay scattered about and she couldn’t bring herself to even think of putting them back on. There must be something else she could do!

Her eyes landed on her skinning knife still slung on her belt lying in the grass nearby. Mother always said she should find her own solutions to her problems.

*******

Snowbreeze fanned herself as she stepped into the tent she shared with her mate, Redmane and their daughter, Gentlewind. She frowned seeing that her daughter was not here either. Redmane looked up with a warm smile before seeing the look of concern on her face.

“Is something the matter?” He asked his mate, standing from where he had been sprawled on a rug in the heat.

“I can’t find Gentlewind,” she said simply, looking around as if the child might suddenly appear in the tent.

Redmane shrugged. “Likely she is off playing. Surely with as much noise as she makes someone has seen her. We will go ask around.”

Snowbreeze shook her head and looked more worried. “No, nobody has seen her. I’ve already asked everyone. She’s been silent since this morning.”

Redmane checked the sun over Snowbreeze’s shoulder through the tent entry. So at least three hours their calf had not made a peep. He frowned and headed toward the exit. “I will find her. Perhaps she is at the creek. That has been a favorite spot.”

“She’s been too quiet too long,” Snowbreeze said as he passed. “Something is wrong or….”

He nodded. “It is the ‘or’ that concerns me.”

He left the tent and made his way to Gentlewind’s favorite spot by the creek. As he neared it he saw his daughter sprawled in the grass. Something didn’t look right and the clumps of white scattered about her puzzled him. In a panic he rushed over to his daughter to find the white clumps were fur and there were great patches of it missing all over her body. Pink skin glared at him from her young form.

“Gentlewind!” He knelt by his daughter and touched her face. She opened her eyes and just stared at him for a moment. When she raised her hand to wave at him the skinning knife was still in it. “What… what did you do?”

“I’m too hot, father!”

She felt Redmane’s presence moments before her mate laid his hand on her shoulder. “Is something wrong with Gentlewind?” He asked quietly.

Snowbreeze frowned. “I am unsure. She does not speak, hardly eats, she does not play. She doesn’t seem ill but she has been like this for three days.”

Redmane reached up and stroked the side of her muzzle. “I will speak with her. Perhaps she needs a bit of extra attention from her father.”

Snowbreeze smiled and laid her hand over his. “She has always responded better to you than to I.”

He kissed her palm lightly before strolling across the field where Gentlewind was. She barely looked up at him when he settled in the grass beside her, his dark red fur standing out against the golden sea. He looked around for a moment listening to the sounds of the small creatures in the grasses and the trickle of water in the small creek.

“It is quiet here,” he said. “Peaceful.”

Gentlewind’s nod was her only response.

Redmane frowned for a moment before reaching out to gently stroke his daughter’s mane. “You seem very deep in thought.”

She nodded again.

“So what has such an energetic youngling so deep in thought, hm?”

She sat there silent for several moments before finally leaning against his leg with a sigh. “I miss my sisters.”

Redmane sighed with her before scooping her up into his lap and cradling her close. “Ah, youngling. We all do.”

You don’t got a steam tonk controller!

I got a steam tonk controller and it’s all mine!