It's Snowing in Reine Again
Once, when she was a younger calf, Arizona took a particularly nasty fall down a small cliff. She had been playing whilst her herd traveled north and just got a bit too close without realizing. Almost as soon as she came to a stop at the bottom, she sprang to her hooves and charged back up the hill to her father.
Or she would have, if she hadn’t taken three steps and collapsed into a sobbing heap.
She would later learn that she had broken a leg during the tumble. The pain was unbearable and Arizona had to be carried for months, at the end of which she went right back to rough-housing like nothing had happened.
The way she figured, there weren’t many things more painful than breaking a bone. She could handle that, so she could handle anything.
Arizona never doubted that childlike feeling of invincibility until the exact moment one hundred pounds of solid ice slammed into her chest. As her battered and frostbitten body slid down the snowy street, she desperately gasped for air to replace what had been knocked out of her lungs.
“Pahahaha, you call yourself ze champion of ze prairie and you cannot even dodge zat?” Velvet’s pretentious laughter echoed off the buildings and walls around them, its overpowering presence a perfect fit for the raw talent the young reindeer possessed. For a few brief seconds in her panicked mind, Arizona thought that Velvet was speaking through the scattered ice shards themselves.
Arizona was no stranger to fighting. She loved the feeling of getting lost in the exchange of blows, letting the adrenaline flood her body and running on instinct. No time to think, no time to be afraid. The fight is over when Arizona comes out on top.
So when she struggled to get her hooves beneath her, she knew she had lost.
Because Velvet terrified her.
“Stop…” Arizona crumpled back to the cold stones when she heard the sharp cracking noise of the ice spikes Velvet was able to conjure. “Stop… st–” a poorly timed coughing fit forced its way out of her throat.
“Stop!” she shouted. She rolled onto her back and held her forelegs out to the sides, trying to show Velvet that she was past retaliating.
And it seemed to work.
Arizona laid there, eyes closed, accepting of whatever further pain would be delivered upon her. But none came. In fact, the sounds of the raging ice cyclone that Velvet had wrapped herself in began to die down.
Hoofsteps. Then –
“Zat is it?”
“Eeyup,” Arizona croaked.
“… You are veak. It’s a vonder ze cows of ze prairie have not been eaten by predators yet if you are ze champion zey chose.”
Arizona didn’t have the energy to respond. She was too busy focusing on not showing Velvet how much pain she was in.
At some point, it started snowing again.
Arizona made it to Reine barely a day ago and it had already snowed three separate times by her count.
Not that she was complaining. It helped to soothe the burning of her muscles and wounds. Arizona wasn’t sure how much time had passed since Velvet left her broken in the middle of the city. She wasn’t sure if she really cared.
Under normal circumstances, she might have been worried about giving Reine citizens a bad impression of cattlekind by remaining splayed in the street.
But now? They could say what they want about her or her people. Arizona was beyond caring.
She winced as a snowflake came to a rest at the base of her neck. That ice that was chucked at her hit its mark hard. Arizona thought she had heard a crack when it connected, but that might just be her memory getting blurred.
When she put weight on her broken leg as a calf, there had definitely been a crack. Loud as the prairie crickets at night. Although Arizona didn’t like to admit it, that sound was haunting enough to stick with her through the years.
She wondered suddenly if another one of her bones had been broken. That would explain the overwhelming amounts of pain.
Next, she wondered how long it would have to snow before she was buried beneath the frosty flakes. She certainly wasn’t planning on moving any time soon. Maybe if she was lucky, it would numb her body to the point where it no longer hurt to move.
The distinct clack of reindeer hooves approached from in front of her. As they made their way around the tired calf, Arizona caught a snippet of mumbled speech.
“… filthy cow…”
Glad I left the prairie ’fer this.
“Are ye alright, miss?”
The familiar-yet-foreign accent of the speaker caused Arizona to open her eyes in shock.
It was the sheep girl she met yesterday.
“…Yeah, I’m fine. ’Ya find ’yer dogs?”
Four bundles of puppy swarmed around the lamb’s spindly legs, entirely occupied by chasing one another. It was almost hypnotic how they weaved in and out from under her without knocking the girl to the ground.
“Aah, yes. This is Woof, Ruff, Tuft, and Puff.” The lamb frowned. “If they’d sit still, I could show ye which is which.”
“Don’t worry ’yerself ’bout it. By the way, I never caught ’yer name yesterday.”
“Aah, really? Sorry. Me name’s Pom.”
“Nice to meet ’ya, Pom. I’m Arizona.” She took a deep breath and pushed the rising pain to the back of her mind. “I’d get up ’ta shake yer hoof, but I’m a bit busy.”
“Are ye sure ye don’t need help?”
“Psshaw, I’ve dealt with worse,” Arizona assured her. “Jus’ a couple ’a bumps an’ bruises.”
Pom squinted. “That doesn’t… sound true. How did ye get like this?”
“Got into a scrap with that prissy Velvet doe. Tundra Champ’een.”
Pom gasped sharply and one of her dogs stopped to growl. “She did this to ye? Why would she do that?”
“We got into a bit of an argument in the –” Arizona paused to think. “Actually, I don’t think we did. She challenged me to a fight after I told her I was champ’een of the prairie an’ I didn’t question it. Startin’ to wish I did.”
“Is… is that… are the champions supposed tae fight each other?” Arizona could have sworn she heard Pom whimper like a pup.
“I don’t rightly know. I guess only one ’a us can carry the Key, and it’d make sense ’fer the strongest ’a us ’ta do it. ’Sides, it’s good practice for fightin’ them predators, so why wouldn’t we?”
“Aah.” Pom’s face rested somewhere between sadness and terror. “I don’t like thinking about that.”
“Well, no need ’ta. Don’t ’ya worry ’yer head ’bout them predators none, Pom. Me an’ the other champ’eens will take care of ’em.” Arizona tried to offer a reassuring smile. Pom seemed like a nice gal, and Arizona didn’t want heap more stress onto the problems she already had with her dogs.
“But I’m also…” the lamb got quieter with every word until Arizona couldn’t make out what she was saying.
“Pardon? Didn’t catch that.”
“I said I’m also one o…”
“Not ’ta be mean but ’ya really gotta speak up, Pom.”
The sheepish lass puffed out her cheeks. Almost as if sensing her distress, her dogs stopped their dashing around and pressed themselves up against her fetlocks. The one who growled earlier now gave a soft bark.
“I’m the champion o the Meadow!” she bleated out.
Oh.
“’Yer the strongest of the sheepfolk?”
“N-no. That’s not how Baaah chose its champion.” In an instant, Pom’s confidence evaporated and she once again looked like she wanted to retreat into her wool.
“Ah.” Arizona didn’t know how to respond to that. Technically, cattlekind hadn’t chosen their champion strictly by who was strongest either, but Arizona at least volunteered for the honor. From the way Pom sounded, that wasn’t the case for her. “‘Yer not happy ’bout being chosen?”
“Not at all,” Pom sighed. “Do ye mind if I sit with ye?”
“Uh, yeah, sure. I don’t mind none.” Arizona awkwardly pulled her front limbs back to her chest. Slowly, of course.
Pom shooed the pups out from under her and folded her long limbs as she lowered herself to the cold ground. She sat close enough that Arizona could feel the lamb’s thin layer of wool brush against her own coat. The pups quickly found positions around Pom and settled down. Arizona could even feel one trying to worm its way between the two ungulates. Tracking down the warmest spot, no doubt.
“I don’t wannae fight,” Pom whispered. “I don’t wannae fight the predators, even though I know I ’ave tae, and I really don’t wannae fight the other champions.”
“I s’pose you could try surrenderin’ if any of ’em challenge ’ya,” Arizona suggested.
“Do ye really think that would work?”
“Prob’ly not against Velvet.”
“Aah…”
The two sat there in silence, watching the snow drift gently down. Reindeer continued to pass by them, sometimes giving the foreigners an extra wide berth. One of Pom’s dogs was scrabbling its paws against the street, struggling to get comfortable. If not for the cold sting of the winter winds and weather, it would have been like the two were ghosts.
Completely invisible to the world.
“No one cares,” Pom stated.
“How’d ’ya figure that?”
“So many o us are willing tae sit back and let others do things for ’em. But when the time comes to give something of yourself, they’re all too afraid. Afraid o truly caring, like their own feelings will rear up and nip their heels. So they avoid caring, by forcing others tae care more. By creatin’ champions.
“I was named champion because I spoke up. That’s it. Because when the time came tae do our part, I cared. I was the only damn one, and here I am. The sheeple of Baaah went back to their lives and I was sent tae deal with the problem that threatens all o us. Alone.
“Look around.” Arizona followed her gaze to the groups of reindeer congregating along the street. “How many o them do you think actually care about what’s happening outside Reine’s walls? About those o us who are dyin’ to the predators? How many of them are content tae push those worries ontae Velvet and consider it not their problem?”
Pom turned to lock eyes with Arizona. “What about ye? I don’t see any other cows around. And yer here lying in the middle o the street, not a single soul offering help.”
“Hey now, Pop cares!” Arizona tried to sit up, but the sudden movement caused a sharp, shooting sensation through her chest. “Ugh. Pop cares about the predators, a lot ’a us do! Just because they ain’t here don’t mean they’re pushin’ their problems onto me or nothin’.”
“Then why are ye the only one responding to the summons? Certainly we would be stronger with numbers.” Pom shook her head. “When I say they don’t care, I don’t mean that they’re willingly burdening us. I mean that they don’t know it’s a burden. This is the way we live, all o us. But when yer on the other side of it, when yer the one fighting for the future of those who don’t care, well…
“It makes me want tae fail.”
“What? You can’t be serious!” The mere idea of giving in to the predators caused Arizona to feel borderline offended.
Pom just giggled. “I’m not going tae. I couldn’t, because like I said – I care. But the urge is still there, just below the surface.” She idly dragged her hoof through the snow, carving patterns into the powder. “I can’t give up, just like ye can’t give up. And I’m sure Velvet feels the same way for her own reasons.
“In a way, the summons from the Council worked perfectly. It found the ones who cared the most, whether that be for others or ourselves. In the end, it won’t just be fighting skill that ends this war with the predators. It’ll be our conviction. Our determination tae keep living.”
Pom’s words swam around Arizona’s head and for the first time, the hot ache in her chest felt dulled. “That’s… pretty deep, Pom.”
Pom simply shook her head again. “I wish it wasn’t.”
