◊ let it water a parched throat with warm summer rain ◊
Now that made more sense! Snapdragon nodded. It had assumed— and rightly so, evidently— that the altitude and season would make exploring those mountains a miserable task. It was a chore better saved for spring, or even summer. Certain herbs could likely be found there, but Snapdragon was not so desperately in need as to endure the aching of half-frozen wings.
Reed: Snapdragon would remember the name. It was a big world, yet sometimes felt very small. Should Snapdragon encounter Reed in the future, it would have to remember to offer some trifle or favor or somesuch. "I'm glad," it told Larkspur. "Both of us being pups again would be too much." It tried for the joke, even as it thought that perhaps it was not very funny.
Fortunately, it had a distraction ready at paw. Without further ado, Snapdragon ducked down, and pushed its nose into the cold mud of the riverbank. Dark-brown forepaws became roots, pale head and neck became a pale stem, and buzzing semitransparent wings turned opaque and still. Snapdragon-as-a-flower looked like a giant trumpet flower, instead of the snapdragon one might expect. Hanging heavily from the white stem, the brown body of the flower turned brilliant green and gold at the petal-tips.
Soft mud was a poor place to root in, though. In a moment, the flower fell over. Snapdragon emerged from the flower-shape tail-first, hindlegs kicking as the flower withered back into a wolf-shape. A significantly more muddy wolf-shape, shivering from the cold.
Reed: Snapdragon would remember the name. It was a big world, yet sometimes felt very small. Should Snapdragon encounter Reed in the future, it would have to remember to offer some trifle or favor or somesuch. "I'm glad," it told Larkspur. "Both of us being pups again would be too much." It tried for the joke, even as it thought that perhaps it was not very funny.
Fortunately, it had a distraction ready at paw. Without further ado, Snapdragon ducked down, and pushed its nose into the cold mud of the riverbank. Dark-brown forepaws became roots, pale head and neck became a pale stem, and buzzing semitransparent wings turned opaque and still. Snapdragon-as-a-flower looked like a giant trumpet flower, instead of the snapdragon one might expect. Hanging heavily from the white stem, the brown body of the flower turned brilliant green and gold at the petal-tips.
Soft mud was a poor place to root in, though. In a moment, the flower fell over. Snapdragon emerged from the flower-shape tail-first, hindlegs kicking as the flower withered back into a wolf-shape. A significantly more muddy wolf-shape, shivering from the cold.