“Did you wear double underneath?”

My mom asked while she wrapped a red scarf and made me wear a wooly hat with earflaps.

“Yes.”

I answered wearing the sleeves of my bright blue leather coat. The inside was warm and wooly, and attached is a hood fashioned with a pair of white wooly wolf ears. It also had white fur lining around the neck to keep me warm even without the hood.

“Oh my, my son is so adorable!”

Mom gave me a tight squeeze and handed me a pair of leather gloves.

“Now, even though it’s the end of winter, we still have almost half a month before spring. So it will still be very cold and there will still be an even colder breeze when we ride with Skoll and Hati.”

She pulled up the folded collar and fastened it to a button to keep it up.

“I need you to keep the collars up and your hood on at all times so you won’t get too cold. Wear your gloves, and keep everything inside the sled.”

Gesturing to hug my body and keep them inside the sled, she warned me of possible accidents along the way.

“Well, I added guard rails on the edges so you won’t have to worry about falling off and there’s a front guard as well, but you still need to keep your hands and feet inside, okay?”

I nodded in response, feeling a bit stuffy with the warm coat.

“Hey, hey, hey, do you understand what I’m telling you?”

Seeing my attention wasn’t focused on what she’s saying, mom held my face to check if I really understood.

I pulled on the collar for a bit so I can answer.

“Yes mom, I understand. I need to keep my hands and feet inside the sled and, and, keep myself warm with my coat so I won’t feel cold.”

Satisfied with my answer, mom smiled sweetly.

“Yes, good job! Also, don’t forget to tell me if you feel fatigued or cold. We will take breaks but you still have to tell me if you feel that there’s something wrong with your body, okay?”

I answered and nodded.

“Yes.”

“Good, good. Now, for you two.”

The two wolves came close with a furious wag of their tails.

She made them wear a leather collar with scarves fastened onto them. Skoll wore a yellow scarf that paired well with his eyes and a blue on for Hati that had yarn balls at the end.

What does mom call it again? Hmmm… “poms” was it? I have some on my ear flaps as well.

“There, now for the harness.”

She took the harness that was hanging by the front door and fastened them to Skoll and Hati.

Hati shook her body elegantly as compared to the mighty shake Skoll did, spraying saliva everywhere.

“Skoll! Argh…”

Mom wiped her face and mine with a handkerchief from her pockets while Hati resigned herself to the jolly Skoll’s antics.

We all went outside where the sled mom prepared was. Mom’s coat was colored black and reached up to her knees. It was longer compared to mine that’s only up to my thighs.

She lifted me up to sit on the sled and covered my legs with a blanket. Then she fastened me to the sled with a leather strap so I won’t fall off. The sled was very wide even with our luggage.

Skoll and Hati were now fastened on the sled as well.

Fwiiip!

Mom whistled loudly and the two wolves started to slowly navigate through the woods while mom helped push the sled out of the uneven forest.

Soon, we reached a clearing and beside it was a wide road covered in muddy snow. The cloudy weather paired well with the muddy snow.

“Lex, are you ready? Hold on.”

Climbing behind the sled as it moved, she held on the sides and stood high. She lets out another whistle, this time it was longer.

Fwiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiip!

Skoll and Hati started to move faster, slowly picking up the pace as we ran through the muddy hardened snow.

Wisps of warm air regularly came out from Skoll and Hati while I enjoyed the speed were in.

Cold air brushed past pricking my skin. I raised my collar and hid my face.

This continued for an hour or two then mom whistled twice when we reached an empty plain of snow.

Fwiip! Fwiip!

The wolves lost momentum and slowly came to a full stop.

“We’ll rest here, come.”

Mom got down from the sled and led the two wolves to the plains and called upon fire magic to melt part of the snowy plain.

A ball of fire twirled and swirled around while a patch of snow melted with the heat it produces.

Satisfied, mom took off the cloth covering our luggage and we sat with the sled covering us from the road.

“Let’s have some warm soup and continue on after a while.”

She let me down and started to cook some soup.

I gazed over the plains and from afar, I could see a tall structure atop a large hill.

“That’s the city we're going to. It’s called Mimok the border city of Plaune, the country we’re in.”

We rested for a while and mom told me a couple of things about Mimok. She said that she frequented this city often and lived there for a couple of months just to learn a bit about their culture.

A city…

I tugged my earflaps to hide my white hair while I tried to stop myself from fear of what’s to come.