The sun blazed high above the mountains, casting light that glanced against the ice crystal and creating spectacular rainbows and colors all around the world of Spirane. The wind echoed through the peaks in gusts and bursts as well as softer whispers. It all come together in a visual and audio melody that sang to Baird’s senses. It was a tune he came to know well and appreciate above many. It was the sound of change and the shifting of seasons. Standing on a cliff face, he looked down at the realm he called his home. He knew he was on the brink of his own change. The season before he would be considered a ‘man’. Baird smiled to himself. Perhaps now was the time to accept his final challenge. He leapt from his vantage point and immediately slipped on the thick ice below it. Paws scrambled and scraped in every direction, the young man only just able to right himself before his face hit the ground. The time had come, but conditions were less than ideal.

Baird padded the iced trails. Neither was he large nor small and the task was surprisingly bothersome, his paws sinking through at inopportune moments. All the better for a spar, a training. If anything would help him learn it was this. He passed an iced over den he had tried to start digging out seasons ago. Nearly years ago. His nose twitched at it and he chuckled to himself. One duty had been forsaken for another. During the ice storms he had shouldered through the trails, trying to keep abreast with the changes to the terrain. It had been challenging and time consuming. Rounds that would have taken minutes took hours and he was thankful Spirane had not spread beyond its current borders. He did not want to imagine the lack of sleep he would suffer if he had to walk even another square mile.

Pushing the what-ifs from his mind he continued deeper into the territory, into the places he knew Sleekwing tended to reside. The land was a little more flat here with the jagged cliffs behind him. However, the ice was still inconsistently thick here and Baird was even standing at an awkward angle, his left forepaw having broken through a thin layer. Mildly concerned about how this was going to work out, the young warrior raised his lyrical tones to call for his teacher. He was eager to learn, knowing this play would really be a test and the lessons had to sink in deep.