Claret feels the storm coming before it hits, her skin a live-wire and her teeth on edge. She shifts uncomfortably, glancing around. She’s hovering at the edges of the larger herd, because her dad has been avoiding her. Claret isn’t entirely sure why, but it probably has something to do with the fact that mom is gone and the mare she was so angry about that she had to leave is still here. It’s really weird and awkward, the way he looks over at her and gets all sad and then looks away. Claret wants desperately for him to stop; she’s been clinging to Castillon a bit lately, because at least that gets her dad to stop worrying about where she is and gives her some space.

She’s been through storms in the Prairie before. It gets cold and dark and wet, but they always manage without any issues - a few crying children, maybe a few scares from the lightning. Once when she was little, she remembers a fire that her mom calmly ushered her away from. This is different - it hits almost without warning; just slightly darkened clouds, and then the rain comes hard and heavy. Frozen shards of ice swiftly follow, little daggers digging into her skin. And then they grow and grow and grow, and suddenly ice the size of rocks begin to strike her. Claret cries out, eyes wide and white-rimmed in her panic. Where are the others? What about the children? There’s fewer than in the past, but she’s seen the newborns.

Castillon is the first one that she sees, and Claret lets out a little sob of relief. He’s rushing his way across the Prairie, clearly trying to find his own ever-growing family. “Cas,” she shouts, running to stand next to him. There isn’t much cover here, but all that Claret can think of is that little copse that their mother raised them in. “We have to – we have to get everyone out of here.” Because of the way she’s facing, she can see what her younger brother cannot - an ominous dark funnel of clouds. “No,” she breathes out, brown eyes wide with terror, nostrils flaring as her breaths come short and desperate. “Run,” she screams, glancing around for anyone still around.