[Indigo]

Winter had struck. It was cold down here, and damp, too. Half-frozen water dripped down the walls and from the ceiling, and the floor was so cold it penetrated the thickest fur. Many pets would be miserable in here.

Kartossa K'laing spun around joyously, angling her wings so she wouldn't hit the walls. It was so wondrously, beautifully, gloriously cold! Thin ice crystals formed a mist behind her, trailing from her tail, tracing her flight. A drop of water from the ceiling hit her between the eyes. She squealed and shivered with excitement. Ah, the wonderful chill of winter!

Her thoughts turned to the Akail. That was why Nyx had sent her here, for an Akail, after all. What was an Akail, anyway? What if she didn't recognize it? The thought interrupted her celebratory flight. She landed and sat on the floor of the cave. The trail of ice crystals clattered to the floor and evaporated. If only there were some spirits here to help her!

You're not alone.

Kartossa jumped. Who had said that? "H-hello?" she called nervously.

I am a spirit, little one. One of your ancestors. The wavering shadow of a Kitrell shimmered into being.

"What do you want of me?" Kartossa asked boldly.

I am simply here to inform you that someone is coming to help you. Goodbye, little one. The shape trembled and faded.

"No, wait! Don't go!" Kartossa cried, but the spirit was already gone. With a heavy sigh, she curled up to wait for the someone, watching her aura turn blue.

[DragonHenge]

Paws pressed silently against the cold frost of the earth. The cat-like creature leisurely prowled the cave, never having been here before, she was a bit on the anxious side. Stopping, she sniffed at the cold air, exhaling mist that hung in the air around her face. Suddenly stopping, the Glacial Slynx looked over her shoulder, the little creature following her still bounded along behind her. "Come now, Yuki." the Slynx said hurriedly, "You don't want to get lost now, do you?"

"That may be fun!" the Snowball replied, jumping up onto her hind legs before hopping about, her paws catching a slick part of the cavern floor, letting her fall gently onto her back and slide underneath the Slynx, who looked at her disapprovingly. "Please don't get yourself hurt, I don't know what I would do with myself." she insisted, helping the little creature up onto all four of her paws. "Your such a worry wart, Hiku." Yuki said, poking her with one of her paws, "In fact, I can take care of myself and....." The Slynx had stopped the little Snowball from going anywhere, her eyes wide, ears perking to listen to her surroundings. "What's wrong?" Yuki asked, looking around, trying to strain her ears to hear what Hiku heard. "Shhh, there's someone else in here." Hiku whispered, motioning for Yuki to stay put as she crouched down low, stalking around the, trying to find this other creature who shared the cave with them.

[Indigo]

Kartossa jumped to her feet, pinwheeling her wings to keep her balance, and leaped into the air. Hovering in place, she looked around the cave. She'd heard voices.

Voices sounded different to Kartossa than they did to other pets. Her ears picked up the intention, appearance, and even a trace of the aura of the speaker. The first voice was yellow and came from a Glacial catlike creature, and the worry in it was like soft snow, cushioning the other's. The second voice was green, excited and carefree, from something small, and sounded more like ice cubes clicking together.

"Hello?" Kartossa called again, looking for the creatures she had heard. Finally, she saw a Glacial Synx and a Snowball stalking around the cave. The Slynx's aura was yellow, the Snowball's green, but shot through with yellow. "Are you the someones that I'm supposed to meet? Do you know what an Akail is?"

[Carlie]

Two creatures were walking through the snow. The smaller of the two was a Myuu Reaper. The other was a Palowokee who looked incredibly cheerful. "Aur, come onnn!"  The Myuu whined to her companion, Aurora the 'wokee. "We've been here like forever. Let's go home!" Aurora rolled her eyes and laughed. "Chill, Cassie. It's so nice out! We can't leave yet." Cassie sighed. "Fine. But we're not staying long." Cassie shook her head as a few snowflakes landed on her. Aurora just kept walking. Well...more like skipping. As they walked, she began to sing like she often did. "Well I'm not paralyzed but I seem to be struck by you. I wanna make you move because you're standing still." "Aurora? Must you?" Cassie raised an eyebrow. Aurora nodded happily. "Yep." They continued walking, nearing a cave. "Wanna go in there?" Aurora asked. Cassie shrugged. "Okay, whatever." The two of them walked in.

[DragonHenge]

"Oh!" Hiku yelped, startled at the sudden call from the other creature, looking up, she noticed the Kitrell, I wasn't expecting for you to be so close already." The Slynx watched the kitrell fly for a moment before snapping out of her amazement at the creature. "I'm sorry, I'm Hiku and this is Yuki." she replied with a small dip of her head, "An Akail....I have heard of them, but I've never actually seen one, but I...I mean, we can help you look for one." A small smile spread across her face as she turned back to motioned for Yuki to come say 'hello'.

"Cool! I wish I could fly. What's it like?" Yuki asked, bounding threw the snow until she reached her friend and the Kitrell. She ran circles under the hovering creature before getting dizzy and falling over. "Be careful, Yuki." Hiku whispered, again, helping the little Snowball to her paws. Hiku's head snapped around, her whole body tensing as she moved protectively around Yuki. "Others are coming." she mouthed as she tried to keep Yuki under control, not wanting her to run off and get herself hurt.

[Indigo]

Kartossa didn't even notice the approaching pets. "Flying? It's like..." She closed her eyes and tried to recapture the thrill of zooming through the clouds over the ocean. How difficult to explain the feeling of flight to a non-flier. "...like...well, it's hard to explain. Imagine the freest feeling on earth, like you can go on forever and ever, until you become a part of the sky."

She opened her eyes and looked around. "I'm Kartossa K'laing, but you can call me Kartossa. I'd love some help looking for an Akail. What others?" she asked, suddenly noticing changes in the air currents.

More companions to help you on your search, little one. The voice of the spirit bounced around the cave and faded.

"Oh, I see," she said, rather loudly. She often forgot that others couldn't hear the spirits.

[Carlie]

"I hear some people." Cassie said when she heard them talking. Aurora listened a bit closer and heard it as well. "Yeah, I hear 'em...let's go say hi!" She grinned. Cassie rolled her eyes and smirked. "If we must." The two of them walked farther into the cave. "Hello hello hello?" Aurora called out. She looked proud. "What is it with you and song references?" Cassie laughed. Aurora shrugged.

((If you don't know, that's from How Far We've Come by Matchbox 20. You can hear it in the beginning of the song if it's loud enough. :3))

[DragonHenge]

"Oh...hello there." Hiku replied, her head tilting to the side as she watched these weird creatures walk in, one seemed extremely energetic, "We're helping Kartossa, here, try to find an Akail." She replied, pointing out the Kitrell, who they were helping out. "Yep, I can't wait to find one." Yuki stated, pushing herself around the Slynx, who made a grab at the Snowball, but missed, "Why are you here?"  Hiku sighed, her eyes rolling as she placed a paw over Yuki's mouth. "I'm sorry, my friend has no manners. I'm Hiku and this is Yuki." the Glacial Slynx said, pointing out Yuki when she said her name. However, Yuki scowled as she pulled away from Hiku's paw, not liking being shushed by her friend.

[Carlie]

"Hi." Aurora grinned once she had gone into the cave far enough to see the others. "I'm Aurora, that's Cassie." She nodded towards Cassie as she introduced her. Cassie smiled. "Hey. We're here becuase Aur loves the snow. So she pretty much dragged me here." Cassie laughed.

[Indigo]

Kartossa laughed. "Well, it's nice to meet you, but I think we'd better get going if we ever want to find an Akail." She looked around the cave and noticed two tunnels at the back. One seemed perfectly rounded, the other with a level floor. The round one seemed slippery when she looked at it. She wondered which tunnel to take.

Spirits, can you help me? she called out mentally.

The stone above the round tunnel liquified, then reformed into the shape of a Y. It disappeared as soon as Kartossa saw it. "Let's go that way," she said, pointing her tail at the round tunnel, which sent a spray of ice crystals across the floor.

(Dag slow library computers. I can't see what I'm typing.)

[DragonHenge]

Yuki bounded after Kartossa, stopping when the Kitrell did, looking down the cave. "Cool, it looks like a giant slide!" the Snowball exclaimed, testing the slippery looking floor with one of her paws. "Please, Yuki, be careful. I don't want you to get hurt. Stay back over here with me, we'll go together." Hiku insisted, running over to meet the little creature, who grumbled something under her breathe, "Are you sure this way is safe, Kartossa?" Yuki nodded, before bounding off into the tunnel, a scream of enjoyment leaving her mouth as the floor smoothed out underneath her and she slid a few feet. "Yay, that was great, let's do that again!" Yuki exclaimed, trying her best to bolted back up the tunnel, but the slick surface wouldn't allow the little creature to make her way back up alone. Hiku, however, had no problem going through the tunnel, her paws were made for this type of weather, she glared down at Yuki, who continued to smile happily back at all of them.

[Carlie]

"Akail?" Aurora questioned. "They're awesome! Mind if we go with you?" She was grinning. "What?" Cassie looked up at Aurora. "'Not staying long', remember?" "Aw, come on." Aurora begged. Cassie sighed. "Fine." Just great, we'll be here forever. Cassie thought. The cold was already beginning to get to her. Aurora seemed perfectly comfortable. "Yay!" She ran forward into one of the tunnels, sliding over to where the others were. Cassie stepped much more carefully.

[DragonHenge]

"Not at all, we would welcome your company." Hiku replied to Aurora's question as she tried to keep up with Yuki, who was now trying to lead the group, "Don't go too far, alright." Yuki nodded, before jogging a few steps ahead of the others, her little tail bobbing up and down with every little step she took. "Where should we start looking? The Ceiling, the floor, what do they like to do?" the little Snowball questioned, her face tilting up towards the darkened rocky roof above them.

[Indigo]

In three flaps, Kartossa was with them. "I really don't know much about Akail," she said. "But from what I've heard, I think that they're too big to climb walls or the ceiling, and I've heard they like dark places."

She remembered how the band geeks back home would argue about Akail. Constance had been for finding one for Nyx, but Haley had been worried that it would wreck the equipment, and Jasper and Trini had just sort of stood there watching.

"Akail," she whispered, savoring the sound of the word. She'd always loved words, ever since she was little. She even kept a list of her favorite words, whether she liked their sounds or their mreanings. Akail would definitely be going on there.

[Carlie]

Aurora grinned. "Thanks." Cassie gave a smile. "I don't even know what an Akail looks like." She gave a slight laugh. "They're those things that look like...um...nevermind." Aurora had seen a picture of an Akail but wasn't sure quite how to describe them. "They're pretty cool looking." She said instead. Cassie laughed at her friend.