Open The Avalanche

[Sayani]

When she arrived at what was supposed to be the entrance, Sayani stopped, surprised at the sigh in front of her. The tunnel was filled with snow, completely covering up the entrance. It was cold, much colder than the normal, and the Symenestra became worried. If the snow wasn't cleaned, their connection with the outside would be lost, and this couldn't be a good thing.

Sayani looked at the other four that were already there. A Zith, one she hadn't seen before, and three Symenestra. The only man there seemed to be talking with the Zith, but Sayani had arrived too late to hear their exchange. She didn't know what the Zith was trying to do, clawing at the snow like that, but Sayani wasn't sure that was a smart move. If she destabilized it, the snow might get even more deeper into the tunnel.

However, the arrival of other two Symenestra, asking if somebody was missing, took her out of her thoughts, and she focused on the Zith once more. The guard was supposed to be in the Woven Gate, like always, but now, he was nowhere to be seen. If the avalanche had gotten him by surprise, chances were that he had been buried by snow. Was the Zith trying to save him, then? Sayani approached her, kneeling on her side. She spoke in common, slowly, trying to enunciate the words right.

"Are you trying to save someone?" if the Zith was, then she would help her. It would be better if the tunnel became full of snow than if they just let someone die. It was not like Kalinor had many lives to spare.

[Viridae Kabre]

Viridae glanced over the Zith's shoulder at the slender Symenestra that just arrived. She had a sort of edge in her voice, the same edge he had heard in his brother, of independence and life experience, and shared a similar eye color to that of his web. He tilted his head to the side and raised a brow before realizing he was starring, and looked back to the Zith.

Seivis on the other hand was growing anxious, much the opposite of her calm and calculating brother. She paced back and forth frantically, not quite sure what she should be doing to help the situation. She turned to Synntina and drew her arms across her chest, as the cold cut through her thin silken dress.

"What are we to do? This is far too much to be moved anytime soon. We are trapped, Krova!"

[Purge]

Purge continued to dig, slowly and steadily. She worked not in a frenzy, but in a steady manner barely acknowledging the growing amount of long-limbs that were turning up. The first inquired in common what she was doing, she ignored him for the moment. It wasn't until there was a small crowd and she was asked a second time that she raised her hand palm out.

Her ears might have even looked like they twitched, they felt like they did so hard was she straining. Her wings flared out lightly, just to keep a circle of distance around herself. Standing, she turned to the mostly taller beings, her eyes of pitch black and stoic. Her silky black fur that covered her body was all that adorned her but she didn't even shiver. She pointed to her ears, then in common that was less then perfect though in her voice it was melodious even if the words did not flow quite well. "Ears. Hear hearts. Someone...something. Alive down there." She raised her hands. palms upward, "Not long though. Cold make heart slow."

She turns once more and squats, still half tempted to just sit and listen to count the ticks it took for them to either suffocate, or freeze to death. But no, she sighed and began to dig again. "If you want idea better then this then tell me. Otherwise they die or we dig."

[Sayani]

The black furred Zith asked her to wait, at least that was what Sayani could make out of her raised hand. The Symenestra watched as the other seemed to think, or listen to something. Sayani had too little understanding of Zith to actually know what she was doing.

Her attention turned to the male Symenestra that had arrived at the scene before her. She noticed he was watching her, and glared back. Sayani hated to be stared at, and she would keep glaring if his sister started to talk. The woman wasn't talking to her, but Sayani really wasn't in the mood to deal with a panic attack, and the Symenestra seemed dangerously closed to one.

It was then that the Zith spoke, in a somewhat broken common, but it was easy to understand. So she really was trying to save someone. Sayani turned to the mount of snow once again.

"As long as I'm concerned" she spoke in Symenos, answering the anxious girl's question, although it hadn't been aimed for her. "I'm helping her save whomever is buried here. Then I suggest we work to remove the snow. We have an underground lake and we have the Gatherer's Respite. We can survive long enough until we clear the path." Sayani hoped so, at least, but that last bit she didn't need to vocalize.

"Let me help you." she said, slowly in common again, before she began to dig, the cold snow making her fingers numb. "Easier if we had a shovel or some tool like that." Sayani looked back at the Ochya men, silently questioning them.

[Synntina Novul]

Synntina watched as another Symenestra woman showed up, walking forward toward the Zith female. She looked back toward the snowed in tunnel, still a bit in shock although it did not show. Her faced seemed almost completely emotionless aside from her golden eyes which were squinted slightly, as if she was trying to make sense of this whole ordeal. The girl behind them all seemed to be pacing back and fourth, rather anxiously. As if she was about to break down into tears. Synntina frowned, and then the girl turned toward her, asking her what they were to do.

Synntina turned her intense golden eyes toward the girl, realizing now that she recognized her face but not her name. She was a dancer. She had seen the girl when she was practicing. Synntina replied to the worry some girl with a voice as calm as the snow seemed to be,

"True the snow will take time, but it is not impossible. We are safe in the city. Be calm Enda."

Her tone was straight to the point and ended sharply. As most of her sentences did. Her attention turned toward the Zith as it rose, turning toward the rest of them. Synntina spoke common well enough, so she understood the black furred creature easily enough. 'So one of the Ochya was trapped under all the ice. He wouldn't have much time left at all..' She thought to herself, looking from the dancer Symenestra to the rest of them before talking a few steps forward, on the opposite side of the Symenestra male and fell onto her knees into the harsh, cold snow. Taking her long black claws, she began to pull the snow away, trying to follow the Zith's lead. She glanced up in the darkness at the snow, praying for it to stay stable while they worked to try and save the guard from dying.

[Poison]

As Seivis asked where the guards that were usually posted at the Woven Gate were, the Ochya’s eyes widened. „By the gods!“ the first of the pair, a young woman with silver hair and red eyes whispered in shock. „By Viratas! Maybe they are in there!“ She pointed at the mass of snow in front of the Woven Gate. „Quickly!“ her colleague, a man with black hair and purple eyes exclaimed. „Help! Use your hands to dig! If the guards are trapped under the snow, every chime counts! Somebody also needs to get shovels so that we can dig more quickly! I want to find them alive!“

The man knelt down and started to move snow away with his bare hands which unfortunately didn’t help much. The woman on the other hand had noticed what the Zith was doing and heard the question that Sayani had asked. With bated breath she awaited the Zith’s answer. „You can hear a heartbeat? How?“ she asked, surprised before she turned to the Symenestra that were gathered around the gate and exclaimed, „Quickly, come here! I don’t know how, but this Zith found somebody under the snow! Dig as quickly as you can!“

Her colleague immediately rushed to where Purge was standing and started digging in the right place, hoping that the others would follow his example. They didn’t have a lot of time left. If they were lucky, the guards had an air pocket, but if they didn’t have one, they would only have a few moments before brain damage would occur.

„Somebody get a shovel!“ the female Ochya screamed again before she too started digging frantically.