A smear of charcoal upon snowdrift stirred with ire; a boyish voice tinged with irate that made the weeping son startle and flounder. Limbs far too lanky to control, Llew collapses onto his hind, his ears pinned against his dusted skull. His lips quivered, his nose running endlessly alongside his tears.

A lump of snow shifted to reveal a boy as dark as flint, glaring at him with eyes full of malice. His breaths hitched and hiccuped on a dime, his tail curling around his leg to offer a shred of comfort he should be receiving from his mother. But she doesn't round the snowy horizon to rescue him, and this boy is barking that there are no mothers here.

His fragile heart dropped to his stomach. Did that mean this boy was alone, too? Where had their mothers gone?

W-What? Where is your Ma? He wept behind a paw that'd come to wipe away his tears and mucus. Panic still sat heavy within his bird-like chest, swelling and consuming. And alongside it was fear.

Where are we?