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Warm breath and a velvet muzzle tickling his brow - this had quickly become a universal sign of greeting to Reid from his parents. Mama took the undisputed pedestal in the boy's mind as the Parent, but Vidarr occupied his own, similarly important space in Reid's heart. His tail swished side to side fiercely at the contact, and the alarmed bristling of his thin coat smoothed now that one of his guardians was here to make everything right.

Vidarr said it was snow, the cold stuff falling down, the same stuff that lined the earth sometimes when they went Outside. Reid's oversized ears twitched as he considered this, sticking his face enthusiastically into the lawful of snow Vidarr presented to him.

A furious sneeze soon followed that seemed to stun Reid more than the cold, snowflakes drifting through the air and melting into translucency wherever they landed. Ok! He remarked, eager to match Vidarr's energy toward the snow and snowfall.

A pause, as he pawed the snow off his face and considered what Vidarr had said. Play ou'side? Reid asked, but Vidarr went on to speak of Mama.

The boy's now-hazel eyes gleamed. He stepped toward Vidarr as the giant leaned down, expression intrigued and intent. Mama. Reid replied in a stage-whisper. Like snow. She was as pale as it, for the most part. Did she like it? How had she met Vidarr? Did they not simply exist here, around Reid, forever and all time? Did they exist outside of the den????
What revelation! He plopped onto his haunches, sensing a story about to be woven, always a polite and attentive audience.