Learning Curve

[christian haile]

Christian looked up at the cloudy peak of the mountain. His father had told him not to come up here alone but he couldn't help it. There was a lonely breeze that called out to him. There was a pull that made him want to be up there. He had often given in to his feelings. He was usually right. It was how he was usually scoring his high grades. He didn't know how he did it but when he got a feeling, he had the need to follow it.

The clouds were spreading down toward him, causing a wind to whip at his coated back. Christian pulled up his head and tightened up the strings. He had just looked to his left when there was a surge in his left arm. Christian jerked to see a large shadow. A quick step back and a slip on the ice had Christian seeing everything in slow motion. He felt his body spin. The huge shadow, coming closer, disappeared behind him. He watched as his hood fell from his peripheral vision. A rock that jutted out served Christian as a landing spot for his head. Christian gasped as the cold snow touched his face. Mixing with the warmth spreading from his head was a strange sensation before he slipped out of the world.

[dren icepelt]

There was a thud and a growl from Dren as he jumped to an outcrop on the mountain. Staring through the height of the mountain to the town, he found he was jealous of the humans. Then the halfbreeds. Those monsters who could transform into humans. Dren growled and began his daily perimeter round. An ice storm was jumping from mountain top to mountain top. He looked down the trail. His mind flared with the power he was channeling. Most of the colors were blue and light purple. There was a flare of orange and he memorized its placement. It was a soft spot. Dren walked around the orange color like avoicing the plague.

Ten minutes into his rounds, he saw a small figure making its way up to the top of the mountain. He watched it as snow began to move in. His mind flared again as his Sight morphed from seeing the snow that could cause an avalanche to being able to see through the storm. It was a human. Not well provided for like a Poacher. By the way it moved, Dren guessed it to be a young adult. When it glanced at him, Dren felt a tug as he was seen. He ran forward as it fell to the ground.

Snarling, he looked over the fallen human. The red from its head was blood. In an instant, Dren felt compassion. He picked up the, compared to him, tiny human. A soft moan escaped from the being's lips. He watched them as they began to shade to blue. Dren grunted and shouldered the child and held the thing with one hand. He launched himself up a level and then another. Looking at his outcrop, Dren jumped up, grabbed the edge of the rock and swung himself over into a cave. His cave. He was sure no one had seen him. No one would know he had a human. He laid the being down and took care of its head. Just as he finished the bandaging, the thing groaned again. He slid off the goggles it was wearing pushed the hood back. The thing's eyes fluttered open. "Hello..." The boy began to scream. Dren smacked his hand to the human's lips. "Quiet! We'll both be in trouble if you keep that up."

[christian haile]

Christian woke with his arms shivering. He felt claws run over his face with care, lifting his goggles from his eyes. His hood was pushed back and away from his face. Confused, the boy opened his eyes. Large blue eyes surrounded by white stared at him. I must be dreaming... He was about to roll over whe the ting opened its mouth. Its voice was deep and clear. "Hello..." Christian couldn't help it. With that word, the pain in his head hit him and he knew he wasn't dreaming. He screamed.

The creature covered his mouth. Trouble? The creature pulled its huge hand away from his mouth. He spat out a few hairs that tasted like ice and glared at the beast. "Fine. What am I doing here? Why did you take me?" He scooted back and found that he was in some sort of den. He wasn't very warm and touching the wall reminded him of doing that. He looked at the snow that surrounded them. "Where am I?"

[dren icepelt]

The glare from the boy made Dren feel as though he had kidnapped him. He had thought he was helping. Somehow... it made him feel like he could function with them. With the humans. "Well... Um... You fell in the snow and cracked your head. I thought you'd be in trouble so I brought you up here..." Dren watched the boy look around and shiver. He moved but the boy jerked and flinched. Dren was hurt. He did terrify humans. This was his third contact with a human. The first two had been poachers that he had chased away with an avalanche. This one didn't seem to be a poacher.

"You're near the top of the mountain. You actualy made it really far up here yourself. But then you slipped and then there's a storm..." The boy's face grew even harder and his eyes threw more daggers at him so Dren quiet down. "I'll help you down later then..." He shifted over by the wall and looked out to the storm. It was snowing harder now.

[christian haile]

He saw the big thing move to him and he jerked in response. It moved back and explained everything. Christian remembered seeing the shadow. So it was this thing's fault that he had fallen. He stopped to think about everything. It was hard because of the headache he was feeling. That and the thing continued talking. It sounded like a male but how was Christian to know what they all sounded like? Wait... He didn't even know if this thing was good enough to sit around.

At mention of the storm, all of Christian's hopes of escaping vanished. He glared at the thing and it stopped talking. It seemed like it was upset because of Christian treating him like he was. Christian watched the snow. After a few minutes of silence that lasted for eternity, he sighed. "Thank you." The thing jerked to him and Christian had to suppress a wince. "My name is Christian. Christian Haile." He didn't look at the thing but watched the snow coming down.

[dren icepelt]

"Thank you." Dren looked at the boy in surprise. He was actually showing kindness to him. He saw the shivering and he shifted to look at the Christian. "My name is Dren. Here, the others call me Dren Icepelt." He watched as Christian stared at the snow. "Are you cold?" He stood and walked over the small human. Christian cringed but Dren sat down near him. Thanks to his fur, Dren was always very warm. Christian tried to scoot closer to the wall but Dren scooted closer. "I can tell you are cold."

[christian haile]

"Others?" Christian began to shiver uncontrollably and he hugged himself tighter. "No. I'm fine." The thing still came close. "But-" He felt the heat Dren was emitting and he gasped. He had no choice but to lean over into the large body. "Holy cow! How can you be this warm?! It's like... negative forty!" Christian began to shiver again. "Actually I think it's colder because of the storm. How long is it supposed to last?" He felt Dren tense as he asked the question.

"So what are you? Why are you up here?" Christian looked over the big white fluff next to him. The cave went deeper into the mountain and Christian was tempted to get up and explore. If only he could see.

[dren icepelt]

Dren held back a laugh as the boy began to cling to him. It was strange to be close to a human. He was always told to leave them be but this human was treating him like a normal being. He coughed at the mention of others. "You're not supposed to know about us. No human is." Christian seemed to be babbling. He tensed as Christian's question set of his sight. In his mind's eye, he saw the weather clearing up and Christian running out of the cave, yelling something indistinct over his shoulder. Dren cringed at the thought of this human reacting like how the elders had told him they would should they ever meet him.

"I'm called a yeti. I was captured by Poachers and brought here. The Chancellor of Baltrius had been captured here and helped me escape. He practically raised me." Dren felt his insides churn at the thought of the large being finding out he was communicating with a human. "This is my home now. This mountain range is a monster village. Right now this mountain is the center most area of the village."

[christian haile]

"Of course we're not supposed to know about you. Can't you see people just hunting you guys?" He felt like he might hurt Dren's feelings but he was still sore over Dren scaring him to hit a rock. He didn't understand why the big thing tensed at his question. Better not question anything else. Christian thought. He never talked this much. The same thing that pulled him to the mountain seemed to pull him into the conversation. He felt like he could be friends with this creature.

"Yeti. Okay..." Christian smiled at the thought of having a yeti as a friend. It was something not many kids could really say. "So there's a whole village here in the mountain? That's kind of strange. What happens with population? I thought you said there were others?"