Clear skies greeted the travellers as they walked up the path, though the sun meant the three figures faced a bright glare from the ground they walked on. Their steps left heavy footfalls in the drifts of thick snow that had formed over the last two days. The snowfall had paused for the moment, but it had been going long enough that the path before them was a pure blanket of undisturbed white.

“You sure she said we’d meet her out this way?” the leader said, a squirrel by the name of Rufus.

They turned, looking, there had to be some sign of their quarry somewhere.

“Hahaa!” A voice yelled from the side startling the closest of the three, a mound of snow exploded as the hidden snow leopard, dressed in white woolens, stood abruptly. Her hands held a pair of huge snowballs that she hurled at the furthest two, and then she scooped some more loose snow from the ground, leaping to dunk it over the third’s head. The hapless hamster was caught enough by surprise to fall onto his back from the sudden attack. “Got you all!” She declared in triumph, her boot coming down on him as she posed dramatically.

“Yes, yes, very good, Sasha, now let Luke up.” Rufus replied, shaking his head to try and clear his fur of the snow.

Luke, the hamster on the ground, was good natured about it once his shock fell away, but Rufus grumbled under his breath about the childishness of it all. “So, you’ve been waiting here long?” The squirrel asked, grimacing flatly.

“Well, a little bit, but I wrapped up warm and I couldn’t resist the surprise… Where’s Amy, didn’t I see her with you?”

“Raaagh!” Came another yell, louder than the snow leopard’s own and a huge tumbling mass of snow fell over her head and shoulders, some of it even travelling down her neck and making the snow leopard’s tail ploof out as much as it could. Amy, the yak who had been with them, had snuck around behind, using the time of her friends’ chatter to scoop up as much snow as she could carry and get some swift vengeance.

“Looks like someone’s more snow than leopard.” Rufus snarked as the leopard stood frozen in her own surprise before bursting out laughing.

“Oh, it’s good to see you all. Now, let’s get you to the lodge.” Sasha said, not making any effort to brush off the snow, wearing it with pride.



The lodge was only a short distance away, fifteen minutes or so on foot, and the four friends caught up with each other’s journeys here. Amy and Luke had travelled the furthest, meeting up with Rufus at the base of the mountain in a charming cafe that they told Sasha about at length.

“Huff, it sounds delightful, maybe I should have met you there.” Sasha said as she opened the door. The lodge was a cozily seated spot, just another short walk from a breathtaking view over the mountainside, there wasn’t much to it, a common room, kitchen, bathroom and then three bedrooms. “Alright, I’ll head to the bathroom first and get myself changed.”

The squirrel nodded. “I won’t need much time, so I’ll get the fire going in the lounge.”

Luke and Amy nodded before slipping into their shared room, giggling between each other as soon as the door was shut. “Oi, we can hear you out here, you know.” Sasha teased. “So don’t do anything you wouldn’t want us to hear.”

“We’re fine.” Amy called back cheerily, though Luke was likely protesting, suddenly. Sasha shook her head as she went to do as she’d said.

They got together annually for New Year’s Day, spending a few days on either side of it. Last year they’d stayed with Rufus whose house had been promised snow. That had excited Amy in particular, she had never encountered it in the flesh. However the week went by with only rain and overcast skies, and so, to ensure she saw some next time Sasha had organised where they were staying for this holiday.

She already predicted that they’d spend most of the time indoors in the lodge itself, but still, on the off chance they were all feeling adventurous there was so much to do and so much freedom to do it. The snow leopard ran the bathroom tap for a few seconds to make sure the water had been heated for long enough, and then slipped into her room to grab what she needed.

Despite his grumbling, Rufus gave her a curt friendly nod as she crossed over. It was going to be a fun holiday, and she was going to make sure to have even the dour squirrel smiling by the end of it!