The winters of Muir'Beinn are harsh, brutal to its inhabitants that are unprepared for its unforgiving embrace. The forests lose their lush coloration and fall into a monochromatic white and black, with every animal from big to small burrowing themselves into their respective hides. The bipeds have their hearths and homes to keep themselves warm. During the mid to late winter times, forests become so quiet that an appropriate description is to call them dead.

Yet that does not tell a true story, beneath the snow, within the hollows, and inside the mountains resides life just waiting to break free. It just has to wait, or else winter would claim whatever reveals itself.

Some creatures just aren't patient enough to stay within their warm den and break out into the world to see what this magical time of year has to offer one's senses. One such being is Baba; a being teeming with so much ley-energy that every step forces the budding plants around to break through the snow and flush the darkness away with the colors of spring.

As Baba walked along the forest edge on the northern border their glossy eyes scanned the trees for different hollows. Baba liked to see the birds nesting or the squirrels balled up into one large fuzzy pile. These smaller creatures are of nature just like Baba, but without the curse of a higher intelligence. Do they understand the cycle of life and death? What do these animals gleam from the changing seasons of their surroundings? Does instinct tell them to sleep, or are they aware of the consequences for failing to do so? For Baba, there is a clear understanding of this cycle, a time for rest, death, the laying of the foundations for a coming spring; life. Behind Baba the plants that had sprung to life already started to wilt away the further away she goes, and within just a few hours, it'll all be buried again. Baba took in a cold breath and released a steam filled one. Warmth and cold. Growth and decay.

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An utterly beautiful illustration from the very talented and patient  silatria who has uploaded their own version here with higher resolution. I highly recommend her, having commissioned from her four times now for each of my characters.
Please do not redistribute this piece, as Baba co-jointly belongs to  faluma and I and who also wrote this description.