For all their excitement, the group barely registered the remaining leg of the trip. With the Larafali town on the horizon, the pack of five found their fatigue easy to ignore, and they took up whatever they could of the sled to drag it through the last stretch of their long, cold journey.


    Eli couldn''t help but grin at their excitement; Oreo bounced and shook his tail in all directions, Suda hummed a happy tune, her fatigue and injuries momentarily forgotten, and Tia bounced a little with each step. Even Folly, who had been downright dour through the last leg of their trip, walked upright and proud, lacking the tired sway in his movements that had followed him ever since they left the ice canyons.


    As they walked, Suda''s tune quickly became infectious. Oreo joined in first, and soon after Eli found it irresistible as well. Once the three of them began, the other two couldn’t hold back either. Slowly but surely, the five of them sang their bright, hopeful tune as they dragged their sled through the thawing clay dirt.


    Time passed, and the town grew steadily closer into view. Their song broke as Oreo yelped with a start, dropping his pull-cord and running around to the back of the sled to root through their belongings.


    "Oreo?" Eli and Folly asked in unison.


    "Waitwaitwaitwait!" he replied. His sky-blue wings arched high, the motion pulling at a fresh scab along his flank as he dug through sack after sack while struggling to keep up with their pace.


    The group slowed, then stopped. Everyone trained their eyes and ears on Oreo, until he hurriedly produced a leather satchel from underneath a cluster of scrap leather.


    "Tiaaaaaa!" he practically bellowed as he scrambled back across the dirt to press it into her arms. "Tia! Fly to town! Find pack-yurt-place!" he crowed.


    Tia blinked slowly, then squeaked.


    Suda shook her head and swiveled her ears away incredulously, though the barest hint of a smile flashed over her face, her ears twitching upward in reluctant amusement. "Yes, Tia goes ahead to place-find." she affirmed.


    Tia nodded as her tired mind caught up with the request. Her ears rose and swiveled to town, and she turned to look up at the sky full of circling Afali with a scowl.


    As if sensing her displeasure, Suda took a step over to Tia and placed a claw on her arm. "Good place-finding means faster rest."


    Tia looked at her own talons and grumbled something indistinct. With a start, she took a step back and puffed her chest with a deep breath. "Yes!" she exclaimed, "Time for place finding! Place-finding, then pack-finding!"


    The four raptors massed together to each nuzzle their cheeks against Tia''s in turn. Suda went first, then Oreo, and finally Folly. Once all three of the others had their turns, Tia looked up expectantly to Eli with eyes as wide as saucers.


    Eli paused. Is... is it my turn? he thought. There was only one way to find out.


    He dropped to one knee and opened his cloak to let Tia in close. It quickly became evident his assumption was correct — the cream-colored raptor quickly padded to him and bobbed her head forward to rub her cheek against his. Eli awkwardly reciprocated the motions once, then again on his other cheek. Finally satisfied, Tia stepped away again.


    Eli stood, finding his heart beating a little harder than usual from the unexpected contact.  He watched quietly as Tia exchanged a final trill of words with Suda before running a few steps towards the town and launching into an elegant, swooping ascent.


    <hr>


    Eli and the remaining three raptors continued pulling the sled with renewed will. Their load felt somehow lighter than before, and with all four working at once they tracked towards the town at a brisk pace.


    They walked with purpose, all humming along to Folly''s song, now — a lower-pitched song, grave and filled with purpose. The tune itself wasn''t enough to keep Eli''s mind occupied, though, and he found his attention torn to the clay beneath his feet.


    The ever-present permafrost he''d grown accustomed to walking on was no longer frozen; it had begun and continued to thaw the closer they got to town. "It''s changing too fast to be climate..." Eli murmured under his breath, "... and we didn''t travel far enough for latitude to have a real effect..."


    More questions bubbled up, and he turned to his pack to ask, until he saw their faces. Despite their energized movements and determined tune, he could tell how deeply exhausted they were. Every time they raised their tails in determination, they soon fell back into the clay dirt. Their ears drooped and swayed with their steps, far from the lively, expressive movements he was used to.


    Maybe later... he thought.


    He turned his gaze forward to the village, next. His eyes tracked the circling Afali above, flying in patterns too intentional to be accidental. After a little searching, he was able to identify Tia by color as she circled one of the outer rings.


    As he watched, he noticed one of them seemingly directing the flights. A lone raptor stood atop the massive wooden tower, swinging around hand-flags much smaller than the massive ones affixed to the pole just beneath him. Occasionally, Eli noticed the glint of a mirror reflecting the sun at one of the ones circling above. Shortly after, he''d see them swoop out of formation and land somewhere inside the town’s walls.


    His attention shifted again, this time to nearer skies where he could see a pair approaching town from the air. Rather than enter the swirling formation, though, they came to a landing a couple kilometers or so ahead of them, presumably to enter the town on foot.


    All this new information boggled Eli. Questions overflowed his mind, his own curiosity eagerly trying to escape from the tip of his tongue, but he held himself back. Questions would have to wait unti-


    "Suda!" shouted Folly, interrupting Eli''s thoughts with a sharp, intent bark.


    "I see it," Suda replied instantly, "Long-night flag."


    Eli''s attention whirled from the skies above to Folly, then Suda, and then back to the tall central tower. A pair was taking down the massive cerulean flag waving atop all the others, and replacing it with a new one, equally large and dyed black in disjoint splotches large enough to be visible from so far away.


    "Talafali not-liar! Long night is… is real!" shouted Oreo.


    Eli squinted at the massive black flag ahead of them. Like a funeral shroud, he thought, the splotched black dye evoking rot creeping across cloth. A chill unrelated to the cold prickled his neck.


    A tense silence befell the group, but Oreo — never one to let the situation get him down — hopped about in a tight circle before crowing, "Aaaah! Time for town-snacks! Time for town-meats and town-bread and town-candy!"


    "Not-before town-yurt, frost-head." growled Folly. Oreo stuck his tongue out at him.


    Suda clicked once again. "Folly-says-truth. Town-snacks not-before town-yurt."


    Oreo ruffled his feathers. "Then we make fast town-yurt. Fast-yurt makes fast-snacks!"


    Folly audibly groaned, but Suda didn''t heed Oreo''s excited reply. Instead she turned to Eli.


    "Eli," Suda said, her voice gentler than before. She gestured toward the black flag now billowing over the town. "Long Night come. Town... closes. Nuurre-time."


    "Nuurre?" Eli echoed, brow furrowing.


    "Yes," she nodded, "Nuurre. Big group-play-time. Big together-sing, together-eat, together-play." She stopped, ears dipping sideways in a gesture Eli had come to recognize as uncertainty. "Long Night — time for big Nuure. But..." She spread her claws wide, feathers puffing slightly. "First, cold. Danger-cold. Then..." She hesitated, claws tapping her chest. "I take you to Sylli."


    "Sylli?" Eli repeated, the alien word catching in his throat. "Name?"


    "Sy-lli," Suda emphasized, talons sketching a small shape in the air. "Teacher. For little-fali." She lowered her palm, miming a height only a couple feet tall, then pointed at Eli. "Teach words. For good-shape words."


    Before Eli could untangle the speech, Oreo''s voice cut through the air. "Sy-liiii means boring! But Tia bring yurt-news soon! Then—SNACKS—"


    The blue Afali''s triumphant wing-flap coincided with three simultaneous events: Suda''s tail drooped into the mud from exhaustion, Eli''s numb fingers slipped from the pull-cord, and Oreo—distracted by his own declaration—stopped pulling entirely. The sled lurched to a halt, nearly upending their supplies as Folly stumbled forward, now bearing the full weight alone. He rattled a growl as the motion tugged at the long scab spanning his shoulder, the surface blotchy where old blood seeped through.


    "Faaaaaah!" Folly rattled again with theatrical despair, his brick-red ears flattening against his skull. "Three little-fali drop work like melted snow! Sylli teach them first!"


    Suda trilled a laugh, half-apologetic, as she scrambled to reposition her grip. "Folly-says-truth. Pull-now, talk-later."


    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    Eli muttered an apology, cheeks burning, as they resumed trudging forward. The conversation died, replaced by the rhythmic crunch of thawing clay underfoot.


    Not long after, they reached the town''s rolled clay walls.


    There was no line to speak of, though Eli could see a sled ahead of them had just passed through the gate… though calling it a gate felt gratuitous; it was little more than a gap in the wall, guarded by four Afali wielding spears.


    The sled ahead was similar to theirs, Eli noted, but adorned with richly embroidered red and purple furs along its edges, as if they were placed out of a desire for decoration rather than practicality. Maybe they''re trying to show off, Eli thought, glancing at their own sled’s patched hides and frayed ropes.


    The guards'' metal spears crossed in front of their group with a hollow clack once they pulled close. "Stop-stand. Explain-reasons," barked the lead guard, her frost-pale feathers steady and tail still in the air behind her. Suda stepped forward, wings spread to reveal the partially healed scabs and patches of still-regrowing feathers along her chest. She launched into a rapid-fire explanation of which Eli caught only fragments — "pack-yurt," "Long Night," "Eli-fali" — but the guards'' narrowed eyes flicked to him repeatedly, their claws tightening on their spears.


    They slow their speech for me that much? Eli realized suddenly as he listened to Suda''s words fly by, too fast and too complex for him to parse. But here… I guess they can’t. The thought warmed him, even as guilt prickled his chest.


    The lead guard jabbed a claw at Eli. "Big. Beast?" she snapped, the word sharp as ice.


    Suda''s feathers flared, her voice rising in a rare, defensive trill. "Not-danger! Friend-fali!" She gestured to Eli''s cloak, weathered from the journey but still bearing a feather from each of his companions. "Pack-marked! Eli-fali!"


    The guards exchanged glances, their ears twitching in silent debate, before shrugging and stepping aside. Yet their stares lingered on Eli as the sled creaked forward, their distrust hanging heavy in the air.


    The town''s interior was a hive of activity, and the thawed earth — now a muddy 5°C, Eli estimated — sucked at the sled''s runners. Afali of all colors and sizes darted everywhere — reinforcing yurt frames with lashed bone, piling peat bricks, or stringing braided cord between tents. The urgency was palpable, yet Suda and Folly meandered, their debate growing circular.


    "Northwall-nook," Folly rumbled, gesturing to a cramped space between two overbuilt yurts.


    "Wind-bad. Southmarket-better," Suda countered, though her ears sagged with fatigue.


    "SNACKS-DEAD-SOON," Oreo moaned dramatically, flopping against the sled.


    A passing pack shot them annoyed glances as they hurried by, dragging a sled laden with frozen meat. Eli noted their pragmatic, unadorned gear — unlike the earlier embroidered sled, which had vanished into the crowd.


    He followed his pack through the chaos as he strained to parse the overlapping Afali chatter around them, catching only shards: "—leaf stores low—" "-friend-group from Big Water-Town—"


    Suda''s ear swiveled skyward as a familiar trill pierced the din. Tia plummeted from the swirling Afali formations, her cream-and-white plumage flaring at the last moment to cushion her landing — directly onto Eli''s shoulders. He staggered sideways, boots squelching in the mud, but locked his knees. Her talons gripped his cloak tightly, and he silently thanked his luck that she was so light for her size.


    "Eliiii-landing!" she chirped, wings fanning air against his neck as she pointed northeast. "Good-place! Near fire-pit, near... uh." Her ears swiveled in frustration before she resorted to miming: claws cupped like a bowl, then a shivering motion. "Warm-sleep!" she said as her claws trembled slightly, the muscle beneath her shoulder blade stiff where a bolt had grazed bone.


    "I knew Tia-place-best!" Oreo crowed, already prancing toward the direction she''d indicated. Folly muttered something indistinct, but hoisted the sled''s lead rope with renewed vigor.


    The clearing Tia had secured sat wedged between a yurt draped in dyed furs and another patched with mismatched, sewn-on pelts. Eli noted the former’s carved bone wind chimes with detached curiosity — pretty in sight and sound, letting out hollow, somber tones in the subdued winds. Their own spot held only hard-packed earth and a ring of hardy moss, but Suda’s approving trill confirmed its merits. "Wind-break," she said, gesturing to the taller structures flanking them. "Good-shape."


    Suda’s approving trill sharpened into a bark as she scanned the group. Her navy-blue wings flared, feathers bristling despite the scabs peeking through her chest plumage. "Work-work! Folly-post-holes." She jabbed a claw at the sled. "Oreo, Eli—unload-fast. Tia-hides."


    Folly grunted, already flexing his talons, neck feathers flattening against the poultice on his wound as he swung. Oreo bounded to the sled, wincing as a scab on his flank stretched, but his talons flew through the bindings regardless. Tia trilled acknowledgment, her cream wings twitching as she sorted hides, careful to avoid jostling the half-healed puncture in her thigh.


    Suda clawed into the thawing clay beside Folly, but her voice brooked no argument. "Sun-dies-soon. Yurt-up now."


    Eli knelt in the thawing clay, fingers numb as he untied the sled’s frayed bindings. Folly and Suda worked in tandem nearby, their talons clawing deep into the softened earth to dig post-holes. Each shovelful of dirt they tossed aside glistened with residual frost, melting rapidly in the weak sunlight.


    Eli cringed as he uncovered a badly torn hide — poorly stitched, glaring at him like an accusation left over from his hasty mistake while packing. He tucked it under a bundle of rope, but Tia’s keen eyes caught the motion. She trilled softly and brushed his arm with her cream feathers as she leaned in. "Eli break, Eli fix. All good." she murmured, her tone more insistent than reassuring. He nodded, though he couldn''t fully dispel the inward guilt.


    By the time the posts were buried and the pickets lashed upright, Eli’s muscles screamed and trembled in protest. Oreo and Folly collapsed into a feathery heap by the sled’s remains, wings splayed like sodden banners. Oreo’s sky-blue plumage — usually vibrant — hung dull with mud and dust, his chest heaving. "Snacks… later-snacks…" he slurred into Folly’s shoulder, the words muffled by exhaustion. Folly didn’t even growl properly; it came out a rasp, his brick-red feathers matted flat where the gash on his neck pulled against its poultice. Suda tossed them a pouch of dried meat without looking, her throw gone wide — the pouch skidded through mud as her damaged forearm twitched.


    "Hold here, Eli," Suda ordered, her voice fraying at the edges. She and Tia strained to stretch the next hide, wings flaring unevenly. Suda’s dark grey feathers shuddered with the effort, her breath fogging in sharp, visible bursts. Eli braced the frame, his numb fingers clawing into the wood like it was the only thing keeping him upright.


    He nodded toward the next hide, tongue thick in his mouth. "I can help—"


    "Tia-faster," Suda snapped, talons fumbling the bone needle before jamming it through leather. Her usual precision faltered; the stitch went crooked, and she tore it out with a hiss. "Long Night comes. Fast-work… fast-work."


    Eli hesitated. Tia’s claws still blurred, but her cream feathers trembled faintly with each knot — residual shock from the crossbow wound in her thigh, maybe. When she trilled at him, the sound wavered halfway into a wheeze. "Eli-rest now," she insisted, ears sagging toward the dwindling firewood pile. "Or… no-strength for inside-things."


    Suda’s tail lashed agreement, though the motion lacked its usual whip-crack energy. "Trail-food… needs moving-inside," she panted, talons stabbing another stitch. "Oreo forgets. Eli checks?"


    He reluctantly stepped away with a curt nod, stepping back as the wind hissed through nearby yurts.


    Oreo stirred as Eli rummaged through the sled. "Snacks...?" the blue Afali mumbled, one sky-blue wing flopping over his face.


    "Travel-meat," Eli corrected, tossing him a dried meat strip. "Not-snacks."


    "Same-shape!" Oreo croaked, gnawing noisily.


    A prickle of unease made Eli glance upward. The sun hung high, little marble of light still defiantly bright, but the titanic gas giant loomed beside it like a predator stalking prey — a hair''s breadth from swallowing the star whole. The sky had begun to leach of color, fading to a jaundiced yellow at the horizon, and the air carried a metallic tang, as if charged by a coming storm. Shadows stretched long and thin, their edges trembling.


    His breath fogged faintly — colder already — as he gauged the gas giant''s advance across the sky. Thirty minutes? Maybe less. The math prickled his spine. Across the camp, Afali packs darted with renewed frenzy, reinforcing shelters and hefting campfire fuel.


    Suda paused, her needle hovering. "Hsss—see-see!" she hissed, talons flicking upward. "Night comes too fast."


    Tia wordlessly trilled her agreement, her claws flying against the yurt’s wrappings.


    Folly perked at the comment, and tapped the curve of one claw onto Oreo''s head to rouse him from his meal. "Eli, Oreo," he said as he pushed himself to his feet and stepped to the pile of filled pots and cloth sacks that had been unloaded from the sled, "Time for moving. Things-go-inside." The three of them exchanged looks and sprang into action; they didn’t need any further words to understand the urgency of the impending cold.


    <hr>


    The last urn thudded into the yurt as Tia knotted the final hide seam. Oreo collapsed against the outside tent-wall of the yurt, panting. "Snacks-now?" he wheezed, sky-blue feathers matted with mud.


    Before anyone could answer, the light died.


    It didn''t fade — it shattered.


    One moment, the sun blazed defiantly above the Town''s walls. The next, the gas giant''s mottled horizon razored across the sky, swallowing the star whole. Eli''s breath caught as the world plunged into electric twilight. The giant''s atmosphere — more visible without the sunlight — ignited with glowing violet and sulfurous yellow bands, all backlit by the sun’s corona flaring around the edge of the eclipse like a crown of white fire. Shadows sharpened to knife points, then melted into an omnipresent dark.


    Every Afali froze, heads tilted upward. A collective quiet rose from the town — not fear, but reverence.


    Then the silence broke.


    Wind howled as the biting cold began to set in. "I-inside!" Suda barked, her voice cracking. They scrambled through the hide doorway as the first true cold front hit.


    Folly was already crouched at their brazier, flint clenched in claw. Sparks flew — once, twice — before tinder caught. Flame erupted, illuminating his feathers as he fed it dried lichen and small coals.


    Eli helped Oreo drag the last hide flap over the entrance. Outside, the wind screamed. Inside, the fire''s glow painted the yurt in shuddering amber. Despite the fire''s promise of eventual warmth, the inside of the tent still threatened to freeze them solid even as they sat themselves in a tight circle around the nascent fire.


    Oreo''s teeth clattered like pebbles in a shaken pouch, his feathers puffed into desperate insulation. His ears suddenly snapped upright. "Eli-cloak!" he blurted, talons tapping rapid staccatos on the ground. "Ice-canyon-night! Like Tia sleeps! Pack-warmth!"


    Tia''s tail rose suddenly in recognition. "Yesyesyes!" she trilled, already shuffling toward Eli with wings half-spread. "Good-cloak, Eli good for warm!"


    Suda''s feathers rippled as she assessed the sputtering fire. "Wise," she conceded, though her ears twitched toward the yurt’s entrance as wind screamed through the seams. "Folly?"


    The brick-red Afali crossed his arms, tail lashing. "No dignity," he grumbled, but his breath fogged thickly in the air in silent surrender.


    Eli hesitated, fingers tightening around the leather of his cloak. Four pairs of eyes stared at him, pupils dilated in the dim light. The fire''s meager glow barely grazed the white accents on Folly''s feathers. Frost already glittered on the hides above them.


    After what felt like an eternity of deliberation, he unfastened his cloak with stiff fingers. Tia didn’t wait, burrowing against his side with a contented warble. Oreo piled in next, his aquamarine wing slung over both of them. Suda arranged herself behind Eli, her dark feathers trapping residual heat against his back. Folly lingered until Oreo yanked him down with a yelp, forcing him into the huddle.


    "Fool-feathers—" Folly hissed, but his growl softened as the group’s combined warmth seeped into his chilled plumage.


    Eli''s cheeks burned — part embarrassment, part gratitude — as his pack adjusted around him. Tia''s crest feathers tickled his jaw. Oreo''s tail coiled over his legs like a living rope. Their collective heat was startling, a furnace of downy resilience against the yurt''s creaking cold. Yet beyond the warmth, Eli still felt the unnatural chill gnawing at the edges — the Long Night’s breath seeping through every crack.


    The fire popped, casting jagged shadows as it consumed another chunk of coal. His friends'' melodic breathing gradually synced into a drowsy chorus of trills and hums. Eli''s eyelids grew heavy, his muscles unwinding despite the tension coiled in his gut. Soon enough, it all caught up to him — the hard labor, the great trek, the threat of the cold and the eclipse — and an uneasy sleep took him into its clutches.