Beatrix woke up with a surprise, it was sunny out! The snow storm had passed and left a thick blanket of snow over the once green grass. Bartholomew, Blaine, and Waawaate were eating by the fire. There was a strong smell of the moose tallow in the air. 

“Good rise, Beatrix,” Waawaate and Blaine said at once. Bartholomew smiled at him and he felt warm again. 

“Hello!” He said cheerfully. He walked over to them and sat down, they were sharing a large batch of pemmican, he could see the dried berries and seeds in it. 

“Dig in,” Waawaate welcomed him. So he did, it was one of the best things he’d ever tasted. It was tangey, tickling his tongue, and sweet from the berries, a crunch from the seeds, and a great taste of thick moose fat, the perfect meal. 

“It will be a great day for your adventure up the mountainside,” Waawaate said, “I have your travel packs all ready for you three,”

“We really appreciate your kindness, Waawaate,” Blaine thanked her. 

“Are we already at the mountainside?” Bartholomew asked. That was right, they ended up here without seeing where in the world they actually were. 

“Yes, my cave is actually carved right into the bottom of the mountainside,” 

“Wow,” was all Bartholomew said. 

They continued eating for a little while, Blaine wouldn't dare say it, but he was letting them take an extra long time because his back hurt and he was procrastinating the journey. While they ate, Waawaate gathered the bundles and set them beside each of the three of them and sat back down. 

Blaine sat up, “It’s time to go,” he said this with a long sigh, “We got to get a move on and make sure we can find another cave for tonight,”

“Oh! I should warn you before you go,” Waawaate alerted, “This mountain is called Snow Serpent Mountain for a reason,” she started, “There are many different creatures that call this place home, your luck you don’t have to go to the very top. Be careful when you enter the caves, there could be serpents, griffins, other owlbears, snow cats, and more. Everything here is either hibernating or on the lookout for their next meal, that could be any one of you, or all of you. Stick together and try to blend in with your surroundings, don’t be loud, the mountains echo and the giant wooly bats will hear you. Be careful,” she said the last words with the sternness of a wise old mother. 

“I promise you, we will be more cautious from now on,” Blaine assured her. She nodded. “Now come on, we have to leave,” 

Beatrix put his and Bartholomew’s pouches in his satchel, it was getting heavy, but he could do it. Blaine got help from Waawaate who decided to tie it loosely around his neck, so it was dangling above the ground but was secure to his neck. Then they were off to the mountainside. 

The brisk air fluttered through Beatrix’s nose and cooled his lungs. He coughed in the chilled air, dry and crisp. He could see that Waawaate’s cave was dug into the mountain like a spider in the desert sand dunes. He scaled the mountain in front of him. It went up, up, up and got lost in the white cotton clouds. It was ridged and rocky, light grey with tufts of brown grass below some of the peaks. On the higher ridges there was thick snow and maybe some ice. 

“The snow is actually kind of nice when it’s not smacking you in the face,” Bartholomew chuckled. He was right, the air, the weather, the wind, the shuttering of the pine trees, it was nice. The only thing he could complain about was his cold toes. Beatrix felt whimsical and free in this new land. 

“Why are you smiling like a goose brained idiot?” Bartholomew pointed out. Beatrix just shrugged then trotted to be next to Blaine. Bartholomew followed behind. 

“Blaine?” Beatrix called.

“Mmmh” was his reply.

“Where are we going once we reach the qilin's cave?” he asked. 

“Hmm…” Blaine thought for a moment, he knew what was going to happen, but he didn’t want to frighten Beatrix. “I suppose we’ll have to listen to the qilin and see what he says,”

“Who is the qilin?” Bartholomew asked from behind them. 

“I know as much as you do, Bartholomew,” This was a lie. 

Walking up the mountain was almost perfectly normal, just a bit of an incline. They walked along a trail that winded up the sides of the mountain, instead of going straight up. The grey stones were cold as ice, some of the snow was melting and started to make pools in the crevices of the path. Beatrix stopped at one of these puddles to lap up some freshly melted water. It soothed him. When he looked back up he saw that the others were far ahead of him, but they were standing still, waiting for him. So he lightly padded his way to them, as he got closer, he realised they weren’t waiting for him, they were stopped. 

“And they call me a wall,” Bartholomew joked. In front of them was a steep incline of stones, pebbles, rocks, and boulders. They looked to have been placed there on purpose. The wall was at least ten tail lengths tall, they could barely see that the path continues on it. 

“Beatrix, do you think you could climb up this wall?” Blaine asked. Beatrix nodded. “Good, since we aren’t mountain goats I don’t think Bartholomew will be able to get up one his own,” 

“Excuse me?!” He gasped, “I will have you know I am twice, no…thrice! As elegant as a mountain goat,” 

Blaine rolled his eyes, “Why don’t you demonstrate for us then?” 

“Yeah! I will!” So Bartholomew went right up to the wall and eyed it up and down. In a minute he lifted his left hand and placed it on a sturdy rock. He put his right hood up on a boulder and pushed himself up. He shoved his right hand in the crack of two rocks, then placed his left hoof on a little ledge of stone. Another push of his legs and pulling himself up with his arms. He was already panting with his tongue out. He continued on and put his left hand on a jutting rock and his right foot on a groove carved into a boulder. 

Suddenly, something knocked him on the head, he looked up and the rocks were crumbling where his hand was. He quickly tried to move it to another spot but his hoof slipped out of the groove and fell backwards. 

THUMP!

“Oh my! Bartholomew are you okay?” Beatrix ran over to his side and tried to help him up, he was very heavy. 

“I…Cant…Breath…” He said through gasps. 

“You’re fine!” Blaine said, annoyed. Bartholomew sat up, still gasping for breath. Blaine came up behind him and smacked him in the back, right where he landed. 

“OHMYSKUNKFACESNAILCRAP WHY’DYOUDOTHAT!?” Bartholomew screamed in one gigantic breath. 

“Now you can breathe,” Blaine said coolly. 

They sat still for a few moments letting Bartholomew catch his breath. 

“Alright, here’s the plan,” Blaine demanded their attention, “ Bartholomew, I am going to stand at the very bottom of the wall, you will get on my back and you should then be able to grab the edge of the wall and get up. Then Beatrix will go up himself while I also try to climb up,” 

“Yeah, whatever man.” Bartholomew got up and walked with Blaine to the wall and Blaine crouched down so he could get on. Bartholomew looked like a koala climbing onto its mothers back. Beatrix imagined him as a kitten asking for uppies. He giggled.

“What in Sekai is so funny?!” Bartholomew snapped at him. He had one hoof on the ground, his left hoof on Blaine’s lower back, his felt hand on Blaine's shoulder, and his right hand placed haphazardly on Blaine’s right ear. 

“Nothing!” Beatrix stopped quickly. He continued to smile discretely to himself until Bartholomew made it into the path at the top of the wall. 

“Alright, Beatrix, you can start climbing up. Be careful of loose rocks, try not to slip, keep your balance,” Blaine said as he started climbing the wall himself. Beatrix came up to the wall and noticed his slender paws and legs could easily fit on the edge of every stone. He also noticed a nice big ledge just a few tail lengths above him. That was it. He readied himself for the jump. He sat on his haunches and wiggled his rear a little bit. Then he sprung up like a pole jumper and landed steadily on the ledge. There were more rocks sticking out of the wall in almost a staircase. He could fit one paw on each of the rocks. So he went swiftly with each pawstep, it was done in a flash and he was up at the top of the wall. He did not even need to pant, he was quick and steady. He looked back down the wall and saw that Blaine was only halfway up it and he was panting heavily. 

Bartholomew walked over to Beatrix and looked down as well, “Pig!” he yelled at Blaine. Blaine only glared at him with disdain. 

Eventually, Blaine made it all the way up. They had to sit down for quite a while before Blaine was ready to continue. 

“I wonder why they put a wall here,” Bartholomew questioned. They were sitting together in a triangle and talking while they waited for Blaine. 

“I don’t know…maybe someone lives here?” Beatrix asked.

“Maybe,” he shrugged. 

“Wait…” Blaine huffed as he stood up. Bartholomew raised an eyebrow at Beatrix and they both followed behind him. 

Blaine stopped at a set of tracks. They looked like a large cat in the back and a gigantic owl in the front. 

“I think someone lives here,” Bartholomew said. 

“Oh really? You think? Do you think that?” Blaine teased in a growling sarcastic voice. 

“Uh…Yeah, I do think that actually,” Bartholomew raised an eyebrow and licked his snaggle tooth that was jutting out of the top of his mouth. 

“May the Tengoku Bless you with some brains,” Blaine rolled his eyes and frowned. 

Beatrix giggled. 

“So, do we keep going?” Bartholomew asked. 

“Would you like me to throw you down the wall?” Blaine asked pessimistically.

“No,” he mumbled. 

So they continued down the stone path. As they got higher it got colder. The snow started to come back, the edges of the mountain looked like they were topped with cotton fields. Soon it was sun down and they needed to find shelter for the night. 

As it grew darker, and the stars grew brighter, they could see an orange glow in the distance just a little ways up the mountain. When they got closer they could see it flicker ever so slightly like the stars twinkling above them. 

Instead of going to the glowing light, Blaine led them into a small cave as they came up to it. 

“We’ll stay here tonight,” 

“I’m soooo hungry!” Bartholomew exclaimed and rolled onto his back. 

“Shhh! Shut it!” Blaine demanded, “There are others not very far from here, we need to stay low.” 

Beatrix didn’t like the sound of that. 

Couldn’t they help us? Like Waawaate did. What if they are expecting us too? But…Blaine probably knows what he’s doing.

So they huddled up and went to sleep.