Between a gaze drawn from moon-kissed ice, Raelan paused in his pursuit of the North, a tentative ear twitching among the gentle breeze that caressed his side. Cool and brisk, as one would expect, and yet…filled with something warm. Something rich. Something…familiar. He twisted a chin toward the sky, his nose giving a perceptive twitch as the notes of honey and spring met his senses with the feathered embrace of a hug.

Odd.

A contorted brow marred his features as a frown drew across his lips.

He still knew little of this world he had entered, but the smell of honey in the midst of winter seemed…impossible—How?

However, before the man can shrug the anomaly off, the soft fluttering wings of a buzzing bee wrangle past his ear. He turns, his paws moving in an arching circle as he tries to spot his newfound friend, one who certainly should not be able to survive in a season of cold.

But there!

He spots its quivering, buzzing body as the bee whips around his face and guides him forward as if begging him to follow it.

And follow it he must, even if his face resumes that facade of quiet confusion and practiced suspicion.

The softer sounds of springtime reach his ears the more he moves, and the further he walks, the air becomes…warm. Slowly, the great expanse of white he had formally known transformed before his eyes into a series of littering flowers and rolling hills.

What…the…

Hello? He calls out into the horizon, now a loping hillside, pieced together with beautiful rows of wildflowers of varying colors. This was definitely not the North…or the world he had entered.

His body remained rigid, even as his lonesome bee friend continued to buzz between his dark-tipped ear. This…wasn’t right…?

But why did a warmth begin to spread within his chest…and the softness of a smile begin to tug at his lips?