Snow rabbits, like their name suggested, were a type of rabbit with fur as white as snow. They had smaller bodies, were experts at digging and escaping, and could eat anything when they were hungry. Grass seeds, plants, and even the meat of other creatures were part of their diet. This was how they managed to tenaciously survive in this brutal corner of the world that was forsaken by others. Up till now, the only people Eim had met were their snow rabbit relatives living nearby.
“In the past, reindeers lived here too, but they’ve long since moved to live in tribes. I heard that they can lead fairly good lives there by just pulling carts.” Eim continued introducing tribes as he panted and tried catching up to them.
There weren’t many people interested in such information, and Eim was excited to meet people willing to listen to him talk about these. “The black stones we used to exchange for fire were pulled away by them, and they also brought us to their tribe.”
“Reindeer?” White had never heard of this species.
“They have a pair of huge, hard, horns on their head. Have you never seen one?” Once again, with a gaze that seemed as if he was looking at country bumpkins, Eim looked at him. White did not like it. At this moment, Black nudged him lightly.
“He must be talking about a Torosaurus[1]. They probably have different ways of calling it.” Black softly said.
Note: A Torosaurus is 7.5 metres tall and weighs approximately 6 tonnes.
White made a look of realisation.
“Of course I’ve seen one before! I even saw one with three horns!” White started showing off.
“Ah? Three horns… That is something I’ve never seen for sure…” It was now Eim’s turn to be unhappy.
They quickly changed their conversation topic to something else.
“There are many more plants tastier than Crunchy Grass over here, but during this period, Crunchy Grass is the easiest to find. When it gets warmer, we’ll be able to find Snowball Fruits [2]. The place that you guys lived in was probably way colder than it is here, so the fruit can’t be found there.”
Eim started introducing his favourite things, “The best kind of meat is rodent meat. It is particularly fatty, and when you roast it, it becomes juicy but not to the point of being greasy, the exterior becomes crispy and the insides tender…”
Black and White listened to Eim’s descriptions until they were drooling. They hated that they couldn’t immediately catch a rodent to roast.
“We love struthiosaurus the most. Even though they have really hard and really thick shells, and if we don’t catch them properly they would break our nails, they have meat that is incredibly tender!” As he spoke, White started reminiscing about the times when their dad was with them.
The last time they had struthiosaurus meat was before their dad disappeared, when he and Black were still small. That time, they pulled a struthiosaurus cub home by their mouths. They were unable to make a dent in its shell, and in the end, their father had to smash away its shell for them, and he watched them happily gobble its meat.
Thinking of his dad, White carefully glanced at Black. As he had thought, Black was also reminiscing about Dad. But he quickly snapped out of it to look at Meng Jiuzhao and Louis with loving eyes, “In the future, we must catch a struthiosaurus for our babies to try.”
“Uh… An animal with a really thick and hard shell… Did you eat a tortoise? That’s amazing, I’ve only heard Dad talk about it, but I’ve never seen it. Is it really tasty?” ←This was Eim, who got misled unknowingly.
As they chatted along the way, the understanding toward each other deepened(?).
“Perhaps we might be distant relatives, since most of the people living around here are blood related. How old are you guys? You’re so good-looking, you’ll probably be very welcome when I introduce you to others.” Eim had a particular hobby. Once he got close to someone, he would have the urge to introduce a partner to them.
The originally relaxed atmosphere vanished, and Black and White turned their heads to stare at Eim–
At that moment, Eim felt as if he was a fat rabbit caught by a huge beast (Congratulations! Your senses are finally not failing you!). His body trembled uncontrollably, in an attempt to let the goosebumps disappear. Eim carefully tried to resist his urge to shiver.
“D- Did I ask something I was not supposed to ask?” Why was it that, even though they were also part of the rabbit species, these two could make him feel as if he was in danger?
“We. Are. Already. Adults!” Black said solemnly. After speaking, he secretly looked at himself and White, ensuring they did not expose anything, before finally feeling relieved.
It was very dangerous for Kantas cubs to live amongst a group of adult Kantas. This was what their father had warned them since young.
While it was true that Kantas loved to hatch eggs, when another’s cub grows old enough to contend with them over resources, they would be less kind towards them. When a conflict occurs, they would be willing to kill another’s cub easily. Hence, Black and White were actually very cautious towards the idea of going to a “Tribe of Kantas”.
Seeing Eim weakly nodding his head, they decided to raise their vigilance in the future and definitely not show their original forms. From their original forms, it was too easy to tell that they were still cubs.
Eim thought about it for a long time, and thought that it was his mention of helping them find a partner that upsetted them.
He carefully observed the two, a lightbulb suddenly going off in his head: Are these two… A couple perhaps?
Looking at the two who were clothed in tattered rags as if they had just experienced a disaster, he immediately thought up a dog-blooded tale of elopement.
Don’t worry, I won’t tell this to anyone ← Eim said in his heart.
And thus the three happily continued with the journey.