"come on, come on," she encourages in soft coos, hurrying the ferrets towards the border, the rush of a stream slowly filing into clarity,

"Time for winter coats!" Fawn smiles. It's a shame she won't see the animals until spring. One season may not be long, but it feels like a decade without the hop and skip that ferrets bring when doing animal fairy duties,

She trusts that whatever winter fairy is on the other side of that border will take good care of them, though. Otherwise the animals wouldn't come back with such cheesy smiles. Eventhough it feeds her ego to believe that's just because they're seeing their favourite fairy again. Her, obviously.

She's kidding. Although, when they finally reach the creek, stopping at the fallen log that stands as the halfway point between the two, warm and cold, seasons, Fawn pauses. She's been doing this for a while now. At the beginning of every winter. Yet she's never been greeted by a winter fairy before, standing on the cold side but never stepping on the log,

"Hello?" Fawn calls out, waving. She really shouldn't feel so entranced. But you're standing there, and the ferrets are squeaking, and she sees the way their tails wag as if you were the one they were excited to see.

The flutter in her chest isn't jealousy. No, it's.. something else entirely. Something.. indescribable?

"Im Fawn!" Smooth.