(This is not a TEF story, but it is slightly related in some obscure way. ^^;)

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The squirrel raises her head, gazing into grey, murky sky. Clad heavily in warm coats and scarves, Fluere hears the dry leaves crisp beneath her bulky boots. Weak sunlight illuminates small patches of her ochre fur, and her large black eyes blink from a cold, October wind that gasps through the trees.
Fluere bends down and picks up a fallen leaf in her gentle claws. Twirling it, the golden reds and browns blur into a swirl of colours.
The cold, October wind tugs at the leaf, and Fluere lets go, watching it be carried away to join its cousins and its cousins’ cousins and fall once more to the forest floor.

As the leaves fall, so does the Winter come.

Beside Fluere stands another squirrel. His ears flicker, and he sighs, words turning into frosted mists. “It’s October, innit?”
“Yeah.”
“Ready for the winter, eh?”
“There’s enough in the stores, I think.” She picks up another leaf, this time simply holding it and tracing the tiny, delicate threads that run across its surface.
The other squirrel, Taurin, shivers.
“October’s pretty, but it’s cold, innit...” he says.

A gust of wind whispers again, and brings with it a shower of tawny, yellow aspen leaves. Thousands of the tiny shapes with flame-orange tips bring the sweet smells of autumn with them, swirling and dancing through the squirrels’ noses.
Fluere takes Taurin’s hand. “Come on. Time we headed home, Tau.”
They trudge through thick carpets of the fallen souls of trees, once a life-filled green, but now the varied browns.

The first few flakes of white softness begin to fall, following the footsteps of the leaves. Each floating fragment is like a quiet word of farewell to the two small figures, crunching their way solemnly, but a thought brightens their hearts:

As the Winter comes, so does the Spring come closer...

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