Wintertime in Rekes was always brutal. With the already thin resources, the thick snow that fell and refused to melt for months. In other words, it was avalanche season. Depths had been hoping that they could go through the season without a major one, but his hopes were dashed when he was out on a foraging run and heard the rumble of an avalanche close by. The trees around him shook, shaking snow from their branches, and a puff of snow showed over their boughs, white against the blue sky.

Knowing the importance of time, he dropped his bags and ran towards it. When he emerged from the trees into the newly demolished section, he saw two others wandering on the newly laid snow, ice crunching under their feet, seeming to be looking for someone.

"Did you lose someone?"

The blue tar'kee looked up, while the black aerobic continued to dig.

"We saw someone around here and," she held up a device, "it's picking up body heat under the snow."

Depths joined in on the digging immediately, knowing that the main cause of death in these snowy avalanches was suffocation. Soon, he and the aerobic met fur, and together they pulled out a rattled-looking belemoid.

They gasped for air, and seeing that they were fine for the moment, Depths turned back to the aquatic. "Is that picking up any more-?"

She nodded, and lead them off, down the slope of the newly flattened land, shattered stumps and branches emerging from the settling snow like broken bones.

The next person they rescued was a large tar'kee, and the blue aquatic had to join Depths and the aerobic to pull them out of the snow, as they were too disoriented to help. The three panted for a bit while the tar'kee righted themself, but then they were off again as the aerobic spotted an arm waving from the snow further down.

The aquatic, more comfortable with sliding through the snow, reached the arm first and pulled. Thankfully this person was only trapped from the torso down, leaving them able to breathe. The aquatic and aerobic started digging, but Depths recognized the face and frowned, worried and startled, before joining in.

"Rocky?"

The adolescent blinked up at him blearily, then shook their head, shaking the snow out of their ears.

The aerobic tilted their head. "You know them?"

Depths nodded, pulling Rocky the rest of the way out of the snow. "They're part of my colony - what are you doing out here?"

Rocky managed to look even more pathetic, and Depths felt bad.

"Foraging."

Depths supposed he couldn't blame them for being on the path of the avalanche and sighed and patted their shoulder. "Never mind. These are -" he turned to the aerobic and aquatic and realized he hadn't asked their names.

"Sorry. I'm Depths, this is Rocky. What are your names?"

The blue aquatic nodded. "Maedra."

The aerobic ruffled their feathers. "Harbringer."

"Nice to meet you." Depths looked back up the slope, where other people had appeared, summoned by the avalanche's rumble, to help. "I dropped my bag, but it had some supplies in it - I can go get it."

The aquatic - Maedra - nodded. "Me and Harbringer can organize people - he can look for anyone else from the air, and I can help dig."

They didn't mention that at this point, it was more likely that they would be digging for bodies rather than survivors. They went their separate ways, Rocky following behind Depths, and eventually met back up in a clearing near the avalanche.

Maedra had dragged some flammable debris over to where a small group huddled, but they seemed to be having trouble starting the fire. Sensing that Rocky needed something to do, he handed them his lighter.

"Do you want to help them out?"

Rocky perked up a little, then nodded and scampered off to the pile of wood. Depths joined in with the others, pulling wood with Harbringer. The two took advantage of the aerobic's ability to beat his wings and clear out some of the lighter packed snow, using it to find more pieces of wood to drag over.

Soon, they had a fire going, and Maedra and Harbringer stood together looking uncertain. Depths wandered over. "You're not used to the mountains?"

The two nodded.

"Well, you did good, helping with this." He nodded at the avalanche's devestation. "These things happen, and we can only do all we can when they do."

Maedra nodded again, and looked at the other people clustering around the fire. "They just needed someone to snap them out of the shock."

Harbringer fluffed his feather and shook them out, obviously disliking the cold. "And some extra hands."

Depths nodded, then motioned towards the fire. "Thanks for your help. You're welcome to stay as long as you like."