[Seasonal] Night Walk

Cozy looked up into the starry night and full moon hanging in the near cloudless sky. The paras around her huddled together into one big mass of bodies resting against each other as they slept. It was warm in the midst of the herd, and the biting winds decided to stay low and light for tonight, instead brushing over the bodies as a mild breeze. As comfortable as this deep winter night was, Cozy simply couldn’t sleep.

As carefully as she could, as silent as she managed, the rosy parasaur lifted herself to her feet and stretched her neck and legs without wasting much space. The highlands were so quiet and still, as were all her herd mates around her. A walk would surely help to tire her out properly, she thought. She doesn’t mean to stray too far anyhow, but she’d need to get out of the middle to even stretch her legs properly. Slow and cautious not to step on any toes or tails, she navigated her way out of the warm centre of the group. A few paras stirred and shifted as she squeezed past and stepped over a limb or two, but no one woke by the time she stepped away from the sleeping bodies. She could make a guess to why that might be. Everyone was so eager to reach the hot springs once snow fell from the skies. That said, even as everyone rushed they didn’t make it before nightfall and were too exhausted to push through the night.

Finally able to stretch her back and legs in a wide arch, she leaned into the motion and she let out a low-humming yawn. It’s not like she wasn’t tired either. Sleep just didn’t come as easy as she wished. The breeze was more noticeable now that she stood apart from the other parasaurs, and it made her soft feather coat bristle just so slightly. It wasn’t all too cold, not as cold as the layer of trampled snow she stood on suggested. Having no particular plan of a route, she made her way toward the snow covered shrubbery close by. She wasn’t hungry, not really, but a full stomach might lull her back into sleep later. Leaning her head down to inspect the berries growing close to the ground, she ruffled through the leaves with her beak to rid it of frost and snow first. With how the bushes seemed largely untouched, she assumed them to be something like bearberries. The mealy and bland taste of the red fruits and bitter leaves, as she chomped down on the branches, confirmed her suspicion. Cozy smacked her beak. Not the best choice for a midnight snack, but it was the closest plant nearby and better than nothing.

Lazily snacking on the low-growing plant, a hum in the air caught her attention. A noise, low and distant. She stopped chewing and looked back over her shoulder to the still resting herd. None of them seemed to be awake, let alone bleating. If the noise she heard in the distance was bleating to begin with.

She waited just a moment longer, standing still. Swallowing the last bits of food, Cozy abandoned her midnight snack and instead trotted to higher ground and listened for the call if it resounded. Could it be the trumpet of a parasaurolophus? No one she knew personally, surely, but something told her it must be another parasaur.

The call resounded, just faintly clearer.

With one last look at the parasaurolophus herd, shifting subtly with rising and lowering chests, she decided to investigate. Not too far, she walked up a little raise in the terrain and scanned the highlands for any distant shapes she could recognise. It was brighter on clear wither nights with the snow reflecting light over the fields, but she still couldn’t see far. This time it was quiet and everything was still. So quiet, Cozy believed she could hear the other hadrosaurs breathing behind her. Nothing stirred ahead of her. Squinting at the landscape ahead, only faint shadows cast by the few clouds ahead moved across the rolling hills of the highlands.

Did she imagine the noise? No. She didn't even sleep in to mistake this for a dream or cloudy mind. Even if tired from the trek, she still felt alert. She is sure she didn't imagine it.

The silence stretched out and have her feel the breeze nip at her legs while she stood still, eyes still scanning the field ahead. Taking a deep breath and let the crispy winter air fill her lungs, she exhaled with call of her own. She trumpeted out a long, reverberating hum that swept ahead and over fields she still had her eyes on. For a little while nothing happened. Itching her front leg with her hoof, she considered calling out again. The other might be second-guessing themselves as well, but with a glance back at the herd, still sleeping, she decided against it.

Right. She wanted to sleep and not communicate with strangers. The noise might wake someone and she really didn't feel like explaining herself if they inevitably ask what the ruckus was about. No, she should go back and actually rest. She had her snack, and even stretched her legs. This was enough.

The call that reached for her didn't appear again, and yet it remained on her mind even as she climbed back over various limbs and find her place somewhere between bodies again. Once she laid down, nudged between other parasaurs, the warmth embraced her again, and the lull of sleep tempted her into unconsciousness faster than she could protest.

(942 Words according to Ellipsus)