The Everlights

Lore

Mochi spots colors in the air where everyone else sees nothing. This happens often enough that Miso has stopped accepting “nothing” as a thorough report.

Inside Cady Landyan’s winter tale, the sisters enter a forest of snowy Christmas trees. The Everlights glow high in the branches. Below, the Frostchompers chew away the warmth. It is hard to admire a beautiful sky when somebody is eating the lamps.

To climb toward the remaining light, Miso and Mochi become sloths. Mochi has never considered slowness a promising plan. Now each careful grip matters. She clings close while Miso works upward, one branch at a time. The forest is enormous; their next safe hold is wonderfully specific.

Trust makes a small glow answer another. More lights appear among the needles. Neither sister can reach the whole forest at once. They can reach the next branch together. For once, going slowly is getting them somewhere fast paws could not.