Dead fish and some snow that is, in fact, falling

Mary looked into the gray water filling up the river. It was indeed flowing very slowly. Like if it was tired and struggling to keep going, making its way down the forest in the most resistive manner.

„See?" Ren asked while stopping side by side to Mary. She put her left hand on her hip and compressed her lips.

Mary leaned towards the surface of the river. One of her most common names was Khaal if she remembered correctly. Some also called it the Rainbow's Mirror, because often in the summertime its waters streamed with all colors of the rainbow, swirling and mixing with each other in a weirdly fascinating dance.

Now it seemed...

„Well, it does look a little bit... Dead"

And so did the fish, floating on the surface of the water. Most of them were already rotting, but the birds didn't seem to have any interest in them.

She quickly pulled one out of the stream.

„Ewwww!" Ren yelled and stepped back, covering her nose.

„Smell it."

„What?! Why?! Ew, no, no way."

Mary extended the hand from which the fish dangled.

„Come on. I want you to see something. I mean smell. I mean..."

Ren sighed and cagily took back her hand clenched on her nose.

She sniffed it with caution.

She sniffed it again.

„Isn't it supposed to stink?" She asked, turning over to Mary.

„Yes. I think it is."

„But it doesn't."

„No, it doesn't."

They looked at each other.

„Yes, something's definitely odd. Did anything happen when I was gone?" Mary asked.

„Well, not that I know of. At least not if you're asking about something big, like, I don't know, an alien invasion", Ren chuckled. „But I got many letters from the whole district. They started appearing not long after you left the last time, but I didn't think much of them at first. But later there were more and more coming, and I don't know..."

„Okay, okay, what was in these letters?"

Now Mary was in her Protector Mode. Because as a Traveller, she not only connected the two worlds. She also had to protect them. Protect the fragile harmony between them. That was the Travellers' job. They were Travellers and they were Protectors of the Web and the worlds. The Human World and Jinx, the... Well, the Other World.

So now Mary had to focus and get serious about things. And at least SEEM professional.

„Well, there are little things", Ren answered. „Animals getting sick, large amounts of wormy trees, smaller crops... Weird smell in the air? Yes, someone wrote something about that... Oh, and the weather got kind of, um, unpredictable lately."

„What do you mean, unpredictable?"

Mary was getting a little bit worried. This definitely wasn't normal. And Ren said these letters were coming from the whole district 13, Mary's district. So it wasn't just here.

Jinx didn't have any official countries but it had districts. She didn't really know how many were there, cause they were kind of hazy. The boundaries were hazy. Honestly, the whole Jinx was hazy, fluid in its rules and laws. And that's why some irresponsible changes in the Web could throw the balance off.

„Just take a look around you," said Ren and waved her hand in some vague direction.

„Oh, it's snowing. I didn't even notice," said Mary, opening her mouth in surprise.

„Yea, well, it's summer."

„Oh."

So that's why she was wearing a coat.

„It did get chilly suddenly..." Mary murmured. She extended her hand to catch some snowflakes.

Ren smiled for a second but quickly sobered down.

„It will probably stop snowing in an hour or something, so don't worry. Though you're wearing a coat already. Are you still cold?" Ren asked with a kind of wonder.

„I'm always cold"

Ren laughed, showing her white teeth. They were maybe a little bit sharper than those of a human.

„Sometimes I wonder if you ever take that coat off."

„I don't."

„That was a joke", she added as an afterthought.

Ren snickered.

„I know. I know it was a joke, Mary."

She coughed to hide her embarrassment (Spoiler alert: It didn't work, she still blushed like crazy) and tried to focus on her surroundings.

The snow was actually really pretty. It gently settled on leaves, grass, flowers. Or drowned next to the dead fish.

It was also really quiet when they both weren't speaking. The snow was dulling the sounds.

„Mary?"

She realized she didn't feel her hands. Why was that?

She looked down.

„Maaaaryyyyy."

No, she didn't.

She couldn't look down, she could only watch the snow falling before her eyes. And it fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell, and fell...

„Mary!"

She felt a shiver and her arms swayed up for a second.

„Y-yes?"

Ren was looking her carefully in the eyes.

„Everything okay?"

„Yes. Yeah."

„Oh, okay."

They stayed silent for a moment.

„Okay, I guess I have to start an investigation now," Mary said.

„Where?"

„In the Web of course."