Shangri-La

Chapter Two

The weather hadn't cleared before dark, so I ended up spending the night at the Yeti's home. 

We finally got around to introducing ourselves, and I learned his name was Djakk and that he'd been somewhat of a local celebrity in the past few years, what with the invention of the camera phone and all. Turns out he'd been caught on digital film in someone's selfies in a village at the base of the mountains when he'd gone to trade for supplies.

"You should have seen the creature hunters that showed up," he said from the floor. He'd insisted that I take the bed, as I was a guest. I felt fairly bad about it, and somewhat alone since the bed was enormous, but I decided there wasn't a good reason to argue.

"Were there a lot of them?" I asked in curiosity. He laughed and I looked over to see his hands waving in the air above him.

"There were dozens of the goons crawling around for weeks; it was a wonder I was able to get any supply runs done at all, much less the courier work I do sometimes," he said with a sigh, his hands dropping down. 

I made an inquiring sound, and he chuckled. "Sometimes I run letters from one side of the mountains to the other, for families who are apart or if it's important news. I don't really have family of my own, so..." he trailed off, and fell silent.

"That must be hard for you," I said, and he grunted quietly. "I have a family myself, but they're far off and away from where I live. I don't see them often."

I heard a rustling sound, and glanced over to see him lying on his side, looking up at me.

"That must be hard for you, as well," he said, and his face showed a concern that made my heart warm.

"It's fine, really; I have to travel so much for my studies and research that I don't really stay in one place for too long. I'm more a nomad than anything, it seems, and it's... easier if I'm on my own..." 

I trailed off into silence, and fidgeted with the warm blanket Djakk had draped on me earlier. I stared up at the ceiling, thinking about how helpful Djakk had been just in the last few hours, and wonder if it really was easier to be alone after all. Nobody I'd ever spent any amount of time with had tried so hard to help me. And now here I was, lost in the mountains, and a Yeti of all things drops out of the sky to save me.

I heard a bit more rustling from the floor, and abruptly Djakk's head appeared over the edge of the bed.

"From what I can tell, it might seem easier to be, but I can tell that you're not enjoying it," he said quietly, and his huge hand reached out to squeeze mine. "If only by the fact that you were hopelessly lost in the mountains," he added with a wink, and I blushed hotly as he chuckled. 

He sobered quickly, however, and fixed me with his icy blue eyes, wearing an expression I'd never seen before.

"Don't pass something up because it seems simpler to do so; you might just miss something important along the way," he said softly, and a small shiver ran up my spine. 

With another light squeeze, he let my hand go and sank back down to the floor, rustling under his blankets and growing still and quiet. I stayed in that enormous bed, staring up at the ceiling, gently lit by the fire in the other room, and thought about Djakk's words.

What did he mean? Where did that even come from? Was he trying to tell me something important, or was it just some kind of cryptic advice?

I thought and thought until I eventually fell asleep, still trying to understand the meaning behind his words.

—

I awoke at some point in the night, desperately bundled up in the blanket and shivering uncontrollably. I look around enough to notice that the fire had died out, and the air was intensely cold. I tried to move, to get off the bed, but my hands and feet were numb. I took a deep breath of the icy air, and tried to call out.