Snarl did not enjoy the recent changes to the portions of food, but Snarl was no stranger to starving. The winter has been rough on its tiny body, many times, in fact. Maybe Nana the giant was just saving food for the end of winter, until the bounty of spring began sprouting. Who knew how many berry bushes would be needed to feed the giant for a single day?

Snarl wasn’t starving, therefore, it was not angry. Just slightly upset about losing its marvelous, prestigious body. The roundness was fading away fast, and that was inconveniencing him.

Nana was sleeping on her large bed, tired after trying to get rid of snow. Foolish thing, Snarl thought, that the wrinkled one wasted her energy on a futile task, but it still helped. Snarl was nothing if not loyal to the thrice savior of itself.

Silent death and injuries were the two scariest ordeals it had suffered in its entire life. And just many days ago Snarl watched Silent Death diving from one of the giant trees, aiming straight and true, its claws a few steps away from catching Snarl’s blubbery figure. Door closed to keep the intruder out.

Those pale yellow eyes promised to never let go, ever. Nothing escaped Silent Death, nothing except Snarl.

Snarl discovered that there was a barrier called Window that could show it the outsides, where it watched the creature perch, watching in anger. But tonight was not one of those nights. Tonight, Silent Death got tired and went to find another meal. So Snarl rushed.

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Grab the curtains and swing on the dangling cord. Jump at the right time to land on the wooden frame then slide down into the chair. Jump on the nice and bouncy sleep spot and into the wooden edge. Grab the wooden leg and slide down, with the grace of a forest goblin that knows no fear, makes no noise, and needs no help.

Not a single mistake!

Snarl huffed out. No one was there to watch it do all of this. No one appreciated it.

But that was about to change tonight.

The tiny rock he worked on for days and days was now loose, and he can pull it out of its tiny lodging. It did not lead to the outside, but into more rocks. There he had found a small squeeze between two large rocks, one it would not pass through if its belly was still a large, round, and glorious figure. Then he had to push out another small rock to the outside.

The frigid winds struck him as soon as the rock moved out of its place, but it fell easily after the days of work.

It poked its tiny head out while hiding its big ears inside the hole. No yellow angry eyes, the sun was about to come up, and Silent Death liked to hunt at night. Most important of all was that the challenger that glared at Snarl was crawling through the bed of snow to participate in the most holy of goblinkind traditions.

A fight.