Coming from a tropical planet, chief engineer Turash-Kae had never seen snow before in her life. Her colleagues arranged her a surprise shore leave on Terra during the winter when their ship, the U.F.S. Pioneer, passed by the planet again for regular maintenance. They had managed to get in contact with one of Terra's most prominent ambassadors, Sabrina, and asked her if she would be open to receive a guest from their ship to stay over in a snow-covered Boston. Sabrina was all too willing to receive Kae, as it would be the first time she would meet a Chtyruce.

The cold was a bit of a shock to Kae, even though she had quite thick fur and a winter uniform set. Even the darkness, which she was used to on her forest covered home world, was different here and uncomfortable. Not even her horn light would make a change to that. Although she had quite a few interesting conversations with the Terran ambassador Sabrina, it was a mystery to her why her crew had sent her here, wondering if it wasn't all a joke on her (she wasn't too shabby to pull pranks of her own from time to time). She was wondering why people were so fond about snow and winter on this planet, as it was so unpleasant to her.

But Sabrina had to show her something. She took her to a nearby forest, just before dawn. And when the sun came up, Kae finally saw the beauty such winter landscapes would bring. The snow was sparkling in the light of the morning sun, shining its rays through low hanging fog. What had been darkness mere moments ago was now a bright landscape thanks to the white snow that was everywhere in the forest. It was almost magical. Kae finally understood the appeal...

...then she got hit by a snowball Sabrina threw at her. But Kae would soon strike back harder. Let the battle begin!
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This commission was originally meant as a gift to  Sabrina-taur, to thank them for allowing me to be part of their story universe as writer and artist. Some unexpected delays however delayed it to May... but it's better late than never, because the result looks absolutely stunning! The winter uniform design is designed by the artist, and I'd like to call this design canon, because that jacket looks so comfy!

Sabrina (Left) belongs to  Sabrina-taur
Turash-Kae (Right) belongs to  MandelSoft

Image drawn by Roxlyde-Art @ DeviantArt
Check out the original upload