Winter was coming to an end, and yet the land was still held in its icy grip. The marshes were frozen over, the yellow stalks of plants poking out over the edge of the ice, all but dead. The lack of trees and withered plants meant there was little stop a cold, biting wind from whistling across the stillness of the landscape. Darkmoon braced against the gale, chin tucked into his chest in an attempt to conserve as much body heat as possible. He found it difficult to pay attention to much else other than how cold he felt, not that there was much to pay attention to. The marshes seemed deserted.
    Darkmoon was wrong, of course. Not far away, although camouflaged well against the ice and snow, was a grey female wolf who seemed pensive despite the weather. He did not notice her, however, and would likely have walked straight past her had a misstep not sent him falling to his face and sliding along the ice toward her. He groaned as he slowed, the place where his body had the met the ice bruised and sensitive. Struggling to his feet, his claws found it difficult to gain purchase on the smooth surface of the marsh, and instead chose to stay laying on the ice with his face averted, hoping she would just leave him be.

Darkmoon flinched when he felt the unwelcome touch of her cold nose against his shoulder. He tried to inch away from her, but her kind offer to help made him, and he felt a slight pang of guilt at the way he was acting. He was about to turn to face her, when she stated the obvious. He could not help but roll his eyes. He scoffed aloud, saying "No, I don't need your help." He said this with a lot more confidence than he felt, and with another struggle pushed himself to a sitting position, even if he could not get any more upright.
    Now that he was more stable and in a slightly less vulnerable position, he felt more in control of the situation. He looked her over, and noticed that she was shaking. She was young, and still growing, but had big paws to fill. Where was her pack? Surely she was too young to have left her family, not that Darkmoon himself had stayed with his long. "You're on your own?" he asked, without realising how threatening this could sound.