Her sister was dead and the first thing she had done was fled.

She could not tell if she was more upset that Sephrina had gone and died, or if she had not stayed to see the fall out. None of it mattered when she was faced with the harsh realities all around her now. Alone, unfed and undefended. Isla had to take things by force now without an ounce of backup.

Her life had become hers truly. No one else had say or sway now.

It also meant she could no longer be lazy and wait for things to fall into her lap. When she moved, in a tired stagger, it was with hungry eyes. Searching through the fresh, thick fall of snow for something else. Something weaker, something smaller. Anything she could snap her jaws on.

She could not die.

Snow this fresh was not at the stage where it crunched under steps. Which meant she had not realized him as she forged onward. Determined to find something, anything. An old, frozen cache. A den to wait out some of this continuing snow.

The biggest problem would be sorting through all this snow to find it. Find anything. At the very least, she could easily track back her steps after having trudged through all of this.

Which she had meant to do until suddenly the snow stopped in front of her. A drop between stone walls into the labyrinthine workings of the Keep.

Fuck.

She spun, on edge and faced the boy with a harsh look. Who was he?! More importantly, how long had he been there? Clearly long enough to hear what she had said.

Fuck you. That's what. She spat sourly and fixed him with a rude look. Thinning body took on a hard stance like she had learned from Rochus. She had to be extra mindful of her posturing now.

Who are you?

Admittedly she'd be surprised if he even answered! Especially with how she had started them off. Whatever. It was his fault, if they didn't get along. It could never be her fault.

Ryder.

The stalker boy who thought she'd play by his rules.

None of your business. She scoffed with a roll of her eyes. Her tail flicked behind her with mild irritation, a sweeping of snow going with her. A reminder of seemingly how much snow was all around here.

Is there always this much snow up here? He was a kid still. Nevermind that she was too. She just figured he had a home nearby somewhere. That he had been around here before. Enough to tell her if this whole place was a worthless wasteland of death traps covered by horrible feet of snow.

If that was the worst he had to say, then he was nothing more than another baby. Too stupid and too weak to know what the world was ready to give him at any moment.

Today the world had given him a shrewd Isla.

She watched as he stupidly neared the edge. Her features smoothed as an idea overcame her. Her grief had began to twirl into sharp anger at the world. He would just be another victim to it. If he wanted to be at the edge, he could risk the consequences. She side stepped to attempt to chuck a shoulder into him and force gravity to take hold.

If it failed? Well...it sure was a misfortune there was a lot of slippery fresh snow, huh? Just another accident in a long list of them.