An eerie wind passed through the trees of the dense forest around her. The young brown girl slunk forwards through the trees avoiding the drifts of snow that gathered about her feet, all her senses on high alert. Her brow was crinkled with worry and the corners of her mouth pulled tight. Why? Why, why, why had they sent her away? Was it because she wasn’t strong enough? Brave enough? Was it because she was broken? As a branch snapped in the distance, the small girl flinched. Barely over a year old, she had been sent out on her own and told to find her siblings. Siblings she could hardly even remember. The noise sounded again and a small whine escaped her chest.

It wasn’t anything edible. That much she was certain of. She knew the scents of hare and deer, and anything remotely herbivorous well. This was... different. This smelled of danger. Her good eye darted and her ears swung forward, in the distance she could see something... no, someone? moving. Her skin crawled and everything went cold as the large cat moved though the trees. What should she do? She couldn’t fight it on her own...

Every hair stood on end as the beasts amber eyes fell on her. She was frozen with fright, and hadn’t realised she had stopped breathing until the small lights began to dance across her vision. She had been so focused on the large predator that she hadn’t even noticed the young one on her heels. The cat hissed. The wolf ran.