A warmth pooled beneath his skull, a sickly, sticky feeling that was at odds with the chill of the surrounding snow. He could hear someone yelling his name, but the voice was distant, as if echoed across immeasurable distances. He wondered who could be calling for him, and why they sounded so scared. Was something the matter? Koda wished to lift his head, open his eyes, see just what was going wrong but found it impossible to even peek open a single eye. He wanted to help them, but couldn't bring his body to cooperate. His head, his eyelids, even his thoughts felt like heavy boulders, too difficult to move. His body demanded rest, and Koda found himself too weak to resist it.

Silence wrapped around his ears, the howling wind of the heights and the voice calling his name giving way to nothing. It was almost soothing, and if his head didn't ache so badly it would have been. He stepped forward in the darkness, ears and eyes searching but finding nothing. A gentle, feminine voice called his name, and his head turned to seek it. A she-wolf with an emerald eye that seemed to look right into his heart stood in the distance, so far out of reach. Walking, running, he tried to reach her but no matter how fast he ran she never did seem to get any closer. How long he had been running for, he didn't know. It could have been centuries, and he would run a million more for her. However, his efforts went unrewarded, and with a shimmer she simply disappeared into the darkness.

The sounds of the world gradually returned to him, and with great effort, Koda managed to work open a single honeyed eye. The brightness was blinding and he had to squint against the pale grey sky dappled by drifting snowflakes. It was winter, definitely, but just where in the world was he? His gaze wandered up the rocky wall that loomed above him, catching sight of two worried faces peering down at him. The first, a dark wolf, he did not know, but the other face, a rosey-furred older male took Koda by surprise.

"Cisco?" Koda murmured, and without thinking he made a move to stand before pain lanced through his skull and forced him back down to the ground. His eyes clamped shut, head pressed back against the snow, waiting for the agony to end. He wondered if it truly had been Cisco he had seen, after all, Koda had thought everyone had perished in the fire. Was it that Cisco was really alive? Or were they both dead? Unable to let the question sit unanswered for a moment longer, Koda forced his eyes back open, staring up at Cisco awestruck. "Is that really you?" Koda asked in a low voice.

Koda's brows furrowed as the brown wolf barreled towards him, asking if he was alright. The man somehow knew his name and truly looked worried for him, and Koda felt bad for not even knowing who he was. The longer he stared and tried to recall if there was anything familiar about the black mask of the male's face, the worse his skull seemed to throb.

A smile lit Koda's face, the reassuring touch of his uncle's snout much more comforting than the intrusive sniffing of the stranger. The little bit of contact was enough proof that Cisco was well and truly alive. The question of if anyone else was had made it out unharmed bubbled up into his thoughts, but that would be a question for another time. Something was wrong, but with his mind stuck like molasses Koda couldn't quite piece together the pain of his body and the distress of the others.

Koda's eyelids started to flick, threatening to close and let sleep pull him under again. Cisco's panicked voice was oddly soothing in its familiarity, the cant of his speech a sort of lullaby that his head couldn't help but sleepily nod along with. He tried to listen but really only caught a few words as they seemed to drift over his ears. One thing he did catch, however, was the phrase "head injury". A frown pulled at the corners of his mouth, trying to think through the fog that was hovering at the edges of his mind just waiting for the right moment to invade. It would certainly explain the excruciating pain in his head, and whatever caused that probably had something to do with the lesser burning along his shoulder. But, what had happened?

He looked upwards at Cisco, feeling like a child at his parents paws, utterly helpless.

Shade's words snaked in and out of his ears, and intermittently they wavered between cognition and confusion in his bleary mind. The brown wolf mentioned something about a leading lady beside him... He flicked a creamy ear, sure he must have misheard the man. That really was the only explanation, that his muddled brain had simply muddled the meaning.

As he got to his paws his stomach roiled and the incline felt like it was tipping and lurching under his feet. Stars burst across his vision from standing too quickly, and for a moment he staggered before leaning heavily on Cisco and the dark wolf. Gradually things steadied, and he let the two practically drag him up the incline. He'd really have to thank the stranger for helping him.

It was a tough climb upwards, his head pounding in time with the blood in his veins and his shoulder stinging in contact with the icy air. His feet felt unsteady and unsure beneath him, and he was grateful the support of the wolves at his side kept was enough to keep him from tumbling down the mountainside. Grateful to have the chance to rest again Koda lowered himself onto the snowy ground, quickly curling up his large form and tucking his nose under the tip of his tail. As it became evident the brown wolf was being sent off for help, Koda murmured a sleepy "Thank you," with his eyes already threatening to close again.