This is so not the right way. Namid thought to herself, frowning deeply as she squinted at her surroundings. Of course, what way was the right way anymore? She’d been wandering in hopes of finding her home again, getting back to her friends and loved ones was her top priority. Or, rather, at this point, staying alive was. Her stomach felt as though it was eating itself, slowly caving in upon itself like a black hole. The rabbit she’d eaten the day before hardly satisfied her hunger. In the end, it had just left her craving more.

Her stamina was depleted drastically, her body obviously weak from weeks on her own. The Star Dancer’s paw pads were torn and bloody, slightly frost bitten from her travels across the land. She knew she had crossed lands she’d crossed before, but that had been in the summer when the trees swayed with sun kissed leaves and everything smelled of soil and life. Now, everything was cold, dead, and stale. The trees shuddered in on themselves, waiting to bud in the spring that seemed to never come. And, honestly, Namid was thinking that herself.

With her multicolored gaze drifting along, she didn’t notice the slight abnormality in the density of the snow. Her foreleg landed, then proceeded to break through a ledge of snow. Her balance was offset, and with a cry she was sent tumbling down a downgrade, falling over herself and rolling, trying desperately to regain her balance and failing terribly. All she could do was try her best to stay conscious as the world swirling around her. Finally, she came to a sliding stop at the bottom of the downgrade. A groan emitted from her throat, her body shuddering. She hadn’t broken anything, that much she could tell from the lack of intense pain. Not to say she wasn’t in pain, though. Her whole body throbbed, and all she felt like doing in that moment was laying there and letting the darkness that was clouding the edge of her vision take over.

However, that was not in her spirit. Clenching her teeth, she breathed in through her nose, then heaved herself to a standing position. Or, rather tried to. As soon as pressure was put on her right forepaw it gave out and a whine emitted from her maw as she stumbled. Lifting it from the ground she hissed through her teeth, glaring at it and moving to nudge it with her nose. Logically, she knew it was a bad idea but that didn’t stop her from doing it anyways. Pain shot up her leg and she whined again.

Just what she needed, a sprained ankle.

Namid simply stared at her paw for a moment, a feeling of dread welling up in her chest. There was no way she could walk on this, much less hunt or travel. This, by all means, could be the end of her. I am to be taken out by a sprained ankle? What a boring way to die, she thought mutely to herself. There was no one around that she knew of to save her, which simply left her to freeze and starve by herself.

However, out of her cloud of despair came the sound of crunching snow. Her cream colors auds perked, mismatches eyes widening as a bark rang through the air. The sound came from behind her and she turned slowly, hardly believing what she saw. A male wolf quickly trotted toward her, healthy and alert looking. His golden gaze was fixed on her position and his tawny pelt showed a sheen of health as well. It was obvious he was either very good at taking care of himself, or he was a part of a pack. In these conditions, it was most likely the ladder. That meant more wolves.

This thought should have scared her, that she could have been in the territory of other wolves and at this moment he could be coming to attack her. However, she was too stunned to think that far ahead. Here, in front of her, was another living soul, the likes of which she hadn’t seen in months. Her strangely paired eyes looked at him with a sense of disbelieve, paw still held above the ground carefully while her maw was held open slightly. Never before had the Star Dancer looked so dumb founded, nor so happy.

“P-pardon my question, but, are you…real?” She breathed out, her naturally formal way of speech slipping past her darkened lupine lips.

A sound came from the male, and Namid realized after a moment what that sound was. A chuckle was rumbling from his chest. She was confused as to why he was laughing for a moment, before rethinking her words. A bemused grin moved itself to her maw upon realizing how ridiculous she must have sounded to him. To ask someone who is clearly in front of you about their existence did seem rather foolish, downright stupid really. She chuckled lightly herself, a light sound she hadn’t made in months. It felt good to her, to be speaking and laughing again even though it had been such a short time that she had been speaking.

His laughter subsided and his gaze returned to its previous state, which, she noticed, showed concern. It was brought back to her attention the light throbbing of her paw and she looked down at it, crinkling her nose in distaste before looking up where she’d come from. She was shocked by how far she’d fallen without realizing it. Blinking, she returned her attention to the man. “My apologies, it has been a while since I have had contact with anything other than my food and my thoughts. I am a bit shocked to see you, I suppose. Yes, I believe I am alright. My paw, however, seems to be sprained…” She replied surprisingly calmly, though there was some amusement to be heard in her voice. It occurred to her, at that moment, that she had yet to introduce herself. Perhaps she should have started there. “I am Namid Macieo.” The Star Dancer introduced hastily, dipping her head in slight embarrassment.

The man, whom she found to be called Vespertio, seemed like a kind soul to her. That much could be told by his concern for her well-being, and that he had stuck around this long for her. Others would have likely told her to leave, her being so close to their home. She’d found that wolves were very protective of their property, and even being miles away from the actual homestead they would confront any other canine that stepped toward the vicinity. Of course, her time in Whisper Caverns had showed her the reason why. You protected your family, you could never be too careful about who came near them at risk of losing them.

She felt a sadness form in her chest, it having occurred to her that she’d lost two families already. In her condition, she knew she wouldn’t be getting back to them anytime soon. If at all, for she doubted the male knew about the location of the pack from where they were. Namid knew enough of the territory to know that there had never been a lake of this size near the caverns.

Lake

Looking around them again, she now noticed it. An enormous lake that seemed equal to that of a sea, stretching for miles. It hadn’t been as noticeable to her before for some reason, being that her focus had mainly turned from a tumbling world to Vespertio. It was covered in ice, drifts of snow stretching across its surface like a wrinkled blanket masking it from the land view. It would most likely be very obvious from a higher view, but here if one didn’t know that it was there, they would probably walk onto the ice easily. This made it occur to her that her situation could have been much worse if she had gone a bit further. Right now, she could be a frozen Namidsicle instead of dealing with a sprained, but dry, paw.

Bringing herself back to his comment she tilted her head, “Do you mean to say that wolves do not come crashing down from precarious heights all the time? How strange,” She replied, the only indication of joking on her face coming from the mused smile twitching at the corner of her maw. “It is a pleasure to meet you Vespertio. I thank you for coming to my aid, I know of others that would have chased me away long ago being so close to their home.” The Star Dancer commented in earnest, bowing her head to him this time in gratitude. Though he hadn’t yet done a lot for her, he had at least given her reassurance that she wasn’t going to die alone and frozen.

Her mismatched gaze traveled his movements, noticing the way he glanced across the river in a single direction. This led her to believe that was the way his home was set in, but she didn’t feel the need to ask. It wasn’t her business, and if he chose not to elaborate then he didn’t need to. In his gaze, she thought she saw something flicker. An emotion of some sort, but at soon as it was there it was gone and he was back to faint smiles and kind words. Perhaps she was wrong, maybe she hadn’t seen anything but she almost felt positive that she had. She knew nothing about Vespertio other than his name, his story being an enigma to her. Perhaps some things in past events were making themselves shown for some reason. Whatever it was, she didn’t let on that she noticed.

The next sentence that come out of his maw shocked her once again. He had invited her to stay with him, though it was quite an inopportune time she supposed with the way prey was scarce and her inability to hunt for herself if she did. Namid chewed on her cheek for a moment, mulling over the invitation carefully for both the good of herself and him. From the scent on him that she’d picked up, he wasn’t alone. It was faint, making it obvious that there weren’t many of them, but it was still strong enough to make it known of the presence of others. It was be unfair of her to ask them to care for her, and the thought of letting them do that made the mostly self-dependent she-wolf a little uncomfortable. However, that was the problem entirely. She couldn’t take care of herself, not at that moment. If she had any hope of actually making it in her condition, she would need the help of others. Even strangers like he and his companions. It would only be for a few weeks until she healed, then she would be out of his fur with compensation for his generosity.

A decision evident in her gaze she looked at him and nodded hesitantly, “That may be the best choice for the moment in my condition. I promise that I will not take advantage of your generosity, it will only be for a short time and when I am healed I will compensate you.” She accepted. The way her posture was set in that moment and the tone in her voice showed that she meant what she said. She’d just made a promise to the male, and the sternness in her vocals suggested that, even if he said it wasn’t needed, she would likely do it anyhow.