The wolf that moves through the darkness does not seem to make any attempt at silence – Foxtail’s large ears catch his loud sigh and the heavy crunch of his paws. She withdraws farther into her makeshift den until only her harvest moon eyes gleam in the darkness, but he is coming closer, and will be upon her soon. The stranger sees her and slides to a stop, and the spray of clean snow matches the white of Foxtail’s suddenly bared teeth. He switches from bumbling fool to friendly in the time it takes her to blink, and while the she wolf stops her snarl relatively quickly, the thick russet fur on her neck remains fluffed.

She is not angry, merely anxious and literally cornered, and when he takes a few steps back from the mouth of her den, Foxtail seizes her opportunity. She slides out of the snowy little cave, pressed as far away from the pale wolf as she can, and she relaxes only when she has the open hillside to her back. With space to run she knows she is free – not even Tybalt can catch her when she runs. Foxtail might be bumbling and awkward at a wolf’s natural trot, she might be too skinny to bring down prey, but she has yet to find her match in a race.

Feeling a little more equal now, Foxtail inspects the stranger with her pale eyes, her ears flicking curiously as he speaks. He talks quite a bit, complimenting, apologizing, asking questions and offering advice. “You’re the first one that’s ever found me.” She tells him, omitting the fact that this is the first time she has sheltered her in the snow. In the summer and fall it had been a far more secluded place, with a deeper mouth to the tunnel and good log for scratching that is now buried beneath the snow.

“I’m Foxtail,” she says, and while her namesake currently hangs low and nearly hidden behind her, her dark lips, pale jaw and underbody, and red winter coat are enough of a hint behind her name. “And yes, I am alone.” She knows what they think of lone wolves here, of wolves that do not even try to join up with a band of other misfits. She does not care, she tells herself, she would rather be alone than be surrounded by strangers.