Exhaustion clawed at Edelweiss with dogged persistence, dragging at her limbs with every step she took. Movement took momentous effort, hindered further still by her injury and the thick snow. While long-legged, the rest of her frame was lanky; ill-suited to ploughing through snow. Still, she hobbled onward with grim determination. Stopping was not an option, not now. Around her the fog swirled, a smothering blanket the stole the warmth from all living things. It left her dusted in condensation, the liquid beading on the ochre-streaked fur of her pelt.

Taking another step, she let out a pained breath as the movement jarred her injured paw. Then, as she scanned the path in front of her (limited though her vision was by the fog), she stiffened. Ahead was a shadowy shape, indistinct in the obscuring mist, yet unmistakably lupine.

Silently, she panicked. Should she continue, regardless of the stranger? If they’re a threat, she can’t run, not with her paw. Fighting was an option, but a bleak one. She could change direction – but no. If she’d seen them, they’d almost certainly seen her. Really, there was only option; to continue.

Haltingly, she moved towards the figure. She felt herself shivering, and not from the cold. She was at war with her instincts, viciously supressing the urge to run. But despite that, no amount of control could hide the way her ears were pressed back against her head, or the way her tail was positioned between her legs.

After a few more steps, she was finally able to perceive the stranger properly. As she registers the fact that he is a male, and his intimidatingly frame, she feels a strangled whimper escape her maw. But then the male was speaking and she felt a miniscule amount of her anxiety dissipate.

Both his words and his body language indicate friend rather than foe. However, though she was greatly relieved for that fact, she was still all too aware of her situation.

As the tiger-striped male made an offer to travel with him, she made to take a reflexive step back, only to stumble on the uneven ground. Moments later, she gave an involuntary yelp as she inadvertently stepped with her injured paw.

Discomfited, she glanced back at the male, who was watching her with what she thought was concern. He repeated his offer, more insistent this time and Edelweiss was torn. The male – Kaplan, wasn’t it? – seemed to honestly want to help her. Yet, her natural suspicion reared its head. What were the chances that she’d stumbled across someone genuine at this time of night, in a place as inhospitable as the mountain was at the moment. Unease clear on her face, she met his gaze with her own amber one.

”Why, precisely, should I trust you?” she replied bitingly, the strength of her words belying the current weakness of her body, before continuing.“ I’m perfectly fine on my own,” she said, a blatant a lie as was ever told. Both she and the stranger knew she was far from alright, but nonetheless she was not going to admit that.


[OOC: sorry I took so long to lost this, and for its crappiness]