Like a moth to a flame, it seemed that trouble had a way of finding the snow-pelted female no matter where she took refuge. Even in the midnight-soaked tresses of the bowels of the earth, it hunted her down and cornered her. What other wolf could say that, in the space of a month, she had been burned beyond recognition, almost eaten by the nameless wraith known only by herself as Tick Tock, and pillaged by a lustful Tobias. She had therefore had very good reason to tunnel like a gopher into the abyss, and was rightly disgruntled that, even in such a dismal place, the world had sent yet another envoy of death.

Despite the disturbance, the night was otherwise peaceful. A cold breeze gusted by every now and then, but it stirred no snow flurries into being, and it did not even lift the pale fringe of the reclining one. Through the mouth of the cavern, a smattering of stars was clearly visible in the indigo dark, made even brighter by the cold illumination winter brings with it. If Fiammetta shut her eye, she could almost forget the presence of the creature plaguing the ground before her. Almost. With a resigned sigh, she bent her svelte head to regard the large, raven female, her position high above the other's reach lending her a feeling of quiet contentment she rarely had the opportunity to feel. The crescendo of the other's words ricocheted off the cavern walls around them still, although faintly, and she shook her head to rid herself of the voluminous sound. A few moons prior, she may well have reacted much differently to threatening words spoken with such obvious dark intent, but recent experiences had lent the femme an almost sarcastic tone that had been previously unknown to her, “I wouldn't talk so loudly if I were you, heaven only knows what hell-touched phantoms lurk in these caves,” a sneer quick as a flash of lightning lit up her muzzle before fading to be replaced by an ever so subtle snarl that could almost be mistaken for a twitch. Her manner may have been slightly more subdued than before, but the fire in her single red and orange orb promised that she harboured the same smouldering soul she always had done.

So focused was she on the two-toned girl before her that she would not have noticed the strong perfume of another had the breeze not changed its course right then and whistled through the caverns, bringing the stranger's scent to her flaring nostrils. Her single eye narrowed dangerously but she did not stand, for it would only have revealed her height for what it was; diminutive. Instead she slowly turned her head as if listening and, in doing so, displayed her horrific injuries However, far from weakening her, they seemed to have made her stronger, and they had given her a look more terrible than Tobias. The whole one side of her body was a gnarled mass of flesh and healing wounds that extended from the base of her tail to the tip of her muzzle. Her eye socket was naught but a criss-crossed network of collagen fibres, and her ear seemed to have withered away from the heat, leaving a stump as unimpressive as a furled tulip. Her other side was almost as terrible. Although her fur on this half was white and luxurious as ever, it too was littered with wounds received from Tick Tock. A large, jagged scab cut into the area of her shoulder, weeping quietly, and it was clear that her right shoulder blade jutted out further than her left, due to an injured trapezius muscle. Only her last remaining eye and her slash of russet fur remained relatively untouched. Wherever she went, her new appearance earned her respect and, if not that, at the very least it made others uneasy to look at her.

She blinked once, slowly, before eyeing the other wolf again, “Come now, that's hardly fair! Calling your mate to stalk me from the shadows while you keep me busy. I'd be quite happy to engage you if its my blood you want.”

She waited impatiently for the girl to reply, still quite certain that the lurker was known to her.

Fiammetta - Female - No Home - No Family - 4YO - 28 inches, 32 pounds