aurelia had not dared to leave iromar since she had arrived. it had been months since that time, winter sweeping away autumn, and it had long since passed time for her to tread outside of the marsh’s borders. her fear of seeing the family she had abandoned brought a guilt that twisted her stomach into knots and had become her primary reason for not leaving iromar. she knew she couldn’t hide forever, and with some trepidation, she left her refuge in the early morning.

the marshes had been blessed for the most part, not getting much snow, but it appeared the rest of moladion had not been quite so lucky. a thick blanket of snow coated the haven, pale grey sunlight reflecting off the white wonderland. she had no true idea of where she would be going, only that she wanted to avoid the den she had shared with her family. a run in with her mother or younger sister, or even worse, one of her brothers, would be painful for both parties and she’d much rather avoid that. she wandered through the free lands for a while, keeping a careful eye on the darkening sky.

unlike her brothers, she had pulled from her mother’s side of the family over nathaniel’s and bore a thin, silky coat to prove it. while her brothers remained unaffected by the chill of winter and acted as though they were dying in the summer, aurelia was quite the opposite; the bitter cold of winter went straight to her bones. just as she determined to head back to iromar, and to the warmth of her den, the first flakes of snow began to fall. with a groan, aurelia picked up her pace and prayed that she would make it back to the marshes before it got any worse. unfortunately, it became quite clear that that would not be the case. the snow began to come down much thicker and it became apparent to her that she would have to take shelter to wait out the worst of the snow or fairly freeze to death trying to get home.

just as she set to looking for somewhere with some form of coverage, a howl, muted by the snow, cut through the air. sighing with relief, aurelia began her trek in the direction it had come from, pleased to find it was not as far away as she once feared. she approached with some caution, two toned eyes landing on the trio already gathered there. she didn’t hesitate to offer a smile and a wave of her snow-laden tail when she was near though, slipping under the shelter.