Good heavens, was it cold! Aiden couldn’t ever remember having such a persistent shiver, nor could he remember so much snow. Then again, the fact that this was his first winter might have something to do with it. That, and the boy was pretty sure it was getting colder the further he walked. Which could also be a figment of his imagination. Either way, the fact remained that it was very cold, and there certainly was an awful lot of snow.
Still, despite the growing numbness in his toes, Aiden was just glad to be here. Not that he knew where “here” was, but it was decidedly elsewhere, and that was good. It wasn’t home – though, he supposed he didn’t really have a home anymore – and it wasn’t wherever that awful woman was forcing him off to. Sure, conditions could be better, but at least he blended in pretty well. All this snow made it easy to skirt around the more obvious predatory threats, and he’d even been able to sneak up on a mink a few days ago. It had resulted in a small struggle, but the end result was good – the first food he’d ever sourced for himself. All in all, he felt pretty okay.
Well… Relatively okay.
The wind had begun to pick up – something to do with the narrow crags that had risen up from the earth. The wind seemed to scream down the shallow stony walls, both literally and figuratively, tossing soft tufts of snow into his face. Squinting against the cold current, Aiden gave a violent shiver as the wind took a particularly bitter turn and a sharp dive in temperature. Well, he could take a hint. If he’d learned anything this past week, it was something about the way weather like to swat at you before doing something particularly mean. Something bad was brewing, and this needling wind was just the beginning.
Ahead, through the flurrying air, Aiden saw a darkness against the pale gray rocks – a hole. He couldn’t quite tell how large it was. The shift in the wind’s mood and the increasing amount of snow in the air was making it difficult to keep his eyes any more open than the barest squint, which didn’t exactly do wonders for sightseeing. The boy shifted his paws to take a more direct approach, figuring he’d have better luck discerning the size and extent of the cavern once he got a bit closer. For now, he trudged on, ducking his head against the blustering wind and snow, focused more on placing one foot in front of the other as he waged an uphill battle against the biting, cold stream.
It was a couple minutes before Aiden glanced up to check that he hadn’t ventured off-course. With the way the wind was throwing itself around, it would have been all too easy to stray a bit here and there. Squinting through the biting flurry, he had found himself right on-track, but…
Aiden’s paws came to a sudden halt as he spotted the earthy figure against the dark veil of the alcove. For a moment, he stared in panic and surprise, thinking, surely, the wolf was staring right at him. Then again, maybe not. He was staring straight at the wolf and still hadn’t made eye contact. Well, then... It wasn’t too late, right?
Ducking quickly, Aiden all but disappeared into the snow at his feet, crouching as low as his gangly limbs would allow. Even his ears flattened to the side to lower his profile, but his iridescent cadmium and cerulean eyes remained intently fixed on the figure in the shadow of the crags. He wasn’t really sure what to do from there, nor what might happen next. In all honesty, Aiden was a bit too tired and cold to think of much else.