Thankfully, the red wolf did not give the whole “picking up” thing a second try, and, instead, turned around and invited Aiden to follow. The boy didn’t move right way. With a lingering caution in his gaze, he watched as the red wolf took the first few steps before tentatively taking his first. Aiden proceeded warily until the distance had increased and the snow swirling between them threatened to erase both the red wolf and his footprints – then, it was a hurried scurry to catch up, and he all but ate the wolf’s feathers before realizing he had to slow down. Stopping short to avoid a collision, the boy let the stranger walk a length away before falling in step behind at a steady jog.

Aiden slowed down as they approached the mouth of the cave – that dark cropping in the rock walls he had spotted before the snow began to pick up. Wide, cautious eyes glanced around as he took a slow step into the shelter, and, glancing up to the rocky ceiling, he noticed an array of large spikes hanging down from above. That didn’t look very safe…

Fortunately, Aiden didn’t have to think about that for long, as a sudden splattering of wet, snowy slop hit him in the face. Flinching away, the boy shrunk back into the snow just outside the cave, ears laid back against his head in humble surprise. It didn’t take long for him to recover, though, and, a second later, he gave a brisk shake of his own before jogging into the shelter and occupying a space as far away from the red wolf as he could manage where he watched the stranger plop unceremoniously to the ground. His coat was far from dry, as the lingering puppy cotton had absorbed so much of the snow, but he felt significantly better already just being out of the wind.

Standing there against the far wall of the cave, Aiden couldn’t take his cautious eyes off the stranger. Even blinking, as automatic as the function was, felt like a bad idea. He couldn’t believe he had followed a complete stranger into a dark hole. It could have been a grave mistake. Still might be. He really didn’t know what to think about the whole ordeal, even with the red wolf making talk of venturing back out into the storm to find him something to eat.

“N-no!” Aiden stuttered in his haste to decline the offer, his head giving a quick, but emphasized, shake from side to side. “I’m fine.” The tightness in his voice and rigid set of his body as he back further against the wall seriously argued against his last statement, but he just couldn’t bring himself to ask this wolf to go fetch food for him out in the middle of a snowstorm. That was just… Well, it wasn’t necessary. Aiden could wait for the storm to die down, and then he’d go find something to eat for himself. Assuming the stranger didn’t turn out to be some crazy murderer or something, he’d be okay. He’d gotten along alright so far, had he not?

Aiden watched on intently as the stranger began to pick at the ice in his paws, trying to ignore the urge to do the same thing. He just… He wasn’t so sure he should let himself get comfortable just yet. Though, when the red wolf offered his name, the boy admittedly felt a little better. At least there was now a name to the face – Halcyon.

“I’m Aiden,” the boy offered quietly, figuring there was no harm in giving Halcyon his name. After all, Halcyon did it first. It would be rude not to. “Um…” Staring was rude, too, the boy remembered, and so he quickly averted his gaze to the floor, carefully to at least keep the red wolf well in his peripheral vision. “Thank you, by the way,” Aiden said just as quietly, eyes wandering all the way down to his large paws. “You know… For letting me stay here. I’ll go once the snow stops.”