A small puff of white clouded the air before my snout, a visual representation of the chill that had fallen across the mountains. But we were used to this, even when the signs of winter descended upon us sooner than expected. A shiver ran down my spine, but it wasn't from the cold. In fact, the dropping temperature invigorated my body and soul. Tilting my head back, I peered up into the wide open sky, only to be greeted by light flakes of white descending from the heavens to settle upon my nose. Blinking, I watched the spectacle of the first snow of the year for a moment, before lowering my head and looking out across the mountainside the sprawled before me. Home. Spirane.

It had been a quiet year, with Kalseru and I leading the pack side by side. There was a subtle current of unrest in our neighboring pack to the south, and from what I understood there had been changes in Diveen as well, but nothing unnerving had touched Spirane. In some regards I felt that things had perhaps been too quiet - though I could take part of the blame for that myself. Only recently Kalseru had taken a step back, relinquishing the power of primary leadership to me - a role which perhaps I had not yet fully taken in grasp to make a change to the quietness of the pack.

I could not pretend that the absence of Vortigern at my side hadn't set me back. It was my responsibility to take it in stride, to move forward and stay strong for the pack. But I yearned for him, my lifelong friend and chosen mate. My love. I knew, in the very marrow of my bones, that he would return to me - just as I had returned to him after our time apart before. But sometimes I couldn't help but wonder if the females in our family were cursed to walk the world alone. Daenerys had loved and lost Jericho and Leonidas alike, MoonGlow and Alcide had spent more of their mateship apart than together, and from what I could gather from stories even Boneclaw and Thunderbone had had their troubles. But maybe, just maybe that was what made the matriarchs of our family so strong. The ability to walk on when our partners could not walk at our sides. There was no love lost for them, for they lingered always within our hearts. But we had a job to do. And that job was to lead.

With snow slowly beginning to collect and fleck across my shoulders, I turned and followed a path along the mountainside, resolute in the job that I had to do. Greeting another day as Bewilderbeast of Spirane.