Zharko’s insides seemed to freeze. His breath did not come and his heart did not beat. What if his sister was in the falling snow, her ashed meshing with their in beauty and death. Kicked back to life his heart decided instead to race. All the more reason to go and to find her! But the air was too cold and the ice was starting to fall fast. First his father’s fangs had chased him from the moors, then the fires had built a wall. Now the snow kept him grounded. But he needed to find Zafira, now at least to make sure she was still alive.

He looked at Amber’s eyes with his own. I hope my sister isn’t in the snow… He would miss her, at least one of them still needed to live.

At her second statement the boy ducked his head further. This place he had found had been out of the wind and the snow. Not a den but the rocks of the crags had sheltered him as much as such a natural formation could. There was a safety he felt in the solitude, he was nothing to anyone here. No one wanted to use him, no one loved him and no one wanted to kill him here. Maybe this wolf needed something, she just was not saying it. You can stay, if you want. The snow is not falling here. He said simply. It was too cold for him to go anywhere.