Windy Peak

Gale had been following the group of wolves in almost silence. His paws made soft crunching sounds as the tread on the snowy ground and even though it bit into his pads when he stepped too heavily, he gave no show of the discomfort he was experiencing. His thoughts were quiet as he continued on in the same silence. The green eyes that often absorbed everything and gave away nothing like black holes were strangely dimmed. For once, the beta wasn't even bothering to check his surroundings while the group of Banishing Winds members traversed over the snowy landscape.

That was what would make him believe that it was all his fault.

It was a sudden change in the air that foretold of the incoming and inescapable danger. Gale had ignored the prickling feeling in his coat and instead let his green eyes wander up and to where Adena was walking with the rest of the pack. The young female had earned a high place in the pack and quickly rose in the ranks to be alongside him as a beta. She seemed just as distracted as he; for a brief moment he thought of going to speak to her and to ask her what was on her mind. Instead, however he heard a low rumble. For a moment, he was confused as to what would possibly make such a sound. That confusion was quickly replaced by a heart pinching fear as he recognized it.

The wall of snow quickly fell towards the travelling group and Gale raced forward in hope of helping those who had not yet realized the danger. Of course, he tried to reach Adena first, but the beta had already retreated far enough away to be out of the avalanche's clutches. He, however did not have the same luck. With the burst of speed he had used to cover ground, it placed him right in the path of the tumbling snow. There was no way out of him and he knew such as true. Instead of trying a retreat, the Wanderer braced himself and hoped that no one else would be caught in the suffocating power.

He only had a few moments to glance towards Adena and meet her silver-blue eyes before he was swallowed up and swept away.

[Lame..]

Lelio blinked open weary eyes and instantly wished he hadn't. not only did his whole body ach and his paw felt numb, but he had gone blind. All he could see was a bubble of white all around him. He lay there, pain seeping in from different bruises, cuts and a single paw, and let his memory take over.

He remembered the shaking of the ground and then a horrible wall of white sliding towards him and the pack. He opened his eyes and tested the land around him to find it was cold but solid. the only way he was even alive right now is because he was underneath a small rock overhang which had provided for some shelter and made the snow create a bubble around him. now how much snow was really on top and around him was anyone's guess, but he knew the dangers of trying to claw his way out, he might end up collapsing his safety net.

He sighed. "Now what are you going to do buddy ol' boy? You have been in many a situation but none like this." thinking of Linnea who had been so close to him he gave a small chuckle just to keep the fear of impending doom away "Lelio, you sure know how to give a girl a good time." Even that was hard to say, since he had no clue if anyone had survived the avalanche to get him or anyone else out of where they were.

looking down at his paw fear came over him, It looked sprained if not broken all together. if not taken care of it was very possible it would heal wrong...or not at all. he shut his eyes and lay back against his rock of safety, if he made it through this he was going to thank this rock...maybe find it a girlfriend?

Linnëa's eyes fluttered open with a gasp of breath. At first, she could not comprehend what her eyes could see. A dark, shadowy sort of place she was in with some light leaking in from above her. She was squished, to say the least. Everywhere around her was pressed in, and almost as hard as concrete. It was how avalanches were, when the snow sets it is just hard. Immediately, her heart sped up and she felt adrenaline fill her as if she was some sort of baloon. TRAPPEDTRAPPEDTRAPPED was all she could think. For, in the least, it was like a coffin. No escape, all she felt was cold that seeped into her coat. Doom. It caused terror to rip violently through the female. Like a flash of lightning. All she knew to do in this wild, awakened state where all she knew were bare instincts was to flail and struggle.

It was a bad choice immediately. Within minutes her strength was almost gone and all she had managed was to move around enough to make her prision round. She was able to lay down properly and was no longer upsidedown or awkward, but that did not releive her stress. She was still panicked, cold, and laying defeated in her frigid hold. Eventually, after a few minutes, the freezing temperatures and her soddened coat caused her to just accept defeat. She was dead. She had failed her pack. The alphess was going to need to be replaced just after she had been appointed. She closed her eyes.

And then heard a muffled voice. She shot up and began to claw the wall that closed off the khaki female from whoever was nearby, and only one word managed to escape her maw. "HELP" She barked, throwing herself at this wall with the last bits of strength she had. She was panicked and awake once again, but now her only hope was to be heard by this nearby wolf whom was as trapped as she. But she didn't want to die alone.

Lelio opened his eyes at the distant cry of help coming from somewhere nearby. His paw was still numb but he stood putting weight on the front ones and the left back one, and went to the wall where the cry had come from. "Hello?" he asked tentatively, afraid his mind was already begin to play tricks on him. he dug carefully on the wall, not letting his right foot touch the ground and slowly the the wall between him and the wolf nearest him bean to thin as did the bubble of safety he had as it lost one of it's support walls. He hope it would hold so he could go through and that it was not a load bearing wall of snow...that would mean his death.

finally a small whole made it's way into the wall and he stuck his head into a small round whole and the fur of a very warm body. pulling back a little he smiled, "Why hello beautiful!" he said with enthusiasm having not lost all the flirt in him.

Linnëa recoiled in shock as a head suddenly pushed through the last bits of the separating snow, poking her in he chest. When she recognised it, she threw herself at the remainder of the wall, plowing it over and knocking into Lelio with a decent amount of force behind it. He had gotten it much better than she, and apparently had the time to get under a rock too, so there was a wonderful bubble. Though it was just as cold as hers, it was bigger and allowed more room to panic. Her eyes were wild, and Lelio's flirting hardly registered in her mind.

She was still trapped, but at least the female was not alone. And she was not being pressed on from all sides. But it was hard to calm down in this situation, still a coffin. She looked to Lelio, her eyes as serious as was physically possible. She scrutinized him for a moment, and then spoke.

"Is there a way out?"

Lelio was unprepared for the body that flew at him, and barely registered what was happening until a shoot of hot pain laced up his leg. He held in a gasp and managed to hear Linnea's question but it took a moment to answer.

"No, it is a round hole here. And i don't know how deep we are..." He said it still sounded pained and breathy, but there was hardly anything he could do for that. He moved slightly so that he was cradling his injured foot into his side, he looked into her small cave and realized that he had gotten off easy, his hole was much bigger and he had the rock.

Arisah’s eyes opened to a world of white and cold and panic. Blinking away the sharp brightness, she drew in a few deep breaths to try forcing herself to calm down. For a long moment she struggled to gain control over her rapidly beating heart and the terror that was rippling through her muscles: the world was pressing in on her, the cold was seeping into her pelt and she was covered in a myriad of cuts, scratches and bruises from her tumble. Arisah, you are a scholar of the Banishing Winds. Scholars do not panic, they assess the worst situations and find a way to fix them. They do not lose their heads the second something goes amiss, they make it better. The mental scolding, sharp (and admittedly a little frenzied) did the trick. A sense of detached, clinical calm settled in her bones and pushed out everything else—pain, fear, cold.

This was nothing different than a wounded wolf, a sick packmate, an ailment to be observed, diagnosed and treated. If she could maintain that frame of mind, perhaps she could make it out of this alive. (If not, well, at least it would not be for lack of trying).

Drawing in one more deep breath, pushing everything else to the back of her mind, Ari took stock of the situation. First things first, she needed to know her own limits. Slowly, allowing herself to think about what hurt and what didn’t, the patch pelted scholar wiggled her limbs, blessedly determining that nothing was broken or injured too badly, though a cut on her right forepaw, where she’d caught the ice the sent her stumbling, was slowly dyeing the snow red. With a careful twist of her other forepaw, Ari pressed some snow against it, letting the cold stem the bloodflow and ease the sting. That took care of that, now for the rest of it.

She had very little room to move, the snow was packed around the small cavern made by her body, but it wasn’t tightly pressed everywhere: she could wiggle a bit, here and there. Pushing her limits, shouldering around for some purchase, Ari managed to create a bit more space for herself, though she was a long way from being able to stand (though honestly, she wasn’t sure she could be certain which way was really right side up if she did). Of course, this realization brought her another one: how on earth was she going to know which was to try and move, when she couldn’t be certain if she was getting farther or nearer to safety.

That thought put a crack in her layer of calm detachment. The desperation started to edge up beneath her fur once more, Arisah took a chance that perhaps someone would be near enough, and the snow thin enough, to hear her. If she could catch a voice, a pawstep, the wind even, it might tell her which direction to struggle towards. Channeling her energy, and with it her fear, Arisah let out a series of sharp barks and then a howl. Now to wait, and hope and see what would happen.

The realization that she might run out of air before anything else happened came upon Ari suddenly, as she kept her ears cocked and straining, hoping to catch a sound that might indicate which direction lead to life. In the moment that it overtook her, she gasped suddenly, her breath becoming frantic at the thought of it eventually becoming impossible. Once again she grappled with her mind, forcing her hard earned, often practiced, scholar-like, healing calmness to sooth her fraying nerves. When her breathing evened out once more, she noted that something had changed. Faint, all but barely there, Arisah thought she could make out the sound of barking.

Perking her ears forward, swiveling to the sound that caused hope to burst and blossom in her chest like the sunrise after a storm, she listened closely. It was there, or her mind was playing tricks on her already, but that was a chance to was not willing to pass by. Drawing precious air into her lungs (the irony of her last and most dire resource being the same as her oft-used nickname was hardly lost on her), Arisah began to bark again. To her ears, trapped in this pressing cavern of muffling snow, the sound was hard, desperate and deafening as it reverberated into her ears. She just hoped it was loud enough to guide and help whoever was, hopefully, up there.

"No, it is a round hole here. And i don't know how deep we are..."

Linnëa gave him a look of shock, even though she had thoroughly been expecting the answer. Her ears pinned, and she slunk back from the male, slowly backing until her back end hit the icy wall of snow behind her. Her blue eyes were frightened. It was not so much death, but the fact that she had only just been appointed alphess after the last had left. And now, she was going to die? She felt as if a failure. Her body slowly slid to the ground, and she stared emotionless at the rough, frigid floor. A light shiver began to ripple through her coat. Many thoughts, faces, and memories passed through her mind. Her friends, past and present.

"I'm a failure." She whispered, dropping her head to the ground solemnly. She knew it too. So simply, she felt doomed to a horrid and freezing death. The only consolidation was that she had managed to hopefully spare Crimson from the torrent of snow. But what of Gale? Would he die? Her eyes got an absolute look of terror at the thought. What if she had failed her pack?

Soon, however, her thoughts faded to instincts once again as her shiver gradually grew more prominent. She eventually regained her senses and looked to Lelio, seeing his leg cradled against his side. "I'm sorry" She murmured. She'd run him over and hurt him, which only made her feel far more horrible. She averted eye contact. "I'm sorry for not noticing the avalanche.. For running you over. " Her voice gradually gained more emotion. She loathed herself for it, too. So much drama and feeling to escape her untethered. It felt hot and burning, and she hated it an unbelievable amount. But she could not help herself. It was such a terrible feeling and whether she could escape it was questionable. "I-I'm sorry" A shiver marred her words, mottled them with an awkward sputter as the cold continued to seep into her coat. That would be the end of the two if they were not found, death by freezing as hard as the stone that offered them only a larger hole to die in. Either that, or suffocation. Both were a dim prognosis and nothing to be happy about.

She only knew one more thing she could do, though whether the alphess would be heard was questionable. Gathering a huge amount of frigid air in her lungs, a piercing and recognizable howl boomed through the small cavern-like hole they were in. She hoped her cries for help would be heard. Her howl, as always, was like that of a song. But it was not a happy song. It was, as it had been when she was chased by the snow, sad and only went lower and lower and pitch before she was almost humming. Then, the howl ended, and only echoes were left of the noise.

Kitara had felt the thoughts of the other wolves they were worried, shocked, and cold. Probably fearing for their lives. Whether she knew them or not she knew they needed help. As she stared at the frozen pile of snow she heard the howl of a wolf in the pile. At least she knew one of them was alive but did all of them make it? Then Kitara began to poke her nose into the well compacted snow she broke a hole into it and gave out a bark. Then she hopped slightly onto the top of the pile and took delicate steps then she scraped at the snow hoping to find a large hole that contained the wolves. As the snow gave away she jumped back. Her paws were freezing at this point but she had dugout a large amount of the snow now there was a giant gap in the snow. When she got back onto the pile she peered over the edge. She did not know whether she was going to have to dig deeper to uncover the wolves but she hoped that she could at least find one. Her paws ached from the ice and frigid snow plastered on her pads.

Lelio shook his head as she sat and let herself feel like a failure. Getting up and limping to her side and lay and cradled around her for warmth's sake. in a quiet whisper so as not to use what precious air they had he spoke to her. "you could not have known this was going to happen know one could, it just does, i do not blame you and i am sure no one else will. We will live, but we have to stay positive." his eyes were solemn, hiding the fear he really felt. This was not how he wanted to go, he had wanted to go down fighting. He had wanted to find his father and see why he had left. He wanted so many things, most of all just to be accepted. "I can't do this alone..." His words were more to himself than her, but his next were meant to cheer her up. "Besides you get to spend more time with charming me, how can you die when you are in my radiance?" She said with a smile moving closer when her shiver increased, her howl still echoing in the air.

(Eh...lame)

"Besides you get to spend more time with charming me, how can you die when you are in my radiance?"

"Your radiance? What sort of a statement is that? You speak as if you are some sort of mythical creature." She grumbled, moving away from the male with a look of disgust. He was horribly irritating to her at the moment, and was full of some sort of self-preserving aura that caused her emotions to reel with annoyance. So, he thought of himself as some sort of beautiful radiant beast? When she looked at him, rather than seeing some handsome male others would see, she saw a brown and black mixed male with a fat head. She growled. The statement annoyed her deeply, the tone and all. He was no magnificent beast, no unicorn or mythical creature or Aphrodite. He was Lelio, a Guardian, a wolf. The khaki female stood, and slowly edged away from him, content to die alone rather than in his radiance. Just when he seemed to tone down to normal emotions, the male's flirty side burst out like an obnoxiously big firework.

She then heard light digging above them, and looked up. But what caused her dismay was that whoever was attempting to help the slowly freezing wolves was digging over a rock. Pinning her ears, she found not the strength to bark and alarm the wolf of their missing. She only continued her movement, until she ascended into the hole she had previously been trapped in. Her back was facing the male. She didn't need his radiance. She wanted Gale or Crimson, or Adena, or Liafi, or someone who was her friend. But all she had was an obnoxious flirt who seemed consumed in himself.

She curled up in her hole, slowly finding herself descending into a cold-prolonged sleep. It would not be long before she was consumed in a never ending sleep, and whomever was above had better move away from the rock before the alphess was consumed by death.

Lelio smiled his main goal accomplished as she burst out in a rage at him. He knew most wolves didn't like him, he knew that they hated he was a flirt, but in times like this he was glad he was this way. "Got you to stop thinking you were a failure didn't I?" he asked before letting out a few short barks at the wolf digging above them. He was sad the female beside him disliked him so, but she was an alpha, and alphas had no room in their lives for self doubt, it just was not becoming.

Focusing now on the wolf above him, he was worried they would not break through before the two wolves down here began to lose even more air.

(Still lame)

Gale was spinning and rolling and colliding with rocks as the avalanche carried him further and further away from the previous location of the pack. His entire world was white and ever changing as he continued on with the painful descent. At one point, he struck a particular sharp, jagged rock that tore his flesh and caused a laceration in his shoulder. The Wanderer dared not to grunt in pain for he did not wish to waste the oxygen that suddenly became so precious in a short amount of time. When he finally stopped, he knew that it would be most difficult for him to figure his way back to where he had been before the avalanche. Especially since he was dizzy and had to figure out which way was up. His head throbbed and even though he couldn't twist his head to see the wound, he felt great drops of carmine blood slide down and redden the snow to create a macabre snow cone. Once his sense of vertigo vanished completely he struggled to his feet and stood in an air bubble. Snow encircled him and made it impossible for him to escape without there being a chance that the male would be crushed under the weight of the snow above. Luckily the bubble was large enough for the huge wolf to stand and gain his bearings. His balance was slightly off because of his laceration; he had to keep his right fore paw off the snowy ground.

The beta had just tilted his head to the side and began plotting his way out when he heard muffled voices above him. Listening carefully, he realized that the new lead guardian Lelio and Linnëa were above him in another pocket. The snow was too thick for the two to fall into Gale's air pocket and it would be too thick for him to dig through. That and he could risk collapsing the snow above; effectively burying him. With careful judgment and walking to the very corner of the air pocket, he found a spot that seemed thinner than the rest of the area. He would not risk digging through, but maybe he could leap?

Bunching down and fixing his green gaze up, the Wanderer made a judgement as to where he'd have to hit in order to escape. The spot where he was wasn't nearly as high as his previous spot; he'd have a higher chance of getting out of this situation alive. Gritting his teeth against the pain of his wound, Gale leaped straight up and smashed against the snow, breaking through it. To Lelio and Linnëa he must have looked like a rabbit emerging from its hole. Panting, the male pulled his weight out of the hole he created as the snow crumbled below him. Shaking his coat, the Wanderer gently pushed Lelio to the side and went to stand behind Linnëa.

"Miss me?"

[Really rushed. Sorry you guys!]

"Miss me?"

The voice that came from behind the khaki female's back was completely surprising to her. She froze, but not literally as she was not yet that cold, and then turned slowly, her blue eyes focusing on the wanderer for a few silent moments. Then, pure joy bloomed in the tired and cold female's demeanor, and she stood, slowly pawing towards him. She would have ran, and maybe even tackled him in pure excitement, but she was cold and exhausted. She pressed her muzzle into his huge shoulder, pressing her head and neck against him. He was far warmer than she was, and her fur was frigid. Her skin burned with cold, frankly it was quite prickly and painful. "Gale" She said quietly and excitedly, her tail slowly taking up a dull wave.

"You're alive" She looked up to the male then, her blue eyes were smiling on their own as she watched him. And, it pained her some to know he liked Adena and not the khaki female, though she did not let herself feel jealous of it. A few males had indeed liked Adena, and rightfully so, the red female was very elegant and interesting. Both the males that Linnëa would have decided to choose as her mate, if they would have liked her and they had gotten the proper time to know one another, liked the red female. Linnëa felt, to put it simply, dreadfully friend-zoned. Not that she did not want to be friends with them. She was perfectly fine being friends. But it still hurt.

She then backed off, waiting for his own reaction. Whether or not he would return her accidental affection, or just give a simple greeting was questionable to her. And, now that the joy had subsided some, her shivers were easy to see if not far more violent then when they had first arisen.

The fault was hers. Had she been looking, she could have avoided this deadly situation. Linnëa wouldn't be missing. Gale wouldn't be missing. But Adena had been caught up with silly thoughts. It was her mind going astray that caused the pack to be in these dire circumstances. As the world began to still once more, leaving behind only Adena, Crimson, and a few others including Falco and Liafi, a sense of despair filled her. Finn, whom she had not seen in quite a while, had returned, it seemed. He was safe - and he was digging. But how could they find anyone in this? Even if those trapped under the snow tried to call to them, would they be heard? Would she be able to reach anyone in time before they either suffocated or froze or, in the long-run, starved? The avalanche had taken away what was dearest to the fiery female, and now she feared that she would never regain it.

From where she stood at the edge of the tree line she could see her pack slipping away before her, being taken silently into the drifts that were left behind in the path of the avalanche. And it was all her fault. Her terror-filled eyes followed the snow as it slowed, nearing the end of its journey, but she could only watch in silent horror as her pack were engulfed into the whiteness. Adena looked again at Crimson. He should have been gathering them, telling them how they were going to overcome this incident. But he was standing, shocked and frozen - though she doubted it was because of the cold. Adena began to quickly make her way over to him, acutely aware that if they wasted time, lives would be lost.

If she left when this was all over, would it be her solution? Or was it simply the easy way out? What would Crimson think if he knew that she was considering leaving the pack just as he promoted her to beta?

Disregarding thoughts of leaving, the russet female neared the alpha. "Crimson?" she probed quietly, almost afraid of speaking too loudly. "Crimson, we need to find them. Now." She poked the male on the shoulder with her nose, ignoring the fact that it was an unnatural action for someone as frigid as herself. They needed to help the others, it was as simple as that, and it was not the time for Adena to be fickle. Crimson needed to lead them, and she needed to help the others.


"Hey, Come down here! Some members are trapped, we need to get them out before they freeze!"

Having spoken to Crimson, she turned and propelled herself across the snow, sprinting as fast as it would allow. Her orange-tinged coat was stark against the clean white of the snow, but she was just a flash as she stumbled downhill. Her paws lost contact with the snow as the loose flakes rolled away beneath her thrashing form and she stumbled and slid. But she persisted. Adena was, foremost, a scout - even if she now held the rank of beta. Her ability to scent things and hear things from a distance was supposed to be finely tuned for most situations. It was times like these that she had to use these qualities, as it was a matter of life and death.

She was on her way towards the two digging males when a noise caught her attention. It came from under the snow to her right. Adena slowed her pace, half-skidding in her effort to halt. Her ears flicked warily as she listened for a sounds beneath the crunching snow. She tilted her head as she tried to get a better focus. She listened for sounds of movement, voices, breaths - anything. The method was effective. When she did hear the noise, it was a duller sound than what it probably was originally. The voice was quiet because the snow had muffled it, but it was definite. And then another, higher voice joined the previous one, perhaps that of a female. Was it Linnëa? Adena thrust herself into the snow and her paws slammed downwards in an attempt to break away the snow, causing a crunching sound. She withdrew her head as she went deeper. Her paws then began to work methodically, digging away to try and reach the wolves that had been buried by the snow. She had no idea how deep the were down, but it didn't matter. Not even as her paws succumbed to the numbing of the cold snow did she stop. If some of those down there didn't survive or were injured, Adena didn't know if she could forgive herself.

[Terrible.]

All was silent for many painful moments as the khaki female awaited Gale's reaction, but none came. As she turned her attention away from the male, her shivers becoming more violent by the second, a very nearby digging noise caught her attention. This digging was far closer then the other female's had been, it was just above them, and seemed fairly near and very well aimed. Her blue eyes gained mute hope as she listened to the steady digging, though she was unaware that it was her fiery friend Adena. Soon, she too decided to put some effort in, as to help the female and to help her friends. So far, with her long but thinner coat, she was fairly sure that she was by far the coldest. And, she had been pressed before in the snow in a manner that allowed the cold snow to get to her less denser furred areas. Whether or not the female would be able to warm up easily was very questionable. But she did not give up, as alphess she felt obligated to try and give her last efforts to benefit the two males with her. Even if one saw her only as a friend, and the other was an impulsive flirt. That was of no matter to her, they were pack mates. And pack mates helped one another. The female wished she would have had the chance to give her life up to save many of her past friends that had died in battle, far from the current time. In fact she had not thought about her past for a long time.

She took a few steps forward, her long ears attentive to where the digging came from. It was near one of the walls, which was perfect for how she could help. She propped her front legs on the wall, standing slightly as she raised a paw to begin scratching at the ceiling of their tomb. She slowly got better at this method, adjusting until she could get a substantial amount of ice from where the two females were now digging. With one on either side, it was sure to give results eventually. All that could be heard for a few minutes was scratching and digging, but soon a gasp of joy filled the cave as a small hole the size of a quarter was revealed. She could see the light that filtered through, and even a small glimpse of the coat on the other side.

"Adena!" She yelped with joy. The female took her paw that was against the wall and began to dig with both, fighting to maintain her balance in such an awkward position as she slowly picked at the small hole. Her shivers were very violent now, which only made such a task harder. After a minute of picking at it, she lost what balance she had, falling hard on the rough and frigid floor of the hole. But she got up, and thus continued, feeling freedom for her and her friends was just at the tips of their toes.

Arisah wasn’t sure she had ever heard a sound more beautiful than that of claws scraping over packed snow and ice before: both because it reassured her help was on the way and because it meant she couldn’t be too deeply buried in the first place. If the snow had been piled deeply above her, a sound as subtle as digging claws would have gone unnoticed (as well as the barking calls that had allowed her to communicate with whomever it was that was digging their way towards saving her life).

This knowledge breathed fierce determination into Ari and a desperate need to not only survive, but make sure her packmates did as well. Shaken up before, and trying to calm herself, Arisah had not stopped to wonder who else might be in her same situation. Clearly some wolves had managed to escape the onslaught of snow, but who knew how many of the others were trapped in white, cold prison cells elsewhere? Linnea, at least, she had seen slip under the writhing sea of white, but what of the others? Phantom? Spirit? Finn? Liafi? Falco? Adena? The rest? She needed to get out as soon as possible, for them as well as her.

Taking a deep, collecting breath, Ari packed another pawful of snow over her cut and began to maneuver herself so she too could work away at the ceiling over her snow cell. Scraping, scratching, digging as best she could, it didn’t take long to realize it was a slow process given the angle she was at. Finally, giving up, Arisah collected her paws under her and began to shoulder at the low ceiling, pressing her weight against it and straining her muscles until finally, finally, something began to give and the snow crashed around her, head and shoulders popping out of the snow. Taking in great gulps of fresh air, she found herself eye level with two sets of legs and paws: one light brown and one white, before turning her gaze upwards and letting out a joyful bark. “Finn! Falco! Oh, thank goodness.” Gripping at the ground, tugging with her shoulders and pushing with her pack paws, she struggled through the break in her cave and into the sunlight.

Completely free, Arisah shook the loose snow from her pelt and turned back towards the two males, abandoning all semblance of manners or personal boundaries and giving them both a grateful nuzzle while letting out a shuddering breath that betrayed how truly afraid she’d been. “Thank you both so much,” the scholar said quietly, before stepping back and rebuilding her façade of controlled, scholar-like calm. “Who needs to be found yet?” She asked next, as it were no more than a game of hide-and-seek, and not a life or death struggle. There would be no death if they could help it, after all, they just needed to find the others.