Winter
Imyasel snuggled up tightly with the big wolf. They did not find a den for the night but just used a rock, that shielded them a bit from the wind to rest. The warm and thick fur of Demon kept the little wolfess warm. Her own fur had grown and covered her whole body now. There were very little signs of her former self that collapsed from malnutrition. Her fur was silky and soft, and her body was lithe and agile.
She grew a bit stronger as well from the exercise of running every night for a long time and her hunting training. Even though she still called it training, Demon did not press her or teach her actively. He sometimes showed something to her and watched her repeat it, but she learned most of her skills by watching him and imitating his movements and tricks.
That Demon did not talk, and she also rarely talked to him, sharpened her senses as if words had been distracting her in her previous live and freed from having to deal with understanding or thinking about words, she began to trust her instincts and senses more.
She could tell by the scent of the bigger wolf when he got excited before a hunt or when he got ready to lay down for the day. A simple brush with his tail or twitch of his legs told her when he would change direction or wanted her to circle around to the side to trap a prey. They had become a well-oiled hunting machine.
In the last nights, she had felt the excitement in Demon grow stronger and she had to run very fast to keep up with his long steps. At the same time, she noticed that the air around them got even colder, which was one of the reasons she snuggled extremely close to Demon this day to get some warmth.
Imyasel had experienced a winter before, but it was already colder than in her old home and she felt her fur grow thicker and warmer than before. The same happened with Demons fur and she loved to push her nose into his belly fur, take in his scent and feel the warm embrace around her head.
The little girl fell asleep like that and when she woke up in the evening by Demon standing up, she hurried to get on her paws as well, as she noticed that he wanted to directly move on. They still climbed up the hill and the air got colder with each step.
In the middle of the night, Imyasel suddenly noticed something white falling down on them from above. She had never seen snow before and so she wondered for a while what this white stuff was. She was not worried, because she felt that Demon knew about this stuff and did not regard it as a danger. The cub inside her got out a bit and she snapped for a few of the snowflakes. They tasted like very cold water and melted in her mouth. It was a very weird but funny feeling.
The snowfall got stronger and soon Demon slowed down his steps and Imyasel only then noticed, that the ground around them began to turn white from all the snow. The trees, naked from losing all their leaves, stood like skeletons around them and piled small amounts of snow on their branches as well.
The ground became more slippery and Imyasel nearly fell a few times, when she stepped on a rock under the white cover, but soon she got used to the slippery ground and with the white blanket of the ground getting thicker the higher they climbed, it also became easier to not slip. The disadvantage in that was, that with the thick layer it became harder and more energy consuming for her to run at all.
She tried some time to run in the steps of Demon, but the steps of the big wolf were too far apart for her to walk in and so she had to fight with the snow in her own way, while the bigger wolf dropped the speed down considerably to adjust for his companion’s struggles.
She was completely exhausted, when Demon led her into a big cave at the end of the night. The morning sun showed her, that above them the mountain got steeper and when she looked down, she could not tell if they were even halfway up yet.
Demon also looked up the hill and she noticed resignation or sadness in him when he looked up and the excitement of the last week cooled down like the weather. He stepped inside and she followed him, snuggling up with the big body to warm up and rest. The night had been fun, with her first snow, but also very exhausting for the girl and she fell asleep instantly.
The next evening, she woke up, seeing the last rays of the sun falling into the den’s entrance. Demon still lay there, much more relaxed than she had seen him before. Imyasel wondered why he did not get ready for the night, because they had always been running all night long in the last weeks, but it seems that the bigger wolf decided to spend some more time in this den. He did not show any signs yet to get up.
Imyasel was a bit thankful for it because she only now felt that the exhaustion of the last night did not completely leave her. She kept laying snuggled up to the big wolf and enjoying his warmth, until, when the night was already dark outside, he stood up and stepped out of the den.
Imyasel followed him, but to her surprise, they did not turn upwards to the top of the mountain and his steps were slow and relaxed. She felt a tension in him that told her that he was in hunting mode, and she understood that he planned to get some meal. She knew her part in this and concentrated on all her senses to not miss a single faint sign of a prey.
They found two rabbits this night but no bigger prey. The rabbits at least kept both wolves fed and after the successful hunt, they both returned to the den and Demon settled in, even though only half the night was over.
“Are we not continuing our journey tonight?” she asked, and Demon only shook his head, after looking down on the little wolfess. “And tomorrow?” she added. It was weird for her to speak after so many nights with silence and she was surprised to even still being able to speak. Demon shook his head again and Imyasel left it at that. It seemed as if they would stay in this den for a while and Imyasel suspected that the weather around them was the reason for this.
She did not ask about the reasons or if this had been their destination all along and why. She had the feeling, that this was just a stop on their way and that this had not been the goal of Demon in the last weeks. She wondered if he was angry that they did not get there before the weather stopped them and if it was her fault for slowing him down.
The next weeks their life slowed down a bit. They went hunting daily and Demon started to teach Imyasel more actively but showing her different tricks and techniques to walk on the snow, track down prey or catch it. He waited for her to imitate him and nodded when she did it right or shook his head, when she failed and then showed it to her again. He had never taught her this actively before, but Imyasel liked the new way, because she felt that he was taking notice of her more and this somehow made her happy.
She also used all the time of resting, they rested most of the time when they were not hunting, to get close to Demon, not only for the warmth of his body, but because she felt safe and happy when she felt his warm body towering up right next to her. When she met him, he had been intimidating to her, but she knew his warm and caring personality now and that, at least for her, he was no danger but a protector.
With the weeks tickling by, she started to get better and better at hunting, so that a month later, when the snow piled up big around them and limited the area they could cover for hunting during the night, she even could go on a hunt for rabbits alone without Demon by her side, even though the big wolf was always in sight of her.
Snuggling up with each other even during the night became a routine and Imyasel loved the times where she smelled his heavy scent and felt his warmth and heard the rustling of the wind in his fur. It seemed that Demon enjoyed her company just as much, because he became very affectionate, nuzzling her when she closed in on him and he even started to adjust his posture in ways, that made it more comfortable for her. He also always let her eat first.
For Imyasel he felt much closer and loving than her father or brothers had felt. She felt a connection deep inside her, that was more than him just being her foster father or protector. She could not describe what it was, but she was sure, that they became a pack in the time they journeyed together.
Imyasel felt that Demon was a bit restless at times. With the winter growing stronger for nearly two months and snowstorms ruffling their fur all the time, she noticed him looking to the top of the mountain more often and a feeling of melancholy seemed to have gripped at him. Imyasel felt, that the goal of Demon lay somewhere at the peek of the mountain or behind that and that something inside him pulled him there and he longed to continue the journey.
The little wolfess wondered if she was the only reason he stayed here or if the way to his destination was just not approachable during this weather. Whatever it was, in the times he looked up the mountain, Imyasel felt a distance between herself and Demon that she did not like. She feared what would happen when they reached his goal and if it would change their relationship and how close they had grown together.
She began to dread the end of this season with all the snow. It was hard and cost a lot of energy to run in the snow, but it also created a lot of time where they could snuggle, and it seemed to be the only thing keeping Demon here with her. The girl tried her best to cheer up Demon, but she did not know how and the only way she came up with was to be extra eager with his daily training and be an exemplary student.
Imyasel did not notice the chance in her own persona. She had always hated the training her mother did with her and had tried to run away from it. She had been a scatterbrain and daydreamer. But her adventure, when she finally got one, had been much less romantic and much more brutal than she had ever imagined. But it was not this experience that had made her so diligent to learn and calm down and seek company rather than straying around alone.
The reason for her change was Demon. She trained and snuggled up with him to be close to the big wolf. She didn’t even remember the times when she had been afraid of him. Her world resolved around him and spurred on by impressing him and distracting his dark thoughts, that she still felt sometimes, her physics also changed from all the training she did with him and on her own. Even though she did not grow much, she got a bit bigger, but her muscles grew the most. She was still lithe, but especially her legs were strong and durable now with muscles rippling under her skin.
She was well fed and in best training and there were no signs of the scars and signs of malnutrition of her adventures after her pack’s death. She felt proud when she noticed that Demon trusted her more with every week, giving less instructions with his gestures now and also seeming less protective over her during their hunts. Imyasel felt grown up and adult the way he threated her now and it made her maiden heart flutter.
The wolfess had not noticed the first changes, but slowly the weather got warmer. She only noticed it, when the snow melted enough to show the first signs of rocks and smaller trees, that had been snowed in during the winter. With the warmer weather she also felt Demon, who had calmed down with the attention she had drawn to herself in the last month, getting more restless again and looking uphill eagerly every night.
Imyasel still did not ask him, also because she knew that she would not get an answer, what was up there, but she got just as restless as he got. There was an infectious excitement in Demon that gripped her as well. She felt that a new journey with him was inbound, and she was at the same time sad that their cozy winter got to an end and excited to find out what lay ahead and what was at the end of their journey.
With the warmer weather, the abundance of prey also increased, and they only had to hunt every two or three days now to get fed enough for their survival. Imyasel snuggled up with Demon as much as she could, feeling that this calm and relaxed life together with him would soon end, at least for some time. But it was not only Imyasel who got clingier. It seemed as if Demon also sought her company more. When they came back from a hunt and Imyasel lay down, it was now Demon who directly closed in on her and snuggled up against her back. He seemed to seek her company just as much as she did his.
The girl felt, that during this winter, they had really grown into a family. She felt as if she had finally found her pack in Demon. He was just one wolf, even though he was easily as bug as two, but for her he was all the pack she needed and a part of her was anxious of the changes to come and wish to stay like this forever.