The journey wasn't a short one even for a healthy wolf, but Harmony knew her limits and had prepared for it. She'd taken the journey slow, allowing for plenty of rest for aching joints and an easily-exhausted stamina. It might not have been worth it for any other prey, but she could fish for a couple days and freeze enough to keep her in food and fish oil possibly for the rest of the winter. She would need to keep one eye on the weather and one eye out for frostbite, and another for other predators, and another for her to manage her own flagging endurance... she didn't have nearly enough eyes for that, she thought wryly to herself, but perhaps she could manage to split her attention enough to manage by herself.

She cautiously set paw on the river's ice, pleased to see that the thick layer of ice held her weight easily. The ice thinned slightly in the center of the river, but not enough to be worrying. She slipped out from under the deer hide she'd carried on her back, settling it on the ice to protect her from the chill that would be guaranteed to come from being motionless on ice for a long period of time. She also carried in her mouth a heavy, sharp ended stick - this she jabbed into the ice to work a hole in the surface, alternating between that and digging with her snowy paws until she had a decently sized hole through the ice to the sluggish dark water below her paws, then she set it next to her on the deer hide.

She proceeded to fish for hours, slowly accumulating a decent pile of dead and freezing fish beside her. It was arduous work, made more so by the creeping numbness of the cold. It slowed her body and fuzzed at her mind, and splitting her attention so much was beginning to wear on her.

That was when she made her mistake.

Paying attention to everything else more than she was her footing, Harmony leaned too far over the water to snatch at a fish swimming slowly beneath her... and her other paw slid right off the edge. The shock of icy water slapping her in the face and chest, engulfing her, froze her into thoughtlessness, and she could not shake herself out of it in time to attempt to drag herself back up, and she slipped beneath the ice.

Had the water moved any faster, Harmony might have been swept away beneath the ice, far far downriver of the one hole to life-saving air. But the current was just slow enough to allow her to strike out against it, driving and paddling furiously for that single hole of light that shone against the dark water. Her lungs burned; her heavy winter fur threatened to drag her down. Exhaustion blurred her eyes and panic clawed at her. She had to fight her own body to keep herself from just breathing in, in desperation for oxygen that she knew she could not get.

There!

Her slim muzzle finally broke the water's surface just as she lost the fight with her panic, and she gasped in a breath that was half water and half glorious, beautiful air. She gagged and choked on the water, but sought to heave herself out of the water. Dragged down by her fur and her muscles giving out on her she could only just managed to catch the edge of the ice beneath her front paws, and she clung grimly there, desperately, as she coughed out more water. "H-help me!" she cried out, to anyone... to no one. She did not have the strength to lift herself out, but already she could feel the bite of the wind and cold against her face, forming ice on the ends of the wet fur, and she shuddered painfully as involuntary shivers racked her form. "Help!" She raised her voice in a desperate howl, but it trailed off into a whine as she nearly slipped under again and dunked her head in the water before she could claw her way back up gasping.

He had risen from the depths of the sub-terrain in order to seek out food, anything to satisfy himself. He didn't know the lands well, nor where to acquire enough food to quell his gnawing hunger pangs. He'd lost some weight this harsh season, surviving mostly on very small game - rodents, to be precise. Even through a thick winter coat, one could see the outline of his ribcage and the sinew in his legs as he moved. He hadn't wanted to leave the underground, for he found the dimness and quiet most comforting. But real hunger drove him from that comfort, causing him to travel the lands, seeking out something better until the season would change and he could return to the hidden world beneath the surface lands.

That was how Ehrgeiz found himself at the edge of the Rio Grande, licking up any morsel of fish left over from another predator's meal. It was hardly enough to sustain his body, but he was still alive, the fog of his breath steaming around his parted jaws. As he drew in the frigid air through flared nostrils, he caught a slight drifting scent of fresh caught fish. It was not his preferred cuisine, but it would do. Licking his chops eagerly, his pace quickened almost involuntarily. The sooner he got there, the better.

He caught sight of the woman as she leaned over the water from the icy edge she crouched on, staring intently into the water. His singular blue eye crept away from her body to the pile of fish she'd just caught. Maybe he could snatch away a fish or two while she wasn't looking. Or maybe he could push her into the frozen river and just take her entire stash. He didn't bother hesitating another moment to think over what he'd do when he got there. He would eat today, and very soon.

Just as he placed a paw onto the icy edge of the river, he watched as the woman toppled face-first into the river. Ivory ears perked, and he couldn't help the cruel burst of laughter that escaped his jaws. What an idiot! he thought, hurrying toward the pile of fish, I won't even have to get rid of her myself. How convenient. "What a good girl, you've really done all the work for me, haven't you?" he said aloud as he approached the hole in the ice, just in time to see her muzzle breaking the water's surface. He heard the choking breath as she struggled for life, the gurgling cry for help - sky blue eye shifted back to the fish. It was all his.

Yet just then, a thought occurred to him as the woman gained a hold on the ice with her claws, scrambling to pull her drenched body out of the icy water. Perhaps this fish would fill him now and restore his strength for the time being. But what about the rest of winter? Who knew how long this treacherous season lasted in these lands? He didn't know how to fish, and he still wasn't sure where the best spots for prey were to be found. Perhaps, if he could spare just a moment of his time, expend just a little of his effort to rescue her, she could help him - if she survived. Her head went under again; clearly she was struggling to stay afloat. Shrugging to himself, he carefully placed himself at the edge of the ice, claws striving for a grip on the slippery surface. He waited for her head to come up again and then he stretched forward, his jaws grasping her scruff tightly. With a mighty heave, he pulled her drenched, shivering body upward and dragged her onto solid ice.

"Stupid woman," he muttered as he spat out water and tufts of fur, "Good thing you're just a skinny, drowned rat, otherwise it might have been too hard to pull you out." If she'd been too fat, he wasn't sure he'd have bothered. But as it was, she was out, sprawled on the ice and soaking wet. Ehrgeiz sauntered over to the pile of fish, reaching for one, when he paused with a sigh and looked back to the little lady. If he wanted her to survive, he'd have to find a way to get her dry and warmed up, immediately. Otherwise she'd turn into an icicle, and his effort spent rescuing her would be wasted. Grumbling, he went back to her, hovering over her drenched frame and looking down at her. "I suppose you'll want to get dried off," he said with a raised brow, "And I guess those fish won't move themselves. You got a den around here?" Hungry as he was, he'd wait for her to respond and try to get her sheltered before he stuffed himself on her prey.

A cry pulled him from his hunt. He didn't understand the words but fear transcended languages. Basileus knew a cry for help when he heard one. Quickly he leaped into action; taking off in the direction he thought the distressed call had come from. His head held high he scented the air for signs of trouble. Bear, perhaps? He wasn't familiar with the predator, but he did know they fished. It didn't occur to him that bears might be hibernating; all he knew was that a river was nearby.

All was silent around him. "Signorina?" He ran on, his ears straining for a sign that he was close. "Signorina!" After leaping over a sun bleached log Basileus found himself on the bank of the river. He was backtracking, possibly moving away from his quarry, and he wasn't bothered by that knowledge. Basileus was a man of honor, after all.

His gaze settled on a flurry of movement out on the ice. Without hesitation he leaped the remaining distance that separated him from the snow covered ice and began to pad towards the pair. By the time he reached them the woman was out of the water. He'd been in this land just long enough to get the sense that his native language was grievously underrepresented. Basil didn't have high hopes of being able to communicate effectively. His gaze, which lingered mainly on the man, darted between the pair. "Hai bisogno di aiuto?" What had she yelled? In a heavily accented voice, he repeated what the woman had said, "Help...me?"