More Than A Little While

Brown and gold grass stretched out before him in a bleak and dull field. Álarr settled down onto his haunches as he watched the wind rustle through it. A heavy sleet had fallen the night before but the rising sun, dull as it was, had already melted most of the sleet. Or perhaps it was some ambient heat in the earth that had done so. The air certainly didn't feel much warmer and the wind that blew from the north nipped at his nose and ears. Álarr reached up to scratch at the noticeable bumps on his head. Afi, who trailed behind him, had considered it some sort of bone cancer at first but now they were thinking it was something else. They grew perfectly symmetrical and he showed no other concerning symptoms. Byrnhildr, the white raven who flew above him, had mentioned how much they looked like the bumps on young bucks. Could he be getting horns?

Álarr wasn't sure how to feel about that idea. The wolves in his family had saber fangs and claws, not horns. Having no special mutation made him feel like a black sheep in the family but the horns were making him feel a bit more like a freak. Sighing he started walking down into the dancefloor. He wasn't alone. Valdís was doing some scouting and he'd tagged along after some convincing. Besides he wasn't going all that far and he was nine months old now. He needed a bit of freedom. Valdís, not one for a maternal instinct, was perfectly fine with letting the kid run wild as long as he was in earshot though at this point… he was starting to think she'd gone way to far ahead. There wasn't a single tree in this field and he still didn't see where Valdís had gotten off to. Oh well, he could do some hunting on his own. Álarr moved through the field, trying to keep an eye open for any useful herbs he could add to his collection though he knew it was unlikely. The first frost had bitten the land and plants were dying by the thousands.

He paused, fur standing on end as he thought something moved nearby.