:: am I wrong.

The cold was not something that the dame could not get used to. She had lived four long years in the prison she had called home and had seen as much snow as the mojave desert, yet she enjoyed the drifting white flakes and the effect that they had on the landscape of the north. The trees were buried in the stuff. The wind was blowing it so that it streaked sideways, looking like the gods were creating some strange horizontal snowfall. Were they trying to tell her that this was not the way she needed to travel? She had listened to their advice thus far and found herself free of the bonds of her family?s monarchy. Perhaps heeding their omens were what served her best, yet she willed herself to ignore them for a moment and wander onward to a distant landmarker.
Her ebony nose stung against the frigid bite of the swirling blizzard, forcing her to avert her eyes and sense her way forward to the strange land marker. What was it? Her senses were numb to her; hazels squinted, ears flat against her skull, nose streaking out across her fur, and paws feeling like solid masses of ice in the snow. Just as it became clear to her that she had made the wrong decision in ignoring the gods, her foot struck solid wood and the cold bite of the blizzard lessened.
The silky dame turned her head towards the thing and caught sight of a nearby ledge. She leaned back onto her hindlegs and sprang, planting all four paws firmly on the wooden deck in a solid landing. Her nose seemed drawn to the floor boards. Someone else was here but...beneath her. But how? As she walked on inspecting the floor, she realised that the thing was hollow. Soon enough the royal girl found a whole in the floor and decided to hop into the dark warm cave. So what if she was not alone? Any shelter was better than facing the storm for another moment, even if she had to fight a monster to claim her own comfort.
As soon as her ebony paws hit the floor of the cave below, Rizo lowered her head and let out a vicious snarl, her banner sweeping out behind her as the fur along her spine rose in a threatening gesture. She spread her legs out in preparation for attack, knowing that her eyes would take a moment to adjust to the blinding darkness. In tones smooth as silk and deep as the rolling waters of the rivers back home, she spoke her first words to the woman who belonged to the scent.
?Speak, stranger. You are in the presence of a queen.? She challenged the dame, unknowing of the lady?s intentions and sure that she would not die today.