Stone Cold

It was raining. Not hard, but the drizzle was fine and bitter cold - the sort that pierces straight to the bone and forgoes even the thick winter pelt many wolves still retained this early in the year. A light wind blew, but it was more than enough to drive the miniature droplets into the face of anyone who was forced to brave such a day in the open. It was nothing short of dismal.

Kuwindwa was already wet and cold before the rain started; she had crossed a river a little under an hour ago to the east, soaking her already bedraggled pelt. When the rain began, her step had become heavy. Even her head and tail drooped, as if they were too much to lift in this mist. The woman was every bit the image of a run-down, world-weary traveler as she forced her paws over the muddy grass. Her ears splayed to keep rain out, lending her hawkish face an annoyed expression though in her heart she admittedly felt more fatigued than she had in several weeks. With winter reaching its end, she had hoped it would be different.

Glancing up through the rain and licking a few stray droplets from her nose, Kuwindwa's bronze eyes noted something new on this hill above her: a great boulder stretching to the sky. Her ears perked curiously before she began trudging forward once more, eyes narrowing yet again against the wind and wet. She approached the circle of stones cautiously, her head lifting from its lowered position as she appeared to drink in the view (just as much as her pelt soaked up the rain! Blast it all!) before noting a small place where she might find shelter - however minimal - against the driving weather. The damp and cold was doing nothing for her downtrodden spirit, but at least she could curl at the base of one of the stones and hide from some of the wind, just for a while.

Wawindaji - what have you become? Wawindaji, once a proud warrior and hunter, was now Kuwindwa, a rain-sodden loner with nothing more to lose... and she was making shelter beneath a stone. How odd life could be. How bitter and bleak, just as this weather was. Tucking her paws as close to her body as she could, the woman lowered her head and covered her wet nose with her tail. It didn't really offer much to dry her with but it was some warmth for the cold extremity. She wouldn't sleep, but she could wait out this rain for a little while at least.