Damn the cold, Amaranth decided. Damn the cold, and the frost, and the ice and the snow. A harsh wind blew into her face and she tucked her muzzle towards her chest, altering course so it caught her crossways. In her defense, the blizzard had come out of nowhere. How was she supposed to know what towering, steely clouds and scent of snow would bring? It was bullshit, pure and simple.

She dreamed of a spring she barely remembered, harkened back to her puphood, or whatever it took to keep her placing one paw in front of another. It could be worse, she thought. At least I got within this copse. The trees surrounding her did offer some measly modicum of protection. Mara reassured herself with the knowledge that it was much better than being exposed a few hundred lengths beyond, where the treeline transitioned into more exposed space. She repeated this to herself, even as each new gust cut deep into her fur and bit at her skin.

Her joints were stiff with cold, as if the wind wrapped itself around each and every ligament and left a piece of itself behind. She imagined it crippling her bit by bit before gleefully floating off to harass some other unwitting creature, and sneered. As if she would be cut low by a storm. Hah! Not likely. She paused, turned her back the wind, and looked about.

It was hard to pick out much through the blustering snow. The ground was far too frozen to dig into the soil. She might manage a slight depression, but she’d be at the mercy of the snow to drift up around her if she expected any protection at all from the wind. The idea of placing her fate in the godsforsaken snow’s paws was unpalatable to say the least, so she moved on from that thought almost as soon as it arrived. All around her blue-gray shadows of tree trunks arched upwards. Maybe amongst their roots she might find refuge. She began to root around. At the very least she could curl up in one of their shadows and hope for the best. How long could this squall last, after all?

Fluffy coat, check! Winter chill, check! Even though it was fucking windy, Sparrow was doing her best to enjoy the cold. The winds, and gods of all that was windy and cold had other ideas, however. It had decided to get more serious about being a little bitch and eventually, with her chin tucked into her chest, Sparrow decided that the wind and snow had possibly won and that maybe she should hunker down while the storm passed.

She found herself leaning against the nearby trees, ambling from one tree to the other to avoid the cold blasts of wind as best as she could. As she was making the dash between trees, she suddenly realized there was another just at root level. Sparrow half jumped, half threw herself into the air to stop herself from kicking the small being. Was that a rabbit?

As she tumbled into the snow, she realized that no, that was not a rabbit, but another wolf. A baby wolf. Sparrow popped back around, eyes wide, "Omigosh, are you hurt?"

Mara would blame it on the low visibility because as far as she was concerned, the other wolf came out of no where. One minute she was grumbling to herself, and the next she was nearly toppled over by some giant horrible snow monster- Yeah, no. Definitely a wolf. Older than herself but not old old. Not all grown but not a kid either. "Omigosh, are you hurt?" she asked. To that, Mara huffed. "No, not yet!" She shook off the newest layer of snow that had made a home atop her shoulders and back. She drew herself away from the clump of roots she'd been investigating. "But if frostbite counts I might be, unless I figure out a place to get out of this wind. So if you don't mind?"

She went back to searching. Yeah that was probably rude and sure, it would probably have made a lot more sense to ask the older girl for some help. So what! In like, two or three more moons she'd be a yearling which was practically grown, so she was practically practically grown herself! She didn't need any help. What was so dangerous about subzero temperatures and gusting wind anyhow? Pfft. She wasn't worried. Just cold and grumpy, so she'd thank this stranger to not butt in on her business. Ugh. Did she mention she was cold? She tried to forget the stranger's presence and went to investigate the roots of the next nearest tree.