Arietta's ears twitched as she entered one of the caves, protecting her from the snow that fell outside. The young wolfess looked over her shoulder, her eyes shining with happiness. It had been about two weeks since she left her home on the island. Honestly she wasn't so sure she'd make it... but just when all hope was thought to be lost the waves pushed her towards shore. Now the young wolf had taken off to find her place in Alacritis, wherever that might be. Curious eyes turned to the insides of the cave. Almost immediately her eyes fell on strange pictures, and she approached the sides of the caves to get a better look at them. 'These are wonderful... but who made them?' The she wolf's tail swayed behind her as she looked at the pictures of some wolves hunting what appeared to be caribou. Twitching her ears Arietta looked over her shoulder, back out into the snow. She frowned a bit, turning her body back towards the entrance. For just a moment she thought that she heard the sound of paws crunching up snow. "Hello? Is someone there?" Speech, Thoughts

The mountains were gorgeous, and she had seen many unique plants and herbs growing here. If it were just a touch warmer she would find a way to do a bit of experimenting, but as the snow continued to fall she found it too cold to travel anymore without taking a break. With a rabbit in her jowls that she had been saving from an earlier hunt, the fae moved toward the far off entrance of a cave on the side of the mountain. She had almost missed the nicely hidden little spot, but thankfully her search for a place to rest her frozen feet had been thourough enough to spot it in the distance.

Trudging toward the entrance, she left a path of footprints in the freshly fallen snow behind her, the only evidence that her stark white presence had been there at all. The woman blended perfectly with the snow, her petite form nearly swallowed by the white that surrounded her. It was against the dark cavern walls that she would stand out, the pale pink that made up the only hint of color on her giving her a strange, almost ethereal glow among the various dark greys and browns that covered the walls and floors.

She had thought that she would be here alone - there wasn't much evidence of other wolves being around the area. Yet she paused after entering the caves, standing before a young lupine, a girl, that seemed to have managed to spot her first. Io stared at her, a small smile pulling at the woman's lips. "Hello there." The teen was alone, and that struck her as somewhat odd, but she couldn't tell whether she had a family or not at first glance. "Hungry?" She would ask her, placing the rabbit down at the entrance of the cave. A peace offering - perhaps they could share this resting place until the snow outside ceased falling so quickly.

She wouldn't approach the girl any further until she gave some sort of sign or signal that she didn't mind the company.

Arietta watched the snowy and pink wolf come to the entrance. She twitched her ears, lifting her head as she looked over the stranger. She stood before Arietta now, and the brown wolfess looked down at the prey the other wolf had caught. Her stomach rumbled... and she shifted to her paws, ears pricked forward as she watched this wolf. She seemed really nice... almost like her mother in a way. Well, sort of anyway. Arietta's tail flipped back and forth for a moment as if she was deciding on what to say, but soon she smiled and nodded. "A little. I'm guessing the snow brought you in?" Arietta looked outside, shaking her head. "Snow can be so beautiful... but deadly too. It is a time of great disease. I shudder to think of what lurks out there The she wolf looked back to the other wolf. "I suppose a good start would be introducing ourselves to each other. I'm Arietta." The she wolf lifted her head proudly. "I lived on one of the islands before this. But since my mother died I came here, seeking some sort of hope."] She tilted her head to the side, her tail wagging back and forth like an excited puppy. "So what's yout name? Do you have a story behind it?" Arietta stood up. edging towards the other rather openly. "I do apologize if I'm acting strange... I just never really met strangers when I was a pup." Speech,

Io relaxed somewhat when the girl's tail gave a good wag. It was a good sign, a start, and she felt less like she was going to spook the girl. She nodded to the girl's question about the snow bringing her in - stepping in a bit more to get away from the bitter cold. The girl's words were wise beyond her seasons, but they were true. "Most have moved south, the cold will soon be most dangerous." The albino would have to leave sooner than later if she wanted to make it to warmer lands in time to avoid being snowed in up here.

Looking the girl over as she glanced over at her, Io's expression lifted somewhat, her lips a small smile as the russet girl introduced herself. "Io." She said after the blue eyed teen spoke her name. Arietta - it was a pleasant name for a surprisingly lively girl for one snowed in on her own. She continued on in sharing a bit about herself, telling the small Sovari that she was alone, her mother had passed away and she had been foraging for herself. "I am a Sovari - our family was large at one time - but it seems our luck escaped us, and we found ourselves separated." Again and again without fail they were pulled apart, both by unfortunate circumstances and the pull of their own free will.

"You are fine." It was nice, having the excitable lupine beside her. Despite her avoidance of crowds, she liked speaking to others like this - one on one, you never knew what you would find out about another wolf. "I am pleased to meet you too." Her words were sincere, and although Io was not the most lively of individuals, she carried with her a natural warmth. Being genuine, caring about other lupine, it was just the way that she functioned - there was no other complexity to it. The albino then reached down, picking up the hare that she had brought in with her, and placed it before Arietta. The girl had done well to survive like this on her own. "Consider it a gift." She didn't owe her anything for it, just a simple act of kindness.

Arietta nodded in response to the white she-wolf's words. It was natural for wolves to move south when the cold came in, yet she ended up leaving the warm islands for the mainland. Arietta wasn't sure if she was really well suited to the cold, but she wanted to meet other wolves and learn more about her kind. Her ears lowered slightly as the other mentioned that the cold would become dangerous. How dangerous could it be? Did things get worse from here? The brown wolfess looked out into the snowy lands before flicking her gaze back to the other. Perhaps she should head south for a little while too. She didn't realize that snow could build up very thick and cause it to be hard to search for prey. She focused her attention on the other wolf once more, her ears twitching as the other spoke her name. Io. It was short, but pretty at the same time. She frowned a bit hearing that the other she wolf was also separated from her family. "I'm sorry to hear that... perhaps you'll find them someday though." At least Io had that possibility. As of now Arietta had no family... no family at all. The wolfess took comfort in Io's presence. She was kind and tolerant. Arietta turned her gaze to the rabbit the other offered her. "Thank you." She took a bite before she looked back to Io, a question forming in her mind. "Io... do you perhaps have any idea about the things on these walls...? Where they came from I mean." Speech,

It was dangerous for the both of them, as loners, to be so far up while winter was beginning to bare its icy fangs. Yet here they were, nestled into the side of a mountain, waiting for the snow to fall less quickly. Io would have to face the frigid temperature drop because of her sensitivity to light - but she would face it when she came. Thankfully her immune system wasn't delicate like much of the rest of her - it would take a good while before she became sick. It was nearly enough to tempt her to keep searching for her brothers, just a little while, just enough to know that they weren't here in the north. The albino nodded at Arietta, her words both hopeful and a bit melancholy. Hopeful for Io, but realizing that there simply was no one out there that she could call her kin.

If she was a bit younger, the wolfess would have adopted her right then and there. But for now, she was slow to intrude so completely on the young female's life. The last time that she had done that, the other had disappeared as soon as she joined a pack. Kira would be missed quite dearly.

The albino would watch the other bite into her meal, glad that she had done something to help the girl out. Perhaps that meal would keep her going for a time - it was small, but it was something, which meant a lot up here in the mountains. Idly her eyes trailed over the cave walls that surrounded the two of them - strange scribbles and shapes that seemed to represent something - but just what she had little to no clue. It seemed that her company had the same questions.

"I have never seen anything like them." She mused, standing up and moving to get a better look at the scratches. "Alacritia has a lot of things left by strangers that seem to be gone." There was a metal structure up north, and a wooden one in the south, as well as things that no animal she knew could create on their own. "They seem like they were crafty. That one looks a bit like us." She pointed out a group of scratches that seemed to form a four legged, sort of fuzzy creature - with a long nose and sharp teeth.