Too Cold (open)

It was too cold. This would be Dahlia's first winter, and though she was a year old now, she was far too small and inexperienced to handle it all. Then again, she was tall and larger than most wolves outside of Kairos, but still not big enough to handle this new and unusual cold. But the young wolf had gotten herself into a rather difficult predicament. She had wandered off without thinking, and because she was becoming more and more independent with age, she had spent the night sleeping in a small cave in Ser'eri. She had not been brave enough to go very far, but it was far enough that when the snow fell overnight she could not manage to get herself back to her family. She whined softly and she struggled against the high snowdrifts, her thin form barely managing to get several yards forward before she was forced to sit down and rest once more.

This was the time when their mother was supposed to be teaching them to hunt, teaching them how to survive, teaching them to be better and stronger. But A'ia was not here. Not even her father was there to save her. The young female whined and panted softly, sitting down once more to catch her breath as she raised her nose in hopes of seeing something helpful over the snow. But she saw nothing but more white. Finally she gave up, she knew that she could not help herself. But the pale female saw no shame in asking for help, she never had. After all, was that not what her family and the pack did best? They helped, they protected, they were always there.

So, without waiting any longer, she lifted her nose to the sky and howled. Hopefully someone in the pack was near and could help her. Her call echoed around her, rising up to the sky for several moments before her exhaustion overcame her once more and she was forced to stop. She returned to panting softly, then laid down carefully in the snow to curl up in hopes that the trail she had left would block the wind and keep her safe and warm for at least a little while. She curled up into a tight ball, her tail moving to cover her nose so that she could keep in as much warmth as possible. She was correct, the walls of snow on either side of her stopped the cold from worsening around her and would hopefully protect her long enough for help to arrive. Perhaps someday she would need to learn how to take care of herself like her mother and father would want, but for right now, she was young and helpless and she wanted nothing more than to curl up against her mother's warm belly once more.

But those days were gone, and she knew that she could not get them back. She hardly even saw her family anymore. She whined softly to herself once more, curling up even tighter and focusing instead on the whistling and whispering of the wind as it twisted and twirled harshly over the walls of her makeshift shelter. It was getting worse, and she was certain that it was possible it could never get better. Was the earth punishing Kairos? Were the gods punishing her? She did not want to know the answer to that question, but she was certain it was something that she had to have done wrong. "What did I do?" She whispered softly to herself, but for several long minutes no answer came. Then, by some grace, she managed to fall asleep and the response came to her in a dream.

(Open to anyone <3 help the poor little angel out)