Arrow Lake Fight the break of dawn

When the bearish she-wolf gestured, Toothless flinched and shrank backward, almost melting back into the screen of shrubbery. Yet she only thrust a single paw, beckoning it with the universal come hither motion, then stood and began to plod away. Its eyes followed her, widening as each step carried her further from sight. Their lemon-lime depths gave away all the silent inner conflict it experienced in that moment.

Eventually, she disappeared around a bend in the path and Toothless started, then froze, then climbed from its hiding spot. It stood there for a few beats, then let out a little bleat that would have broken hearts had anyone been there to overhear it. Alas, nobody was; even the hulking she-wolf was out of earshot. Realizing this, Toothless suddenly scrambled forward, moving through the forest in her direction with the speed of a cheetah and the stealth of a jungle cat.

It squeaked involuntarily when it found her again, moving around the scrub forest that surrounded the bowl of the lake. She was clearly exhibiting searching behavior. Toothless eyed her curiously, head tilted, then simply assumed its new role: follower. Hanging back far enough to retreat should the need arise, it tagged after the colossal black wolf, unaware that this random encounter had changed its blighted life forever.