November weather was not known for its kindiness and, even though it graced the earth-dwellers with a day and a half of sunlight, it immediately decided that colors did not belong to the season of greys and browns and every shade inbetween. There were days, when the blanket of rain-ladden clouds was so thick, that you could barely tell the difference between dawn, daytime and dusk. Sometimes, when Dwin stopped to look at the sky, she had a feeling that the time stood still. It rained often, sometimes she would wake up to find frost or a thin layer of snow that would melt right away again. 

Her grayscale coat now melted perfectly with the surroundings, making it easier to sneak up on unsuspecting prey, should the conditions be favourable. At other times, however, she would have to rely on her hearing alone and spend many hours listening and pouncing at the mice and other small rodents scurrying beneath the old-yellowing grass. This was, why Dwin happened to be in the glen and why instead of her usual small gains, fate offered her something bigger and wolf-like. From a distance it looked like a pile of dirty fur and from up close it did not look much better. Before she leaned down to sniff the crumpled body, she was pretty sure that the wolf had recently deceased. Where it not for the warmth she felt and the slight heaving of the sides, indicating that the corpse was still breathing, she would have turned and left the Jane Doe to rot away. 

Now, however, that simple course of "ignore and pretend it never happened" was cut short and she felt the weight of the responsibility for this unconscious body. Though there were packs in the vicinity, none were so close that she could leave the person and return quickly enough to find them there and still alive. Instead she raked for any bits of knowledge her healer-father had instilled in her and she finally decided to try and wake the other up. Therefore she came closer and begin to push and prod the stranger's neck and shoulder in an attempt to wake them. 

There goes my lunch... Dwin thought to herself, when she heard a growl emanating from the otherwise pretty unconscious person. She was mindful to take notice of this, retreated a little and leaned down to have a closer look at the face of the lady in hopes that her eyes would open or she would show any signs of waking up. Simultaneously on the opposite shoulder, from where her angel was sitting, the devil raised its ugly snout and asked, why did she care and what was she going to do about the wolf, when it woke up?

All valid questions, since lone wolves were responsible for their own safety and lives in general. But she could not help, but think, how disappointed her parents would be, if they found out that Dwin had left a person in a helpless state. Not that they would ever know, but somehow, if her conscience was visualized, it would look exactly like two of them. Darn, my good heart," Dwin sighed and approached the girl again to continue to nudge her, until she finally woke up. 

What is life without some adrenaline rush... Dwin thought, when she had barely avoided being bitten by the very grumpy Enchanted Princess. "Yeah, you would not make a good meal for me. You are too scrawny," she remarked, circling around the lady, who had risen quickly and face-planted just as gracefull right after. 

"Believe me - I don't give a damn about you, but I would hate to see someone more sinister than me actually try to take a bite of you," she explained. "Unless you have lied down here to die and perish - that's your choice and I won't interfere. But if you wish to see another day, I suggest you drag yourself out of and away from the open," she told.

"Because right now you are an open invitation for dinner to any scavanger in the vicinity," she finished. 

"Spot on," Dwin remarked on the lady's concise evaluation of the whole situation she was in. The young Blackthorn knew for certain that she did not want to be in the other's place, because she really looked ragged. And could barely keep herself upright. 

"Well, it is there," she beckoned to her right, without moving from her position. "Are you sure, you are going to get there? Cause - forgive my bluntness - but currently a dead slug has more odds of making there than you," she added, knowing full well that her comments were pretty useless. On the other hand - another key thing she had memorised from daddy's healer 101 was that you should never trust the judgement of an injured or incapacitated person.  She was not too sure about the former, but the stranger was an embodiment of the latter.