Fox's Glade thank goodness

A few days had passed, and Adela trudged on in the bitter cold. It had gotten colder these past couple of days. She wished there was some form of protection from the near-biting temperatures. However, the glade was swept bare of all its foliage, leaving her exposed and freezing.

She was almost tempted to lay down, but something told her not to. Her instincts, which she has always made a point to listen to those, warned her that she was bound to perish if she settled to rest. She noticed her energy had waned since the temperature began to plummet, and food was hard to come by.

Her mind wandered back to the stranger she encountered, how he seemed to follow her wherever she went. Granted, it was only twice she'd encountered him, purely coincidental, right? 

She hoped so, something about him worried her. Adela didn't want to see him again.

---

lolll he'll be a cameo until, if, she finds him. he's just chilling.

daylight had rolled around. once he'd shaken off the badger wounds, now merely scabs across groggy features, he lay sprawled upon his back from a fresh carcass kill of a small roe deer. 

clearly, his instincts weren't worried— vultures had already tried to test him. a few snaps of his raging jaw had sent them scared straight. though, the eagle that landed with yellow claws that had a glossy tone to them were able to slip by. 

he didn't need more scratch marks. 

as the sun rose and rose, he basked in the warmth. his winter coat had fully grown in, shaping him to be the beast of winter. the snow felt good upon his layer of fat, heat-like steam coming from his nostrils. 

the same could be said for the deer that wafted through the air of the valley to any wandering stranger.

---

lol, poor girl

Her ears pricked when she thought she heard something rustling in the underbrush, amber eyes focused on a rabbit that had scurried out in the clearing. She nearly began frothing at the mouth, but restraint kept her from lunging at the creature. She quietly stepped on snow shaking with anticipation and hunger. Lucky for her, there was something wrong with this rabbit since it accepted its demise with little struggle. Like her, it probably struggled adapting to freezing temperatures on its own.

She carried her kill in her jaws for a moment as if she was shocked she caught something. She shouldn't be, she had proven she was a capable hunter beforehand. Dropping the rabbit, she lifted her head in the brisk air, her eyes widened in terror. She could smell him, although he was further away than any other time she'd encountered him. Perhaps he had passed through here recently. 

She decided to ignore her fear, she was hungry anyway.

apologies if this is hard to follow, i'm trying to watch cfb and write at the same time lol

---

her scent hit him clean, that sharp ginger-warm thread cutting through the cold like a struck match.

one ear tipped. nothing else moved. he rose, then, from his lounging. 

blood slicked his muzzle, steam rising faint from the open carcass. he tore another strip free, jaws working steady, unhurried, the way a wolf eats when he’s earned the kill and fears nothing that might come for it.

her scent drifted again. closer this time. threaded with rabbit fur and the tight, metallic edge of fear.

smoke only breathed it in. held it in his chest.

---

She smelled him on the horizon, thankfully he hadn't gotten any closer. Still, Adela didn't know what to do. She couldn't fight, but Smoke, she had learned the man's name some time earlier, really hadn't given her a reason to fear him. It was just her general uneasiness around others that set her off.

She began eating the rabbit, and she managed to scarf it down within minutes. However, after not eating for a couple of days, the small meal satisfied her hunger for now. 

She turned her head and looked back. She couldn't see him or anything else, so why was she worried? She could easily leave right now if she wanted, right?

apologies for the delay.

---

smoke finished the last mouthful of roe, tongue dragging slow across his teeth. her scent hit again— thin, anxious, threaded through rabbit fur and cold. closer this time. close enough he knew she hadn’t eaten near enough.

he tore a hind leg free with one clean wrench of his jaws. bone cracked. sinew snapped. steam curled off the fresh meat as he rose, shaking snow from his shoulders. no rush, no noise. just a steady, heavy walk as he followed the ginger thread through the trees.

when he found her, he didn’t speak. didn’t crowd.

he stepped out just enough for her to see him, then dropped the roe deer leg onto the snow between them. a soft thud. a clean offering. nothing asked in return.

a simple thing from a man like him.

a peace offering.

---

never apologize <3

She saw him come out of the barren trees with a deer leg in his mouth. Adela quickly cocked her head, obviously still tense from his appearance. Of course he would follow her out here. She thought she had finally ditched him after leaving the stone circle several days back. Adela didn't know why he followed her, what he wanted from her, if he wanted anything from her. Perhaps their first encounter made Smoke realize she was young and inexperienced living on her own and he kept close to make sure she was safe. Adela didn't think that was the case, she knew there was something more to his constant following.

She watched him set the deer leg in the snow just a couple of feet in front of her. Adela's eyes quickly darted toward the detached limb. Her mouth salivated. Then, her eyes glanced up at Smoke, her brows furrowed, For me? She almost wanted to ask him. Well, this was odd. Maybe he was a concerned (slightly) elder wolf who was looking out for her safety.

She took a couple of steps forward before digging into the leg. Her teeth ripped through skin and muscle. She hadn't had anything this filling in a long while. She had hunted deer before, but once the colder weather set in, Adela found it very difficult to hunt them. Lack of experience, she supposed,

"Thanks," she muttered through mouthfuls of meat, stuffing her stomach until she couldn't possibly bear to eat more.

---

smoke watched her take the leg without moving a muscle, breath steady in the cold. she was still all bristle and edge, even with hunger dragging at her bones— but she ate, and that was what he’d come for. concern wasn’t a word he used, but the instinct sat in him anyway, old and stubborn.

her muttered thanks drifted up, rough around the meat. smoke only dipped his head once, slow and small.

eat, he rumbled, like it was explanation enough. 

he settled back on his haunches a short distance off, not crowding her, not asking for anything. just a dark shape in the snow, eyes half-lidded but alert, watching the treeline the way a sentry does by habit.

---

She continued to eat. It took her longer to fully clean the deer leg than it did the rabbit, but Adela finally felt satisfied after many days of going with very little. She licked her lips of any remaining blood, realizing that she couldn't get all of it. She lifted her gaze and noticed that Smoke stood a few paces away to give her space. Adela was less tense now, and she assumed Smoke had no ill-intent,

"Why?" She asked him. Why follow? Why... this? Adela wanted to ask more, but it could only come out as 'why'. She wanted to know why the man had taken an interest in her these past couple of days, and why he was looking out for her. Although Adela already knew what he would say. She had already figured out his intentions just a short while ago.

At least she was finally warm now.

---

smoke lifted his head at her voice— just a slow rise of those lichenbone shoulders and a dark, tired gaze settling on her. snow whispered around them, no other sound cutting the air. she looked fuller now, steadier, but still uncertain as a fawn learning where the ground held firm.

her question hung there. one word. heavy with all the ones she didn’t say.

he blinked once. a part of him knew what she'd meant: but he was just a silly male.

why… what? he asked, voice low and rough, not unkind.

---

She huffed in annoyance. Perhaps Adela was too vague. Well, obviously she was too vague she asked him 'why' and expected him to know what she was asking about. He knew that 'why' could mean many things as well,

"Why..." she paused for a moment, her mind figuring out what to say, "Why... why this? All of it," she gestured to the leg and to him. Maybe that would be a little more specific. She didn't want to flat out ask 'why have you been following me, you creep?' since that would jeopardize what little relationship she had with Smoke. Besides, he hadn't been all that creepy, he did give her the deer leg to eat.

While she was a bit more relaxed now, Adela tightened her jaw while waiting for the other's response.

---

his ears twitched once. that was the only sign he’d actually taken it in.

he rolled one shoulder in a slow, lopsided shrug.

dunno, he said, plain as the dirt beneath their paws. 

you’re the first one i’ve seen since findin’ m’self here. etched in loneliness. 

he didn’t move toward her or away— just let the cold wind fill the silence where other wolves might’ve tried to make sense of it.

---

Smoke told her that she was the first wolf he had met since coming here. Adela huffed in acknowledgement, Lonely, huh? She wouldn't say it aloud, but the thought popped into her head.

She scuffled at the snow beneath both of them, letting the cold wind ruffle her fur. Did he want something more? Unfortunately for him, Adela didn't do charity work. She stared at her paws and sighed, her breath forming in front her.

She let silence envelop both of them since she didn't know what to say either.

---

smoke let the quiet sit a moment, watching the snow shift around her paws. the wind cut between them, thin and cold, but he didn’t seem bothered by it — just stood there, steady as an old fence post sunk deep in frozen ground.

finally, he tipped his head a fraction.

you got any folks you’re lookin’ for? he asked, voice rough but not prying.

no judgment in it. just a simple question from a wolf who’d walked enough empty country to know what loneliness smelled like. and it reeked of him.

---

She continued to bask in the silence, the dead silence of winter. Adela never noticed how quiet winter was before. She didn't move her head until Smoke asked if she was looking for her parents. Was she really that young looking?

"No," she waited a beat, "I left them a while back," she finished. She remembered their encounter with the boy a couple of days back. Adela couldn't remember his name, but perhaps Smoke was reminded of it too. 

Maybe the reason why he asked was because he thought he and Adela had something in common. They were both here alone, weren't they?

---

he shifted his weight, slow, snow cracking under one broad paw. not restless… just ready, the way a wolf gets when he’s got nowhere to be and nothing pulling him elsewhere.

mm, he grunted, eyes narrowing a touch as he took her in. figured.

no pity. no surprise. just understanding between two strays in a deadquiet winter.

he flicked his tail once toward the open valley, then toward the distant treeline—

if you’re goin’ anywhere, smoke said, voice gravel-low, i’ll take ya.

a pause. ain’t got nothin’ else t’do.

and that was that, for him, simple, shapeless loyalty from a man who didn’t talk more than he needed to, and didn’t leave a wolf wandering alone unless they wanted to be.

---

Her eyes narrowed, they did have something in common. Both of them were loners, but one had more experience than the other. Adela let the breeze ruffle her fur once more.

She noticed his tail gesturing toward the valley before them, and he asked if she had somewhere to be,

"Don't have anyplace in particular. These lands are pretty foreign to me," she told him. Her response wasn't a true confirmation on whether she wanted Smoke to continue following her, but now Adela wasn't opposed to his presence anymore. He had given her the deer leg, which was probably the most nutritious thing she'd eaten in several days. It probably wouldn't hurt her to learn how to live from someone's who's lived much longer than she had.

The opportunity didn't frighten her now like it had. She could gain something from it.

---

smoke watched her answer, the way she didn’t flinch from him this time. the wind cut between them again, sharp as glass, but she stayed— and that told him more than anything she’d said.

he gave a short nod, almost a shrug.

then stick with me, he said, simple as breath.

no pitch. no pressure. just the plain truth of a man who’d roamed long enough to know two wolves traveled easier than one.

foreign ground’s less mean that way.

---