Phoenix Maplewood Tristan and Iseult

Sharing a sleeping arrangement with Ukko had been a good idea. Now Tavi wasn't frozen to the point of being wide-eyed and sleepless, having grown up accustomed to the company of her family. Ukko wasn't family, but close enough. When Tavi woke up today, Ukko was already out and about - maybe tending to the injured woman from the cougar attack, or maybe doing some kind of Beta activity, whatever that would entail. He was up and away long before her, and Tavi felt the absence as she pulled herself from the den.

She noticed the quiet of the forest next. The somber attitude that had settled between the trees alongside the snow. This was not her first snowfall, but it was the most surreal. The cold was bearable and yet the absence of life - the absence of family, of friends, of anyone - put an itch in her feet. So Tavi set to work warming up her body, getting her blood flowing and heart pumping; first with a short but brisk patrol around the densite, and then further afield. She slipped through the winterscape without any true purpose -- and stopped abruptly when she caught sight of a dark figure scrutinizing the ground.

The girl barked as softly as she could (it still felt too loud because of the insulating snow), and made a friendly approach.