Spotted Eagle Mountain what light breaks through these clouds

He saw her alarm and immediately started to panic, remnants of the old, anxious Phocion re-emerging as she began to slink away with ears pinned against her head. "Wait, no!" he called out to her, voice muffled against the falling snow. "Don't. . .don't go. I didn't mean to frighten you."

Phocion stepped out of the cave, then, but made sure he was not too close to her, hugging the opposite side of the overhang instead. He nodded at the nook entrance. "It's warm, in there, and cold out here. I can stay out here. . .you can get warm." Fengari's sake, he hoped she understood and would take him up on his offer, rather than flee.

It was curious, this encounter. In his youth, he had often frightened wolves away with his over-the-top boldness, his brash, loud speech and his showy nature. He had been able to control that side of himself, become a much smoother being, and now. . .now his smoothness meant that he was, once again, frightening someone away.

And he didn't want to do that. He didn't want to be alone. He had set off on this mission on his own volition, but he regretted it often, and he felt terribly, terribly alone here.