Phantom Hollow A blizzard night

He saw her passing fright but kept his face neutral, so as to alleviate any tension that lingered between them because of it. In a more fanciful world, he was the monster that lurked through the trees, she the fair damsel, away from home.

Maybe once he would have considered himself her knight, coming to save her. But he felt more beastly, especially after today's poppy incident. He saved no one, nothing.

"No. Blowing harder than it was before, actually," Shale remarked. The wind was a keening whistle through the woods, bringing with it little flurries here and there; he knew it was much worse outside, on the plains. He hoped everyone was hunkered down in their dens on the plateau.

His thoughts turned to the poor scared girl they had found at the hot springs. "How is she?" Shale asked, genuinely curious. "Your newest patient, I mean. Has she calmed, a little?"