Greatwater Lake phone ringing, never outgoing

Had Alarian been born blessed with perhaps a touch more intelligence, a scant few more brain cells to bounce between the dense walls of his skull, he might have chosen a place to stay for the duration of his sickness; he might not be wandering the frozen Teekons, pausing to hack up a lung every dozen-or-so steps, more alone than he's ever been. As things stand, we all know exactly what the idiot is doing, given he's joining this thread all the way out here. He's so feverish he hardly knows where he is. He slows to a halt for the millionth time as another coughing fit overwhelms him, struggling for breath even when it subsides.
Surprisingly, he notices a figure in the distance then; belatedly he sees the lake, too, and its surrounding features, and he thinks a little hazily (and with far more humor than is appropriate for the situation): wow, I'm really fuckin' lost. He gazes at the stranger for several more moments before he remembers what he's looking at, blinking a few times when he returns to the present. Something tells him he knows this wolf — probably the fever. He takes a few steps toward the stranger anyway, though another coughing fit promptly halts him. Maybe it's a sign, he thinks when he's recovered slightly, snorting a quiet laugh that sends him into another coughing fit.