Emberwood fairytale revisionist

He deposited a frozen mound of something by the den's entrance. She sniffed at it softly, finding the stale scents and the chill emanating from the remains to be a queer thing to experience; but her belly moaned, and she hastily grabbed for it and pulled it close. Good thing she did that too, because Kukulkan began to wedge himself in that same opening. The eclipse of his body reminded Ibis of the sensation one has when falling asleep: the gradual slipping-away of awareness, the grey and the dark. She tensed and cuddled the frozen squirrel close until the apex of his movement and when the darkness settled around her, so too came the warmth from his burly body. The familiar smell of him, the timbre of his voice. She relaxed as much as she could thereafter, basking in the growing warmth within the den, and bent to inspect the squirrel.

With the scant light gathering in odd shapes where his body did not cover the entirety of the opening, Ibis could discern the quality of the squirrel, but more importantly she could see the shape of Kukulkan's face and the glimmering worry in his eyes. She tried to smile a little bit bigger, a little bit softer, and with her sombre little voice she says, It's perfect, thank you.

There was no need for him to be so afraid. She was awake now - in poor condition of course, but that was to be expected after being asleep for so long. Had he cared for her this entire time? Ibis tried not to think about all that she had missed during her slumber; she did not fully understand what had happened to her, and could not remember in any detail the moments leading up to her collapse, except for the warmth of a body and the comfort of a masculine figure upon the edge of the claim. In the moment, she forgot all about Tuathal's involvement (and the body they had found) and mentally replaced him with Kukulkan. Her protector.

The girl began to pick at the squirrel, then. Bird-like as always, peeling limbs from where they'd collected and frozen against the curvature of the belly. Cracked the base of the tail and separated it. Frost-bitten though the morsel was, any meal was a good meal for a wolf. Ibis carefully pulled the squirrel to pieces and began to crunch through the tiny bones thereafter, swallowing some parts whole, until only the spinal column and head were left behind.