Herbalists' Cache though winter be a brittle beast

thank you for joining! I love Lovecraft's name! :3

 

in spite of the hypervigilance that painted her timorous movements in heavy brush strokes of agitation, the mark of a broken creature if ever one existed, she could not say she detected his presence immediately. though in her defense, she hadn't been expecting company in the midst of a raging blizzard. 

his scent trickled down to her slowly, carried by whistling tendrils of frigid air. in the muffled blackness of night, blind to every threat and trapped by the storm, aerin considered for the first time how this refuge might become her tomb. 

the saluki's pale diadem weaved uncertainly as it raised, tongue swiping over her scarred chops anxiously. fluffy, butterfly auds slowly rose to full mast - straining against the wild howl of the winter gales beating against the earth.

with her moonlight gaze locked unwaveringly upon the patch of black where she thought the tunnel to the entrance lay, the tarnished maid of ivory waited for some flicker in the shadows that might indicate life but her eyes only teased her with dancing images of imagined monsters in the dark. 

"'ello?" the dove called softly after a moment, knowing if she had not gone mad and the man was truly there, he would be able to smell her too. 

never once did it cross her mind that he might be debating whether she was a threat, surprised as she was by his appearance outside her shelter. a humorous thought - but a rational one. 

the unknown was much scarier in the dark - especially with winter tearing through the night around them, bringing death with it.