Arrow Lake henneth annûn

maybe a smoke ^-^?

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smoke caught her scent before he saw her — clean, cold, wrong in the way things out of place always were. he slowed on the mountainside, broad silhouette cutting against the pale stone, eyes narrowing as the shoreline opened below.

she was small. white as frost. sitting straightbacked at the water’s edge like the cold itself had learned how to breathe.

he didn’t advance right away. didn’t bare teeth or soften either. just stood there, beastly against her fine, rigid stillness, the wind tugging at his fur while he took her measure. adela was somewhere nearby — he knew that much — and that alone kept him where he was.

after a moment, smoke shifted one heavy paw forward, enough to be seen. enough to announce himself without threat.

mountain ain’t empty, he said, voice low and rough, carried easy on the cold air.

then he stopped again, letting the woman decide whether she’d turn, flee, or speak.

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