“I do,” came the reply in the whisper of a sigh, hardly a breath exuded by fragile chords. Had the wisp of warm breath not curled in the crisp air above her lips, one might have assumed she hadn’t spoken at all, and the mountain itself had played a trick to delicate ears. “…though I have only time at my feet.” She was in no rush.
She would have waited patiently for a shift in the ice, even gone so far as to uproot from its shores to test the crystalline surface under her weight. Stubborn, but also foolish in that regard. However, an alternative presented itself as the unknown male cautiously spoke of a cache. Her ears swiveled to attention guiding back to the russet crown that umber and gold might address him fully.
He was thin and youthful. A culmination of grey within tresses of thickened grey to encompass him, yet he bore the tell-tale physique of potential. Not yet fully grown into his intended form, yet suited enough to carry him with the air of an adult. An adolescence ascending the cusp to adulthood, but in-tune with the world by a select degree to acknowledge whom was worth, and whom was denied a level of trust. The crimson stain only briefly took her eye til the scent surmised it was indeed of fodder origin. Had it been of the lupine kind, she would not have been troubled. The cold and desperate state of winter led even the wise and composed to savage, shameless means of survival. Though this day her purpose was not to tread that dangerous path.
She rasped the side of her maw in preparing to speak. “Where might I find it?” she inquired in a mere whisper to his ears. |