12/21/2025, 9:08 AM
Her lungs ached tightly as the cold wind tore through them, its icy fingers gripping vice-like at her throat, and still she climbed. Up, up, up. Raw and blooded, her paws were nonetheless numb to any sense of touch, and so she felt nothing as she clawed at the rocky slope and ascended toward her goal.
But it was moving, she realized.
Frowning, she blinked through frost-encrusted lashes as she heaved herself up another large stone, but as she did the high ledge she so desperately sought seemed to recede further from view.
Was it a trick of the light, perhaps? Was it the thinning air starving her mind of its senses?
It was so important. Something was there that she needed. Or did it need her? Aurelia felt confusion; then fear. Eyes upon her. Everyone watching from below, waiting for her to slip, anticipating the fall. She reached for the next foothold. Did they crave her failure, would they laugh? Would they be disappointed?
She woke with a start.
There was a presence nearby, a feeling she could not explain, and Aurelia wordlessly rose and crept toward the mouth of the den as pale moonlight illuminated a familiar silhouette.
Sólúlfur. Relief washed over her like a cleansing rain, banishing the dream from her mind as quickly as the dawn always did.
How unusually... distressed she looked, Aurelia thought. Sólúlfur was not a wolf easily ruffled, so something must have occurred to put her in such a state.
But it was moving, she realized.
Frowning, she blinked through frost-encrusted lashes as she heaved herself up another large stone, but as she did the high ledge she so desperately sought seemed to recede further from view.
Was it a trick of the light, perhaps? Was it the thinning air starving her mind of its senses?
It was so important. Something was there that she needed. Or did it need her? Aurelia felt confusion; then fear. Eyes upon her. Everyone watching from below, waiting for her to slip, anticipating the fall. She reached for the next foothold. Did they crave her failure, would they laugh? Would they be disappointed?
She woke with a start.
There was a presence nearby, a feeling she could not explain, and Aurelia wordlessly rose and crept toward the mouth of the den as pale moonlight illuminated a familiar silhouette.
Sólúlfur. Relief washed over her like a cleansing rain, banishing the dream from her mind as quickly as the dawn always did.
It is late,Aurelia stated the obvious, giving the woman a questioning look before her features softened.
But you do not need an invitation to speak to me. Is something on your mind?
How unusually... distressed she looked, Aurelia thought. Sólúlfur was not a wolf easily ruffled, so something must have occurred to put her in such a state.
![[Image: AureliaSignature.gif]](https://sig.grumpybumpers.com/host/AureliaSignature.gif)
