in the bleak midwinter

There, in the bleak dark of the cloudy night, a single form materialized there beside the star dotted lake. Alone. Sleeping. A creature invisibly marked of sadness and pain, of a vast loneliness that could never be erased. Here, he was deposited, yoked to this world's back as the burden he ever felt he would be. There was no chorus to sing his praise, no wand to magic away his sadness, no brevity to his dreams.

He was a sad, lonely, lost creature and that was all he would ever be.

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Hunger drove the lean woman to search for water, knowing that fishing would provide her with the best chance of finding good nutrition without risking injury. When she spotted the lake in the distance, she thought at first that its surface was flat and calm; reflecting the stars amid the cloud cover that occasionally passed between the earth and the heavens. She splayed her toes so she might stop sinking through the soft drifts of snow, relying on her lightweight frame to make it possible for her to stay above the crust. 

But the lake was impossibly still, and when a breeze ruffled her fur but did not cause one ripple on the lake's surface, her heart sank. She held onto some hope that it might be thin enough around the edges for her to break through, and perhaps find a fish half-frozen near the surface, but when she reached the edge and set her paw on the glassy surface, she knew that this wasn't the kind of ice she could break through. 

Curiosity lured her into walking further out onto the lake's surface, carefully taking small steps so she could keep her paws beneath her. When she looked down into her own dark shadow, she saw nothing but darkness. No cracks, no bubbles. No water bubbled there; it was frozen several feet through, at least. It looked almost as if it had been frozen for an eternity.

She did not notice the sleeping wolf until she had sighed, and turned to walk back toward the shore. The split mask on his face reminded her of how a badger might look; and yet he looked peaceful enough to her. She tried to tiptoe toward the shore, keeping one of her tuliped ears turned toward him, hoping she could walk quietly enough on the slick ice to let him continue sleeping.
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For all that the boy wished he could have stayed hidden and gripped by the ether, he was instead dragged into the waking world with a swift and forceful yank. A whimper given as he curled tighter, ears pressing back against his head as he tried, he tried so hard to just stay asleep, to stay hidden, to stay here in the bleak darkness.

The sound of paws and the crunch of snow beneath them jolted him awake. Pale body immediately skittered backwards, away from the direction the sound had come. Multicolored eyes stared at the woman, pupils wide in his fear and anxiety. Trembling, quivering, the boy looked around them for... For what? Some savior? He wasn't worth the effort.

“W-where am-- am I?? Who are y-... you?”

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