Winter
Klee sat at the entrance to the small cave. The remnants of her fire smoldered gently to her right, still giving off a little heat. She nestled deeper into her wool coat as a cold breeze blew off the lake in front of her. Immunity to cold was not one of the gifts her lord had given her, but she didn't truly mind the cold, even as it seeped into muscles from the stone under her. The sun was rising on a crisp winter morning. Klee was not an early riser, and did not often see the sunrise, but one has to sleep to be considered an early riser. Sleep brought nightmares and doubts in the dark. A slight shudder passed through her at the thought. Cat naps during the day had been keeping her going. She smiled at the thought. 'Cat naps.' Lona would like that.
The morning was starting to come alive as the sun crested the mountain to her left. She could smell the scent of a rabbit in the bushes not far from the entrance to the cave and her stomach growled, but she did not move. Food would come later. Her cave faced the south, back towards Shadowfane. She hadn't realized it at first, but every place she stayed had faced in that direction, towards home. She had been out in the woods alone for a few months now. It was the first time she had ventured alone for so long, usually she joined up with a gypsy caravan or traveled to Eluviar between gathers, but the gypsies were fighting and she didn't feel right going back to the land of the elves alone. Her thoughts drifted, as they so often did, to Sasha and Grum. Oh, how she missed her adopted parents. She had so much to tell them and was in desperate need of their advice. She knew they were doing important work, though, and could not begrudge them that. She could only pray they were safe. If she knew who to pray to, that is.
Klee pushed thoughts of religion and devotion out of her mind before she fell back into the confusing swirl once again. She caught a glimpse of fluttering wings as a chickadee flew from one tree to another, singing the call that had given it its name. She found herself smiling, she had always loved chickadees best of all the birds, their courage and friendliness called to her. Watching it flutter from one branch to another, she felt that she could not stand to sit there any longer and jumped to her feet. Pausing briefly to quench the fire with snow, she set off into the woods in search of breakfast. As she walked through the woods, she knew she was being cowardly, running away from the swirl of thoughts and emotions that had tormented her each night. She knew she would have to face it all eventually. If nothing else, Sarcciano would most certainly talk to her about it all again the next time they were both in Shadowfane, and she felt like she should have some answers. Her limbs twitched with irritation and she shoved the difficult thoughts to the back of her mind, stepping up into a run, leaving the cave and the doubts behind.
She ran for some time, still in human form, before stopping at the edge of the lake, breathless. The cold air made it harder to breathe and her cough disrupted the morning stillness. Sitting on a boulder near the lake, she took a few deep breaths to steady herself before falling into the part of her that was connected to the wolf. The familiar warmth of the magic spread over her, but was quickly followed by a new sensation. A cold deeper than any emanating from the air or stone beneath her, flowed through her limbs and she shivered. The cold was new and yet still oddly familiar. She held up her hands and caught her breath at the color of the fur peaking out of the sleeves of her coat. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the morning sun reflecting off of the white streaks that had slowly started to appear in her hair over the previous year. Learning forwards slowly, hardly daring to breathe, Klee looked into the still reflective water of the lake. A wild excitement rose up in her heart at the sight of her own face, and without even thinking about it she broke into a howl of glee.