Lead Me Away

[Inwe]

Winter 55th, 511

A frolicsome, cool morning wind licked at Inwe's long, unbridled hair, sending thin, midnight wisps to dance wildly across her face and over her shoulders. Knowing it was useless to fight the wind, Inwe resisted the urge to vainly smooth her tresses, which would only leap back into action once she dropped her hands. However, the Vantha have poor poker-faces; a deep, reddish orange in her eyes betrayed her quiet frustration. Her entire mood was soured by this tiny, frivolous thing.

Walking alongside Inwe on the path toward the Frostfawn Hold, Findecano sent his wife a sidelong, warm golden glance. "What's wrong?"

"I knew should have braided my hair before we left."

Fin smiled sympathetically. He pulled a hand from his fur-lined pocket and traced the backs of his warm fingers along Inwe's cheek. Her eyes brightened to a friendlier burnt orange, but she was annoyed at the strands of hair that rolled between her skin and his. "You look fine."

Inwe shifted her footsteps and bumped her weight into Findecano appreciatively. He slipped an arm around her waist. "Thank you."

"Especially in your new fur cloak."

She sighed. "I like this cloak."

"It's gorgeous. I like that you spent half our expenses on it."

Not wanting to step into an argument that she wouldn't win, Inwe fell silent. Her dimming eyes scanned the nearby treeline beyond the snow bank. The nearby evergreens looked like a fleet of jade soldiers, standing silently on black-booted feet. Some of the trees still bore branches that buckled heavily under the snow that fell several days ago. Little by little, the wind dusted it off. The frozen ice crystals glittered beautifully in the air like a miniature blizzard. Through Morwen's mark on her arm, Inwe could hear it tinkling like a thousand glass chimes jittering into each other.

Movement drew her eyes to the side. Some of the snow moved. Did she see a pair of eyes?

"Hey—In', where are you going?" Findecano slowed to a stop as Inwe drifted from the path. Making use of her knee-high boots, she began trudging through the snow, driven by curiosity to inspect this moving lump of white. Was it a dog? A wolf? A bear? "Come back!"

"I'm not going anywhere! You're going to be negotiating prices anyway. I just want to see what this is."

"Inwe!"

"Go on! I'll be fine!"

The lump of white leaped and disappeared again. A fox!

Behind her, Inwe heard Findecano mumble something about acting her age, but only hearing half of his remark, she ignored it. Tapping her gnosis, the Vantha woman asked the snow around her to give way. It became less thick, shrugging back into the bank as it came into contact with her boots and ungloved hands. Near the treeline, the snow became more shallow and easier to traverse. The shadow of the fox was still darting ahead. This close to the Frostfawn Hold, Inwe doubted that anything dangerous would be lurking in the nearby trees, but there was always that little risk.

So, naturally, she went in.