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Despite all of the ominous foreshadowing, the storm that had threatened so fiercely ended up being a dud. There had been little snow but the wind had come in wickedly from the north overnight and brought with it a bitter cold that had settled over the forest like a smothering blanket. Even as tired as she had been, Kendri had lain awake for most of the night, listening to the groaning complaints coming from the roof of the old cabin and the surrounding trees as the wind tormented them. Despite the inclement weather and the squeaks and groans of the trees and cabin, Chris had slept soundly for the duration of the storm. While she'd lain sleepless in her bed, Kendri's ears had been closely tuned to the sound of the human's breathing for most of the night. She was wary of him still, her fear of his strangeness and what he might do to her if she fell asleep constantly in the back of her mind as she tossed and turned in the dark. She kept wondering if she had done the right thing, inviting this stranger into her home. There were so many things about him that she just didn't understand and many more that made her worry about the sanity of her choice. She knew that the lonely isolation of the past two years had taken its toll upon her and she understood that it was that more than anything else that had influenced her decision to bring the stranger back to her home. Only time would tell if that decision was a wise one. If everything went well, having the companionship and the help hunting could prove to be a great boon. If not, well, she didn't want to think about what might happen then.Fortunately, things had gone well enough so far, but not even two days had passed since she'd led Chris here. It was strange feeling though, to have someone else in this cabin with her after nearly two years of enduring a solitary existence. The world suddenly seemed a lot smaller and life that much brighter. She wondered what Chris thought about the whole situation.

When Kendri stepped out of the cabin the next morning, Chris still slept soundly under a haphazard pile of deerskins. It was still early but she figured the poor guy must have really exhausted himself during the hike from his camp to the relative safety of the cabin. That ankle of his had not healed one hundred percent and he'd shown signs of strain during the trip. She decided to let him sleep and get all of the rest he needed. If he wasn't awake by the time she returned to the cabin with the last load of his stuff from his camp, then she'd start to worry.

The cold north wind still blew through the forest, but it was much subdued compared to last night's angry intensity. The sky had begun to clear and as the morning light slowly grew in the east Kendri knew that the next few days were going to be cold ones indeed. Winter had arrived and it would be many months before she and Chris would again know the warmth of the sun. There would be cold and dark days ahead, long days of boredom in the cabin when the snow outside lay half of her height deep and the air stung deeply in one's chest with each breath. One more cycle of the moon and the Long Night would be here. Kendri wondered whether the two of them would be able to endure those unending days of darkness when the sun slept in the south and did not return to cast light over the land for seven days time. Such times belonged to the moon and the stars and the dance of the Spirit Lights overhead. Patience frayed in those dark days and tempers flared as people found it nearly impossible to escape from each other and the frigid darkness that surrounded them on all sides. Legends told of evil spirits that roamed the forests during the Long Night, waiting to steal souls away from those bold or foolish enough to enter the dark and frozen forests. For Kendri's people, The Long Night was a time of solemn ceremony, of fasting and praying and sacrifice to ensure that the sun would return to warm the land. Kendri wasn't so sure about those old ways anymore. The sun would return, as it always did, even if she did nothing about it. She'd found that out over the last two years and often wondered about it. When it came right down to it, there were a lot of the old beliefs that she'd questioned over the past two seasons. Being alone and having so much time to herself had allowed her much time to think on things she normally wouldn't have questioned.

Kendri stepped off of the porch and into a land of strange drifts sculpted by the wicked north wind. In some places the wind had swept away all of the snow and frozen moss and grass poked through the cover of white. In other places the snow was piled up to half of her height. She sighed and regarded the drifts morosely. She was still a bit tired from all of the work she had done the day before and the sleepless night she'd just been through wasn't helping her situation either. She wanted nothing more than to curl up into a ball and sleep the day away but she had one last task to accomplish before she would let herself give in to exhaustion. One thing remained at the human's old camp and it was her intention to go and check it out this morning. There was a strange blue object of some sort there. She had no idea what it was for or what was in it but she had decided that she would bring it back anyways. Chris might need whatever that thing contained and even if he didn't it would be a nice gesture. For all she knew that blue box could have some special meaning to him.

Kendri slowly picked her way through the meandering drifts, muttering occasionally under her breath when a particularly deep or big drift forced her to take a detour. Her ears and nose unconsciously monitored her surroundings and before long the strangest sensation slowly grew over her. She didn't notice it at first and later she tried to ignore it but when the fur on the back of her began to stand up in its own accord she suddenly realized that there was something strange going on. She stopped for a moment and remained completely silent. Her ears and eyes were the only parts of her that moved. Something was out there and it watched her with an intensity that couldn't be matched by any animal she knew of. She felt a disturbing intelligence behind that stare and a sudden chill ran up and down her spine. She ran a paw down the back of her neck in an effort to smooth down the fur that was standing at attention there but her body was having none of that. The fur sprung straight back up as soon as she removed her paw. Kendri looked uneasily back over her shoulder and her lips curled away from her teeth as fear took root deep in her belly. One paw darted to the knife on her belt and her muscles were on edge, ready to fight or flee at the slightest provocation. Her nose worked overtime and her ears twitched madly, trying to pin down the location of the watcher. Maddeningly, she couldn't detect anything out of the ordinary. Just when she was beginning to question her sanity, the feeling suddenly abated and with it went Kendri's adrenaline rush. She was left feeling very alone and vulnerable in the trees, her heart pounding in her ears and wondering if her senses were playing tricks on her. The uneasy feeling remained and she decided that it would be a good idea to leave the area and she did so quickly, casting a nervous and slightly fearful look back over her shoulder as she trotted through the trees.

A very fresh set of deer tracks across the snow in front of her several minutes later was a welcome distraction from the strange encounter moments earlier. She scanned the woods in the direction the tracks led and crept up close to the trail. The swirling wind told her that the animal was close and her stomach rumbled in anticipation. Her paw instinctively went to the knife on her belt and lingered there for a moment. She almost went after the deer but she managed to force her instincts away and kept heading toward the human's old camp. There was food aplenty waiting back at the cabin and there was no reason to exert a lot of effort right now just to get breakfast. Sure, she would have the satisfaction of fresh meat still warm and full of blood but it would easily double the amount of work she would have to do. She already had more work to do than she really wanted. She stepped away from the tracks and continued her winding path down towards the valley.

It seemed to take forever for Kendri to find her way back to Chris's old camp. Those damned snowdrifts kept blocking her way and forcing her to find easier routes around them and she was panting up a storm by the time she finally came to the creek that ran past the human's old camp. She paused a moment to get her bearings and put her nose to the wind and the sensation of being watched crept bag into her head to nag at her. She did her best to ignore it and thought hard for a moment, her eyes clouding over as an expression of extreme concentration came over her face. Those annoying drifts had obscured most of the familiar landmarks that she had relied on the day before. She sniffed carefully, seeking to pull the familiar from the usual jumbled background of forest odours. Her tail wagged a couple of times and downstream she went.

The camp was empty of all but the snow and wind but Kendri approached cautiously nonetheless. Old habits were hard to break and she couldn't shake the feeling that she was invading someone else's territory. Chris's scents still lingered here, bringing back memories of those first few days when she had followed him, unseen and unheard, as she tried to figure out what he was and what his intentions were. A brief smile flashed on Kendri's muzzle as she remembered their first meeting. She'd never forget the look on his face when his eyes had finally met hers. The surprise was easy to see, even on his strange face.

The blue box lay close at paw and she approached it uneasily. She didn't like most of the objects the human had brought with him. They smelled strange and felt even stranger under her fingers. This bright blue thing was a prime example of that. It smelled of things she'd never encountered before. Sure, there were familiar scents like smoke, grease, and Chris's own unique scent but there were other odours there that were completely alien to her. She didn't like those ones.

Snow had drifted up over one side of the box and Kendri poked it experimentally with a toe. It didn't budge. There was something affixed to the side of the thing that looked like it could be a handle of some sort. She reached out slowly and took the thing in her paw. The alien material was cold and slick under her finger pads. She pulled hard on the handle and the thing still didn't even budge. She pulled her paw back and glared at the stubborn container. The Gods bedamned thing had apparently frozen to the ground. Kendri circled it a few times, sniffing intently. She came back to the exposed side and after moment of thought she planted a sharp kick with her heel to the top of the box. With a crack and a cacophony of muffled metallic clanks the thing came loose and snow cascaded off of it. Kendri jumped back and stared at the blue thing with wide eyes, her ears back and lips curling up unconsciously. She didn't like being startled but she liked those strange clanking noises even less. She almost growled at the thing but caught herself when she realized how stupid that would sound, growling at some inanimate blue box. She shook herself and stalked around the thing in a slow circle. It remained silent and immobile and she regarded it with pricked ears and suspicious amber eyes. She wondered what exactly was in that box that could make such strange noises. After a moment of thought she shook her head and decided that it would probably be better if she didn't know. Some of the human's possessions had great power and she feared what might happen to her if she disturbed them. Indecision gripped her and she almost left the strange container in the snow and returned to the cabin. She stopped herself just on the cusp of fleeing. That blue container really bothered her and she was loathe to be near it. Still, she had made a promise to herself to bring it back to the cabin and she held herself to fulfilling her promises.

Kendri took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. Deep down she knew that the blue box was likely harmless but she was having a hard time convincing herself of that. She approached the box carefully and reached out tentatively to grasp one of the handles. She pulled gently. The box slid easily across the snow but more strange and worrisome clanking noises emanated from the mysterious interior of the box. Kendri quickly released the handle and stepped back, sniffing curiously. She decided that she wanted to keep the thing as far away from herself as possible. She reached into the pouch she carried on her belt and withdrew a short length of braided leather rope. She approached the box cautiously, almost afraid that the lid would open and the thing would try to bite her. She tied a hurried loop around the handle and backed away. She tugged on the rope experimentally and was pleasantly surprised by how easily the box slid over the snow. With sudden purpose in her strides she pulled the thing to edge of Chris's old camp. There she stopped and dropped the rope. There was something she had to do before she left this place for the last time.

It took a few moments but Kendri found just the place she needed. She came across a large boulder a short distance away. The flat slab of stone was a quarter of her height and the wind had cleared most of the snow from the top of it. She sat down cross legged in front of it and closed her eyes for a moment. It had been quite some time since she had done anything like this and she wondered if it would do any good. She had a hard time believing in them these days but she had decided that she would leave an offering here to the Gods if they still listened.

Kendri remained still and silent for a several minutes. The wind brushed questioning fingers through her pelt and was cold on the end of her nose. Her ears were back, her eyes were closed and her head was down, her entire posture radiating submission to the ones who watched from above. Beginning slowly, Kendri spoke in a loud and clear voice, apologizing to the Gods for the weakness in her faith and explaining that after everything she had been through that it was hard to have any faith at all. She opened her eyes and reached up to the sky with both arms, calling out to the ones above for forgiveness. She prayed that the hunting over the winter would be good and asked that they watch over her and Chris. She prayed that she and the human might enjoy good health over the winter and maybe even enjoy some small bit of happiness. At the end of her prayer she asked quietly that she and Chris might survive the winter without tearing each other's throats out.

Her prayer finished, Kendri removed four small items from her pouch and placed them on the stone before her. The first one was a small piece of dried meat, the last morsel from the first meal she had shared with Chris so many days ago. She'd kept it for this very purpose. The second item was a raven feather, a symbol of the Creator who watched all things from the skies high above. The third item was a tuft of fur that Kendri had plucked from her chest. She'd bound it carefully into a small bundle with a piece of braided grass. She placed it carefully on the windswept stone in front of her. Her fingers hovered over the last object uncertainly. She had found this thing in the snow after Chris had killed that deer. A piece of yellow metal as big around and as long as her index finger, she had plucked it from the snow at the spot where Chris had been crouched when he struck down the deer with Thunder. It was a strange object, this round and hollow piece of metal. The once bright surface had tarnished and grown darker as the days had passed. It smelled of strange things, of acrid smoke and alien strangeness. Kendri was almost afraid to touch it. She could feel the traces of power that still clung to it. Slowly, carefully she placed it beside the other objects on the stone.

Rising to her feet, Kendri stood quietly for a moment, ears back and head down. Then, one by one, she picked each object from the stone and offered it to the four sacred directions. Once to the East for the birth of the light. Once to the west for the onset of night. Once to the north to the home of winter and ice and once to the south to the home of warmth and new life. One final time she raised each item to the sky to those who watched over all life in the forests below. Her prayer done, Kendri breathed a sigh and wandered back over to the blue box. She wasn't sure that the Gods still watched over her. She had cursed them many times over the last two years, wondering why they had allowed her life to be torn apart as it had. She knew that her offering was insignificant in the face of everything she had done in the last two years but she felt that she had to do something. Whether or not anything would come to pass out of it was another question entirely. Not likely, she thought, as she picked up the end of the rope. She and Chris would have to make their own destinies with no help from those above.

Much grumbling and weird, muffled clanking was heard as Kendri struggled to drag the blue box back to the cabin. A snowshoe hare, its fresh and white winter coat blending in perfectly with the background of winter snows, sat and stared curiously in the direction of the unusual noises. Its large ears tracked the sounds as they bounced through the trees and it sniffed curiously as Kendri swore and kicked at the box where it had become stuck in the snow. Something else soon grabbed the rabbit's attention. Something else was nearby and the rabbit sniffed curiously before deciding that unknown watchers were a bad thing. It quickly moved to take cover under the low hanging branches of a spruce tree. Kendri felt the subtle touch of the unknown presence as well. The fur on her back bristled and she suddenly stopped fighting with the stuck box. She sniffed the air and a low growl built up in her throat. The Watcher had returned. It was out there somewhere, watching her, something disturbing that was strange and unseen. She could sense its presence but the wind did not betray any unusual scents. Her ears picked up nothing but the usual forest noises. Still, there was something out there, and it was watching her. Kendri was sure of it now. When nothing revealed itself to her acute senses after a few minutes, she turned her attention back to the blue box. She hurriedly picked it from the snow and carried it over the deadfall that had trapped it, ignoring the strange noises and odd sensations of things shifting about that came from within it. She dropped the thing back into the snow, hurriedly picked up the rope and began tugging away in earnest, setting a fast pace back towards the cabin. She cast one last glance over her shoulder back the way she had came. Her teeth were bared and her ears flattened back and the look on her face said that she was tired of this and that she was really looking forward to getting back to the cabin and putting all of this weirdness behind her. Soon she disappeared from view among the snow laden spruce trees. Not long after she did, something moved out over the snow. A patch of air swirled and shimmered, the trees behind it distorting slightly as the patch moved slowly along Kendri's trail. A dusting of snow twisted up from the ground, the fine crystals lingering in mid air for a moment before slowly cascading back to the ground as the distortion faded away into the trees.

---

Frost crystals glittered on worn wood and silence enveloped the cabin in a heavy embrace. Chris exhaled slowly, his breath condensing in a cloud around in front of his eyes. A ball of wolf fur on the floor bounced away from him hounded by the fog of his breath. He pulled his head back under the hides. The deer hair was coarse against his skin and his nose was assaulted by the sharp scent of raw leather and his own rather ripe aroma. The combination of odours was nearly overpowering but he didn't care. It was warm under there. The fire had long since gone extinct and bitter cold had slowly crept into the cabin, tendrils of frost creeping along the floor as the heat was driven away. Chris shivered momentarily as a patch of skin was exposed to the frigid air. He rolled over and lifted a flap of the hide he lay under and eyed the stone fireplace. He wondered idly whether he would freeze to death before he managed to get a fire going. He knew that he wouldn't, but still, lighting a fire meant having to leave the warmth of his cocoon of musty old deerskins. Sure, those things stunk but the floor was a whole hell of a lot colder than they were and body heat was far to precious of a thing to waste. Being a lazy and warm lump was far easier than being mobile and cold. He buried his head under the hides for a few more minutes. Boredom crept up far too quickly. He wasn't tired enough to want to sleep anymore and his mind began to wander.

A few more brain cells began to fire and he suddenly poked his head out of his sanctuary. He glanced around quickly and realized for the first time that he was alone. That damned wolf wasn't anywhere to be seen. He wasn't sure that was a good thing or a bad thing. Maybe she had abandoned him to his fate here in this old shack. Such a course of action was possible, he guessed, but it didn't feel right. This old shack had been lived in for a while. It had the feeling of 'home' stamped all over it, and the wolf fur that was clustered into the corners and strewn over nearly every part of this shack combined with the persistent 'doggy' odour that seemed to have seeped right into the wood led him to believe that this is where Kendri had lived for some time. Chris stared at the battered table in the center of the room. He could see the crystals of frost that had grown on the rough wood. He groaned and rolled on his back to stare at the ceiling, trying desperately to ignore the cold draft that crept down along his neck. This is likely where he would be living for the foreseeable future as well and he wasn't quite sure what to think about that. Sure, this run down old shack was far, far better than the tent but it was no comparison whatsoever to the home he had lost somewhere behind him. A frown grew on Chris's face as old memories drifted through his mind. Sadness flowed forth and he sighed heavily. He still couldn't believe it was all gone. His life hadn't been perfect by any means but he still dearly missed it. He missed the fun times with his friends, and he fondly recalled foods that actually had flavour. Dreams of hot coffee tormented him and forced air heating and a warm bed were suddenly the things of fond memories. He even missed the daily drudgery that had been his job. Compared to what he had to do now just to survive, that nine hours a day of working in a shop full of noisy machinery was a holiday by comparison.

A groan escaped from Chris as he decided that he better get up and start the fire. Slowly he began the procedure of bringing his clothes, piece by piece, under the hides with him to warm them up before he put them on. He swore and shivered a bit as stiff and unbelievably cold cloth met bare skin. He was really starting to hate this world.

When Chris finally did drag himself out of bed and started to gather the necessary pieces to get the fire going, he ran into a few more problems. Lighting the fire was easy, however the column of cold air that had taken up residence in the chimney overnight stubbornly refused to budge and the cabin began to fill with acrid smoke. Cursing bitterly, Chris staggered over to the door and swung it open. He coughed a couple of times and his eyes burned so badly that he could hardly see. Smoke billowed out the open door and Chris staggered through it and out into blinding brightness and deathly still air, wincing as his ankle flared up in pain. The cold instantly latched on to him, settling on to his shoulders like a great weight and sending exploring fingers into all of the places where the warmth tried to hide. He wasn't sure how cold it was out there but he guessed it was at least twenty degrees below freezing. With chattering teeth and a shivering body he stamped his feet and rubbed his hands together as he waited for the smoke to clear out of the cabin. For a while there was more smoke coming out of the open door than there was the chimney and he began to worry that he was going to freeze solid before the cabin cleared out. Fortunately for him, only a couple of minutes passed before the fire built up enough heat to overpower the cold air that kept trying force the smoke back down the chimney. It was with an unbelievable sense of relief that Chris entered the smoky shack and pulled himself as close to the fire as he could. He dumped a huge armload of wood on the flames and wrapped himself up in as many of the deerskins as he could pile on. His numb fingers he held out to the fire, hoping that they would soon thaw out. The warmth that radiated from the fireplace was a like a gentle caress as the cold was slowly driven back. A rare smile graced Chris's face as he finally began to feel a little better and less likely to freeze to death. He shook his head in wonder at the realization of how important such a simple thing like staying warm had become. He'd never had to deal with that problem in such a serious way before and he briefly wondered just how he was going to survive the rest of the winter with all of his extremities intact. He hadn't been prepared for this kind of weather when he had left for his fateful hunting trip and he lacked the necessary warm clothes to adequately deal with temperatures that bordered on the improbable. Food was going to be another problem as well. He was thankful that he still had his old .303, but he had only brought the one box of ammunition with him. Once that supply was exhausted, things would be far more difficult and the rifle would be little more than an unwieldy club. More problems would also be encountered if the snow got much deeper. He'd have to try and build a set of snowshoes if that happened. Chris sighed and cursed under his breath. Even trying to keep with the demand for firewood looked like it was not going to be fun. Hopefully he'd find some way to get back home before his situation took too many turns for the worse. He had a suspicion though, that he would not be so lucky. He pulled the deerskins tighter around his body and leaned closer to the fire, revelling in the simple pleasure of being warm.

As time passed slowly and his boredom grew, Chris began to wonder just where the heck that wolf had disappeared to. Probably out trying to get food, he suspected, but he wasn't one hundred percent sure. She was a little unusual, that wolf and Chris almost laughed as that thought crossed his mind. Actually, that wolf was a whole hell of lot more than just 'unusual' and he really had no idea what drove her to do what she did. He shrugged and stared into the fire. Time would tell what she had in mind and time was suddenly something he had no shortage of. He could foresee a lot of boring days in the months ahead.

Chris stood up slowly, waiting for the expected spike of pain from his ankle. It didn't come this time and with a raised eyebrow he collected a few more pieces of firewood from the stack along the wall. He eyed the stack critically. He really should bring some more in from outside. With the weather as cold as it was he was going to burn through an enormous amount of wood just trying to keep the cabin at a liveable temperature. Apparently whomever it was that had built this shack had given little thought to insulation and the heat fled through the walls just as quickly as the fire created it. Grumbling to himself, Chris dug through the pile of his stuff that Kendri had stacked beside the table in a search for his gloves. That had been another surprise to him. That wolf had spent most of the last day out and about, hauling almost all of his stuff from his old camp to here at the cabin. He shook his head in surprise and wondered just what exactly here motives were in doing such a task. Maybe she had taken pity on him and his sprained ankle, or maybe she had been curious about all of his stuff and had wanted to keep it for herself. There was a bit of a language barrier between them that prevented him from asking so he just shrugged and picked his gloves from the pile. He warmed them by the fire for a moment before putting them on and heading towards the door.

The bitterly cold winter air stung nose and lungs. Snow squeaked underfoot and wisps of smoke slowly moved through the trees. The sun shone brightly through the forest and dazzled off the snow, the long shadows of the trees held ghostlike in the clouds drifting smoke. The sky overhead was a beautiful deep blue and there wasn't a cloud to be seen as the dome of artic air overhead crept over the landscape. Chris stomped over to the woodpile against the outer wall of the cabin and brushed some snow of the top row. He began to load up but stopped and looked up when a strange noise reached his ears. His brow furrowed and he strained his ears into the silence, pale eyes searched the trees for any sign of what was going on. He heard the noise again, a strange, muffled metallic thud and it was closer this time. The lines in his brow became deeper as the noise grew louder and more frequent, almost constant. He was just beginning to wonder if he should go get his rifle when Kendri burst out of the trees at a dead run, his old Coleman cooler bouncing and careening across the snow behind her as she towed it with a short chunk of rope. Chris almost broke out laughing at this rather unusual scene until he saw the look on Kendri's face. She looked scared stiff about something. Her eyes were wide, her ears flat to her head and she didn't stop running until she was almost through the door of the cabin. She cast off her burden and turned to stare back into the trees, panting like mad. Chris opened his mouth to say something but Kendri waved an arm at him to be quiet. She stopped panting and suddenly the forest was enveloped in an eerie silence punctuated only by the sound of Kendri's intent sniffing. Chris was startled when he saw the hair on the back of her neck stand up. The low rumbling growl that built up in her throat was more felt than heard. Chris's eyes darted around, following Kendri's gaze, trying to see what had gotten her so worked up. The bitter cold was temporarily forgotten and the absolute stillness and silence of the forest began to eat away at him. The hairs on the back of his neck began to stand up as his body tried to warn him about something. He began to get the suspicion that something out there in the trees was watching them and he didn't like the feeling he was getting from it.

His eyes caught movement off to one side and both his and Kendri's heads swung as one to the spot. Evergreen branches swayed briefly before stillness took over. Kendri growled louder and Chris found himself wishing for the reassurance of the .303 in his hands. After another moment of silence, during which the sensation of being watched didn't fade one iota, Chris and Kendri exchanged a glance and backed quickly into the cabin. The door slammed shut and there was the sound of something being braced against it from the other side.

The cooler remained outside, temporarily forgotten. A strange shadow briefly moved over the bright blue box before being lost amongst the drifting smoke and shadows of trees.