If we were going up the mountain, the boy needed more appropriate attire. So we picked him up some thick boots, gloves, a hat, and a heavy coat. All of which were conveniently sold by the few merchants in town. Some of which we got a discount for because I won the tournament.

  I didn't push for a discount, given their prices seemed fair from what I could tell, but I took it nonetheless. We packed some food, water, and basic medical supplies, just in case. For the sake of curiosity, we stopped into the Association branch office to see if there were any bounties we needed to be aware of. Nothing was posted, but the man behind the counter said to be careful of direwolves. They get extra aggressive this time of year.

  I had to keep my laugh to myself. I'm probably the most aggressive direwolf possible.

  Then we began the trek up the path.

  Keagan walked beside me, wanting to improve himself physically. As soon as possible, we turned down a different pathway than what Luther had guided us. I hadn't seen him return to The town yet, so there's a good chance he's still up the mountain.

  And if he's waiting at that mine, he'll be waiting a very long time.

  The air grew colder by the minute as we climbed. I breathed it deep. The wintergreens and pines had such clean scents I almost proposed that we move up here. Keagan was handling things well. He stayed behind me, using me as a shield from the wind.

  “Kid, you were right, this air is good for me,” I said with a smile.

  The kid pulled his arms in closer. “I'm glad you like it.”

  I nodded over into the forest of trees. “Let's go in there. The wind won't be nearly as bad.”

  Keagan nodded enthusiastically and took off in a brisk jog. I kept my position so that I could protect him from the biting wind. I plowed through a snow drift for the boy and quickly, the trees sheltered us from the mountain wind.

  “How is it so much colder up here? Isn't it supposed to be spring?” the boy asked.

  I smiled and sat next to the shivering kid. “You know how in the summer a breeze feels good?” He nodded. “Well, the wind in mountains blows faster, especially through passes like this. They create these wind tunnels. If we were to have winds like this during a blizzard back home, it would feel much the same.”

  He looked up at me. “Your fur really lets you enjoy this, doesn't it?”

  “My fur keeps me from feeling the cold.” I wagged my tail. “My ice subtype probably helps this feel good. But it's the air, it's so clean.”

  I punctuated my point by taking an exaggerated, long breath. “Let's get started, shall we?”

  We started with a basic hike higher up the mountain. What had begun as an enthusiastic march turned, quickly, into punishment. The slope sharpened, the air thinned, and Keagan’s breathing became more of a wheeze than a rhythm. I kept a small smile on my face.

  “You… do this… for fun?” he gasped between steps.

  “Fun?” I said over my shoulder. “No. This is called ‘discipline and hard work.’”

  He groaned dramatically, stumbling over a root. “It’s definitely hard. You and your four legs make this look easy.”

  I barked a laugh. “A little training will do you good. As for me and my four legs, I have to work twice as hard as you. You can't imagine the coordination it takes just to walk.”

  “Right,” he drawled. “Then what's your secret, oh Magnificent Master of the Quadrupedal Walk?”

  Is he trying to crack a joke? Actually, yeah, that's a good thing for him to do. It's a step back to normal.

  “Practice.” I flashed him a grin and wagged my tail. “Having a tail helps too.”

  The boy scratched his head. “Having more links would just be even more confusing.” Then he froze. “Wait. Was that a joke?”

  “Maybe,” I teased.

  The ridge we made it to was a sheet of blue ice draped off the side that caught the light like glass. We moved in steady bursts; fifty steps, pause, and then fifty more. Each rest, Keagan leaned against me, half draped over my shoulders like a wet coat. While he caught his breath, I used those moments to scoop him up and sprint short bursts ahead.

  After about an hour of that, the boy was spent. So I had the boy tie a rope harnessed to my chest, so I could drag a dead log I’d found as resistance. It dug furrows in the snow behind me. The cold air tore at my lungs in the most pleasant way imaginable.

  When I jogged back, Keagan was chewing on a strip of jerky, watching me with glazed eyes. “Even still trying to get strength training in. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're a masochist.

  “That’s because I've lived through more than you.” I gently bumped into him with my shoulder. “Keep this up and by the end of the year you'll be able to run twenty laps around our ranch without being winded.

  He puffed out his chest. “I’m improving.” Then he pointed to me. “At the rate you're going you'll be the one eating Odin, not Fenrir.”

  “I will not be eating gods,” I corrected. “Besides, I'd settle for paying our debts. You do remember those, don't you?.”

  He snorted. “Of course. I'm just saying you're getting very strong very quickly.”

  “I get that.” I scooped up a bunch of snow in my mouth for something to drink. “But what's your frame of reference?”

  He pouted. “You could just accept the compliment. Why do you have to be a constant rain cloud?”

  “Because if I'm the rain cloud, you're the sunshine,” I said while resting my chin on his head. “Both rain and sun make the plants grow. Your dreams are those plants.”

  Keagan scratched the bridge of my muzzle. “You big softy. Pretend all you want, but I know better.”

  I'm sure you do, kid.

  Then we continued on our way again. We took breaks often. It was not because I needed to, but because the boy had a habit of stopping mid-step to stare at random rocks and definitely not because he was short of breath again. He insisted they looked like things: a coiled kraken, a sleeping chimera, a “very judgmental oni-face.” I let him ramble. It was good to let him fill the air.

  “Lucia,” he said after a while, “why do you always sound like you’re judging the weather?”

  “I don’t.”

  “You do!” He crossed his arms and looked to the sky. “It’s like, ‘Hm, this temperature is acceptable, but could use more frostbite.’”

  I rolled my eyes. “That’s because I actually enjoy feeling my lungs freeze.”

  He grinned, finally catching the spark I’d been fishing for all morning. “Some of us like feeling our toes, you weirdo.”

  “Takes one to train one.” I winked.

  “Hey!” He stomped his foot. “Who are you calling a weirdo? I'm a normal person.”

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  I blinked slowly. “And what's the most amount of books you've read in a month?”

  “Fourty-two,” he answered with all the pride he could muster.

  “And how many do people usually read in a year?”

  “Two or three.” The color drained from his face. “Oh.”

  I stared at him for longer than I meant to. Okay, I didn't expect it to be that much of a difference. He only slowed down because he was running out of books to read.

  I gave him a smile. “Embrace the weirdness, kid.”

  His steps were lighter, but that only lasted a few minutes before fatigue set in again.

  By late-afternoon, the wind started to howl down the ridge. I found a shallow crevice that cut into the mountain like a natural shelter and guided him in. The snow underfoot turned powdery and the air stilled.

  “Better?” I asked.

  Keagan was rubbing his gloved hands together, his breath fogging the air. “If by ‘better’ you mean I can now feel my fingers enough to regret it, then yes.”

  I chuckled low in my chest. “You humanoids are fragile little things.”

  “It’s because we don't have fire. Maybe you could lend me some,” he muttered, tugging his scarf higher.

  I crouched so my muzzle was level with his face. “Someone made pillows from my fur in the past. Now I have more, you could probably make a coat with what I will shed in the summer.”

  “Then I need to learn how to knit.” His laugh echoed down the mountain. “We could look a lot more alike. The only way they will tell us apart is who has the thumbs. But, yeah, we’ll see. Just don't down me in your shedding.”

  I chuckled. “No promises, kid.”

  Doing good, kid.

  Once the wind abated, we continued on until the light started to fade. The clouds turned violet, and the snow reflected it back like crushed glass. When we finally stopped, I picked out a shallow cave cut into the slope. The ground was dry, at least by mountain standards.

  Keagan looked ready to collapse. His hands trembled as he unpacked his bag. I nudged him with my nose. “Firewood first, kid. You can’t eat if you freeze to death.”

  He gathered sticks while I pawed clear a flat patch of dirt. It took him four tries to get the flint and steel to cooperate. The fifth sparked a tiny flame that caught. He sat back, victorious, cheeks flushed red.

  I grinned, watching him cup the fire like it was something sacred. “Congratulations. You’ve completed the first step in all survival training.”

  “Let’s see you try,” he said, rubbing his hands together over it. “It’s warm. That’s what counts.”

  He looked proud, so I didn’t tease him more. I lay beside him, close enough so that his back rested against my ribs. The warmth of the fire mixed with the chill radiating from me until it felt perfectly balanced.

  “You’re doing good, kid,” I said quietly. “Better than I did, when I was your age.”

  Keagan smiled weakly. “You mean when you were a—what did you call it—a beastkin?”

  “When I was a mess,” I corrected. “Laughing makes the body forget what pain feels like, even if just for a heartbeat. And you have a challenge for me, don't you?”

  His eyebrows rose. “You want me to make you laugh?”

  “Yes.”

  He blinked. “I can’t just… summon funny stuff on command.”

  I shrugged. “Neither can I. But you said you would remind me how to laugh. Now's a good a time as any.”

  He thought hard, squinting at the fire. “Okay… what flower has multiple heads?”

  “What?”

  “A hydra-ngea.”

  I gave him the deadest stare possible. “That’s terrible.”

  He grinned. “But it was cleaver, you have to admit.”

  I huffed and flicked my tail. “Barely.”

  “Alright,” he said, rubbing his hands together. “Next one: why do scarecrows always get awards?”

  I sighed. “Why?”

  “They're outstanding in their fields.”

  I groaned loudly enough for my voice to echo. “Keagan…”

  He broke into full laughter, doubled over beside the fire. It was loud and messy, and the sound melted something I hadn’t realized was frozen inside me. The slightest hint of a smile spread across my face.

  When his laughter died down, he leaned against me, still shaking with leftover giggles. “See? I got you to smile. Next I'll get a laugh out of you.”

  “I’ll hold you to that,” I said, resting my chin on his head. “But first, get better jokes.”

  He snorted. “You got it.”

  Now I understand, Mom. You don't have to solve the problem for them. You just need to make the process as comfortable as possible.

  Later, as the stars began to scatter across the mountain sky, I made a frost shield to block the cave entrance. Each plate clicked neatly into the next, forming a translucent wall that caught the firelight in ripples of blue. The boy was already half-asleep against my side, his breath slow and even.

  “Sleep,” I murmured. “I’ve got watch.”

  His hand reached out weakly and gripped my fur. “Don’t… go far.”

  “I won’t.” I draped my tail over him like a blanket. “Besides, you’d freeze without my fur.”

  That got a small sleepy chuckle from him before silence settled again.

  I watched the flames dance through the frost wall, each flicker mirrored in my reflection. At some point, I let myself drift to sleep as well.

  Wrath Demon Ancestry increases Power and Arcane stat gains and reduces Toughness and Resilience stat gains. Training summary: Power +3, Speed +1, Arcane +2, Toughness +4 Resilience +7

  — — —

  Name: Lucia Silverbreeze

  Species: Fenris (Dire Wolf/???) [Ice Subtype]

  Level 5 [0%]

  Power: 306

  Agility: 199

  Speed: 227

  Arcane: 163

  Toughness: 126

  Resilience: 128

  — — —

  The boy was grinning as he looked at my stats. “See, it worked. Luther was right.”

  I stretched my back and hind legs. “You didn't have to add that last part.” The stiffness in my body didn't go away. “We may have to make another trip here in the future.”

  Keagan eyed me. “You need some time off, don't you?”

  I sighed. “Yeah. Besides, we didn't bring enough supplies to keep going for more than two days.” Then I froze. “Wait, how did you know?”

  He pointed to my flank. “Your legs tremble while you stretch when you've not rested for a few days.”

  I attached an eyebrow and turned to look at myself. “Really? I didn't notice.” Then I smiled at the boy. “You're paying attention. I'm proud of you.”

  He held up a book I hadn't seen him with before. It was titled “Direwolves Compendium.”

  “It says muscle fatigue shows on direwolves first,” he said as he flipped through the pages. “This is a much more complete book on direwolves than what I had read before. Maybe it's because direwolves are more common here?”

  I hummed. “That does make sense. Now I wonder how much of other monsters you don't know. But if direwolves are common here, we should get a move on. The trip down will be easier, but more dangerous. Slipping and falling are far more likely and dangerous.”

  The boy put the book back into his bag. “Okay.” He stood up and brushed himself off. “Let's get off the mountain and somewhere warm.”

  I ploughed through snowdrifts on purpose. Full submersion, then out, and shook to clear the snow. It must have snowed last night because the snow is deeper than it was yesterday. Probably one of the last head snows for the year before most of this melts.

  There were hard moments. The cold pushed an old whisper into my bones a few times. I felt the pull, felt the familiar need of wanting to run something down because it was prey. Though I didn't see any signs of available prey, the snow had buried all scents, and the wind drowned out any chance of me hearing any. But we took out time winding down the mountain.

  By the afternoon, we made it through the worst of the snow and started finding a path. I sat on a flatstone ridge through a thin rain that turned to sleet and then hammered us with a gust. Keagan stayed close, handing me strips of jerky between heavy breaths.

  It had taken much longer to climb down. Mostly because I was the one dictating the number of breaks, and I took more than I care to admit. As I took yet another break, I noticed something on one of the trees.

  A tuft of black fur was caught on of the bark. And there was a heady scent to it.

  “This is fresh,” I announced to the boy.

  He looked at the tree. “It is? How can you tell?”

  “I can smell it.”

  My head dated back and forth. Then I looked down at the ground. There were tracks. The wolf paw prints in the soft ground matched my own.

  Direwolves. Although… “Kid, in that book of yours, does it mention anything about wild direwolves?”

  He patted his bag. “Yeah. There’s an entire section in them. What did you want to know?”

  I nodded to the tracks. “I can't determine if these are the tracks of one or multiple direwolves. Can you tell me if they hunt in packs?”

  “It's very rare.” He held up a finger as if reciting some ancient scripture. “It would take a powerful alpha to keep them together. Because if how much direwolves eat, multiple in a small area causes problems and they quickly run out of food. That is why they are solitary predators.”

  He deflated. “I've seen how much you eat, and I can totally see that.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Ha, ha. Very funny.”

  He snapped his fingers. “Ah. I really thought I'd get you with that one.”

  I headed back down the cliff into the freezing rain. “Atmosphere, kid. For now we need to be quick and quiet.”

  I haven't fulfilled my end of the deal to get my stats to where we agreed on. Until then, no hunting. We need to get home and rest.

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