Raven woke to freezing air. She was shivering slightly despite her high body temperature.

The fire had died long ago, that ice crystals had webbed over the charred wood.

She wrapped the blanket tightly around her and stood. In the morning gloom that was illuminating the entrance of the cave, she could see the hulking shape of Fury on the floor. The animal was motionless and she feared that the injury had caused too much blood loss.

Carefully approaching she kneeled in front of the injured hoof. It was still stretched out and was freezing to the touch. Moving her fingers up to the joint and stroking down towards the hoof she noticed something she hadn't before.

Instead of fur, tiny microscopic feathers covered the skin. At the current moment they were all puffed to contain as much warmth around the body as possible.

This was a truly extraordinary creature.

It's head was still hidden under it's wing but twitched at the contact.

Focusing back on the wound she removed the wrapping. Underneath, the horn had already healed quickly.

To her surprise, it didn't seem to be leaving a hole in it's absence. No, quite the opposite.

The blood flow had stopped and remnants of the dried ointment she had applied only yesterday were crusted around the edges. But other than that it seemed perfectly healthy.

She reached her finger into the slight dent in the hoof where the claw had once protruded from. It was still soft, and considering the sudden jerk of Fury's body, still tender.

Retrieving the cream once more she reapplied it not bothering to bind it again.

Relief washed over her as her concern about it's well-being vanished. A grin spread over her face as she leaned forwards on her knees to press her hand against the narrow face of her new friend that now watched her.

"You'll be alright by tomorrow. I promise. But till then you need to take it easy."

It's huff only made her grin widen.

The sun was steadily rising behind the thick cloud cover. She knew this because the low gloom turned into a greyish light.

Overnight the battering of ice and snow had ceased. Now a glittering world lay beyond the dark mouth of the cave. Silence ruled the mute scenery. In particular the peaks rose above the clouds like ancient gods bowing to none.

Tomorrow though would be a new day. Deep inside she could feel the need to leave. Leave this place, leave this wonder of nature. Her instincts that felt as old as the world itself told her to move on. Into the unknown, beyond her comfort zone and challenge herself in life.

She had to leave everything that she knew and loved behind. She had to leave her home.

As she was standing at the entrance of the cave her thoughts turned over and over in her head. Curiosity always won her mental arguments as she mumbled away.

In retrospect, this wasn't a new decision she had to make. From the first day since her wings had become known to her she was on a mission.

A mission to find herself - as stupid as that sounded. Well, more like a mission to discover her identity.

Only, to gain knowledge on one end you had to live with the knowledge of closing a door. Closing one to open a different door. In her case it was her adoptive family to find her blood related one.

Sighing deeply, she stepped back from her daydreaming. The sky was already darkening again, ready to plunge them into darkness. She had wasted hours on thinking about her decisions and choices. Tomorrow she would put her words into action.

Turning on her heel, she walked back into the cave. Fury had been playing with the fire she had rekindled before for awhile now. It seemed to fascinate her.

Surprisingly it didn't seem to affect her in any way. The feathers were all intact and the horn of the hooves which had been used as pokers were blackened but fine.

As she approached the slanted, narrow face of the mare looked up from her play. The ears twitched forwards and the eyes had lost their hostile glean. The large bundle of liquorice in her bag may have been a very convincing factor of acceptance.

Smiling she walked up to her and placed her palm on the warm neck. Under the silky mane the heat was further conserved and a content sigh escaped her lips. Stroking the soft feathers she began lightly scratching the skin beneath her nails.

The mare leaned into the touch and Raven applied more pressure. Moving her hands along Fury's body she came to the wing joint. As soon as she touched the wing Fury shied away.

"Whoa, easy there! We don't want you to hit your head." Raven told her in a calm voice.

Fury had jumped up in an attempt to move away quickly. Now, not much further away but still out of reach, she observed Raven mistrustfully once more.
Her nostrils were flared and eyes wide open showing the white of her eyeball.

Outstretching her hand and moving towards Fury slowly she approached once more. Fury didn't move.

Raven now stood next to her shoulder. Her own were relaxed in a none threatening way. Like taming the mustangs one had to build trust. Trust in each other.

Placing her left hand on Fury's left shoulder she faced away from her face. She began scratching again. Moving her hand towards the tightly folded wing she felt along the coiled muscles. This creature represented pure strength. It was superior in the food chain. At the very least Fury was one if the highest on it.

Her hand was now just below the folded wing. She inched her fingers under the wing and raked her nails over the feathers. Clearly not used to the close proximity Fury tensed even more. The wing was nearly crushing Raven's hand in it's attempt to immobilize it.

Raven smiled to herself. She turned her hand over and began scratching the underside of the wing.

A genuine shudder went through Fury's body and a loud snort came from behind Raven's back. Risking a glance over her left shoulder she looked at Fury who had turned her head and was watching her intently.

Her ears were moving back and forth and the calculating look was swirling in the brown depths.

"Not so bad after all, huh?" Raven chuckled at the dignified huff from the mare. She continued scratching, the wing unfolded upwards so she could have better access.

Once she reached the spot where she knew the mare couldn't reach on her own she applied more pressure. Raven was now openly watching the mare's reaction. Without doubt her ears sailed forwards and her upper lip became pointed in pleasure.

Obviously all equines felt the same when it came to their soft spots.

Having scratched Fury for the past hour she withdrew her hand and turned her back on the mare. A second later persistent teeth had latched onto her blanket that was still wrapped around her shoulder.

Twisting around she pushed her hand up next to Fury's snout and pushed. Laughing at the mare's whiney behaviour she continued to protest back.

"Stop already!" Raven breathed out after a long laugh. "I'm hungry you big fat goof. We need to rest as well if you wanna go home tomorrow. It'll be a long day, so quit with this nonsense! I'm not leaving you anytime soon so I'll be around to be your personal scratch post for some time." Laughing again at the defeated expression on Fury's face she turned around again.

The fire was still kindling and after a bit of attention from Raven was licking at the logs happily once more.

The water kettle was boiling over the flames and the smell of chicken soup filled the cave with it's aroma.

Kneeling down on her bedroll, she filled two bowls with the broth. Behind her the ground vibrated as Fury lay down behind her.

A little shocked, Raven looked at the winged mare. Fury was looking at her expectantly. Noticing the shocked expression on Raven's face she stretched her neck forwards. Fury pushed her muzzle into it and blew out a warm breath of air then looked from Raven to the bowl and back again with pricked ears.

Chuckling Raven put the soup in front of the meat-eater and began eating her own. Slurping noises came from Fury and drowsiness settled over her.

She felt warm and safe next to Fury. A bond was forming between them and already she trusted her with her life.

She also knew that if anything were to happen to the mare she'd put her own life at risk to safe the mare.

With a satisfied stomach and a toasty body to keep her warm throughout the night, she drifted off into a deep slumber.

Just before sunrise though she was woken by piercing shrieks that could have made her ears bleed. Jumping up she realised she'd awoken to a battlefield.