The sun peeked in through the windows signaling that it was late in the day.

I scrunched my nose before slowly opening my eyes. The lodge was quiet, morning sunlight still lighting it up even as late as it was. Sitting up, I saw that a particularly large wolf had snuggled up next to me and that the flames in the fire place had gone out.

A big yawn left my lungs as I stretched my arms above my head. Admittedly, I was tempted to just go back to sleep. But I got up and went over to my small kindle pile, picking out an assortment of twigs and sap.

Once I had a small cluster of them, I went over to the fire place and began cleaning it out. The chimney had gotten a bit plugged up, but I was able to handle it and got it open again.

A bunch of snow fell into the cabin of course, but I eventually was able to gather everything up and take it outside.

It was actually fairly warm outside, considering it was winter. But I didn't dawdle and threw out the ashes and snow from the chimney before heading back inside to restart the fire.

It was a bit damp, but I managed to get a flame going. Then I piled a couple logs on top and got to my feet. The fire would warm the cabin a bit more, and when I was sure the fire wouldn't die, I headed upstairs to take a shower.

This helped get the grease that had been building up out of my hair. I thought about the wolf down stairs as I scrubbed away the ash marks over my arms. Or rather, I thought about what he'd said yesterday.

"They were way over priced! I simply persuaded them to fix their costs."

Was that true? Seeing as I mostly stayed away from the village, I didn't really have any coinage because I traded goods with the shopkeepers. Had he been over charging me this entire time?

A frown pulled at my lips as I washed the soap out of my hair.

I'd never really thought anyone in the pack would pick on me like that, or any other way. They mostly left me alone.

Alone, now that was a word I hadn't thought of in a while. At least, not in the short while that Kale had been here. With him here, I wasn't alone, he made me feel, happy.

The water turned cold suddenly, making me jump. I quickly finished up and turned off the shower before getting out and drying myself. With the towel wrapped around me, I walked across the hall to my bedroom and made sure to shut and lock my door as I got dressed.

I slipped on a large sweater over my chest and comfortable jeans underneath. Today was somewhat of a lazy day. I had a few extra pelts thanks to Kale's 'negotiation' skills, so I didn't have to go out to hunt for pelts today.

I hummed, smiling at the thought. It had been a while since the last time I had a 'lazy day'.

When I opened my door, I was in a fairly happy mood as I headed down the stairs.

The Wolf near the fire place glared at me as a greeting.

"What?" I asked looking at him confused. He only snorted at me before crawling up on my couch.

"Hey! Off the couch or shift back, I don't want to deal with fur in my cushions." I frowned at him and he gave me an annoyed look.

I simply folded my arms and stared at him while tapping my foot. I only waited a few minutes before he shifted back.

"Wood floors are the worst." He grumbled, stretching his arms up and I heard his back pop.

"You don't have to sleep on the floor." I told him with a shake of my head and a smile over my mouth. There it was again, even when he did something I didn't like, he still ended up making me smile.

I don't even think he realized what he was doing for me just by being here.

"You slept on the floor." He retorted while folding his arms and I looked over at where we'd fallen asleep curiously.

"Do you shift into a wolf when you get too cold?" I asked, walking over to him.
Kale frowned, if only in thought before shaking his head.

"No, not really." A hum slipped from me as I thought about it.

"Then why did you shift?" I asked, puzzled by the matter.

He looked at me weird as if the reason should have been obvious.

"The floor is hard. I shifted so I could be more comfortable." He told me, but this only made me scratch my head.

"But, when I fell asleep, you were still human."

"I fell asleep like that, woke up uncomfortable, shifted, and then went back to sleep." His explanation made sense, so I stopped asking about it and simply shrugged.

"Alright. "Hungry?" I asked, heading into the kitchen and looking back at him over my shoulder.

"A bit." He said, trying to be casual as he followed me into the kitchen. "What do you have?"

"Eh.." I felt sheepish suddenly. "Eggs, meat, milk, and....hot chocolate." I could feel his eyes on me now as I tried to think of anything else I had.

"Anything else?" He asked, trying to be patient.

"...I have ramen, and rice.. I think." I pulled at my lip in thought.

"Have you seriously just been eating eggs and meat this whole time?" He asked and I pulled my hair over my shoulder as I turned to look at him.

"No. Just, recently." I admitted and he sighed before pushing past me into my kitchen.

"I might have bread, and some cheese if you want a sandwich." I offered and he looked over at me.

"And I suppose you also have peanut butter and jelly?" He asked. I frowned and folded my arms.

"Of course not, that vile 'butter' is not allowed in this cabin." I said and heard something like a mixture of a choke and a snort.

"You don't like peanut butter?" He asked almost sounding unbelieving and amused as I nodded.

"I don't like peas, nuts, peanuts, or peanut butter, except with milk chocolate. Even then though, I still don't like peas." I admitted before pausing, he was just staring at me now.

"What?"

"Are you done?"

"...yes."

"Ok, then let's try and figure out if we can make anything else other than just eggs and meat." He told me as he started rummaging through my cupboards.

"What's wrong with eggs?" I pouted and he rose a brow at me.

"It's not good to eat one thing everyday, and you seem to have a bad habit of doing just that."

"What do you care?" I asked, I meant no offense by it. I was genuinely surprised that he even bothered.

"I don't want to be eating eggs everyday that I'm here." He said, but that didn't add up with his previous statement. Still, I didn't press.

We ended up finding some slightly old pancake mix and made a couple of stacks.

"I don't think I have syrup." I admitted sheepishly as he looked in the fridge.

"That's fine, we'll just use jam." He said as if he preferred it that way.

We ate in silence, but once I had finished, I looked over at him with a smile.

"Do you feel up to going outside? It's rather warm today." I offered, but he frowned some.

"Are you sure that's a good idea? The snow should be pretty high with all that snowing from last night." I stood up with a shrug.

"Well, if you want to stay in here, you can, I'll be outside for most of the day."

He frowned at me as I washed his and my dishes, and was still frowning at me as I started getting ready to go outside.

"You don't have to come." I told him when he grabbed my spare coat.

"I'm not just going to sit here and sleep, if I go with you, I might at least be able to find a way home."

I flinched as I zipped up my coat a bit to quickly after hearing that. My hair ended up getting caught.

Did he really want to leave? I pulled the metal down, getting the strands of brown locks out of the tangle. Then I pulled my hair over my shoulder and out of the way before zipping up my coat the rest of the way.

If I was being honest, I didn't want Kale to leave. It was understandable that he would want to, I just thought...I'm actually not sure what I thought, that he would want to stay here? That was insane. Why would he want to stay here? He didn't like the cold at all, He only got annoyed with me, and He was injured, that was the only reason he'd stayed as long as he had.

We walked out into the snow, it nearly reached the top of our boots, but I was careful, even with a small frown hanging on my lips and my mind buzzing with thoughts.

I was staring hard at the ground, trying to focus on not getting any snow in my boots, but it really didn't matter to me. I liked the snow, I loved the beauty of it's white and how it formed a wonderful cocoon around all the plants in the area.
Kale was muttering about how cold it was.

"If you don't think about it, you won't feel it so much." I told him over my shoulder. "You just need to keep moving, you'll warm up just fine."
He snorted as if I was lying.

I didn't expect the sudden flare of anger in my chest.

Even when I tried to be nice, he would just continuously be ornery.

Without entirely thinking about what I was doing. I scooped up a handful of snow, twisting my hands around it in a fast way of sculpting before I whirled around and threw the cold ball of ice at the unsuspecting brunette.