A Court of Shift and shadow

XIV

Katies POV:

We landed in the snow, and it was freezing. My simple clothes for training were not made for this. Rhysand standing a step away. His hands in his pockets, and a backpack over the shoulder.

"Today we will do something different."

"I guess..." In my training with Feyre we were in the green forest around Velaris. But this... Mountains and snow, mixed with grey rocks.

"I want to see you use your powers for survival." He said, spreading out his wings. "You are quite resourceful, and I want to see it in action."

"Do we need snow for that?" I asked, the cold making my teeth chatter.

"Yes. Good look." He lifted off, "You have until midday to find a shelter." The High Lord of the Night Court disappeared in the clouds.

"Great..." I mumbled and shifted to my wolf. Its fur coat helped me to keep some warmth. A good start. I tried to localise the wind's direction, but it came from all over, shifting and changing directions faster than I could react to. Snow, last time it had been a clear sky, no wind or snowfall. This was a storm. Slowly I started to walk away from the place where we landed, to find shelter from the wind. Like a cave, or something like that.

Something was a large rock that happened to create a space free from the wind. I started to dig into the snow, creating my own cave at the rocks side. My Wolf did keep me warm, but soon the cold started to affect it. The cave I had made was not keeping in the warmth, so I tried to summon my shield of air. A way to hinder the coldness from gathering in the cave. But to combine the two was too hard. I needed to find a better spot. And that quickly.

Not a fan of this exercise Rhysand. Was all I could think as I abandoned my first cave. I didn't know for long I was walking, not in time or distance, but I found a group of trees. And it gave more and better protection. I started once more to create a shelter, and this time it did keep me from losing more heat. Next problem, food.

Ever since the first time I had been locked inside, I had gotten used to only eating one meal a day. Even in the week since I came to the Night Court I still only manage to eat one full meal a day. And now it came back to haunt me. I had used more power in this short time than before, and the cold took more energy than I was used to. It became harder to focus, slowly I left the cave, and started to hunt. I had never actually eaten in my forms. Hunted, yes, but never eaten. In Spring it was easy to find food, berries and fruit always existed. And I never had to worry about getting cold, this was all the opposite. My wolf picked up a trace, a squirrel, it was something. Not much in the way of food, but food nonetheless. I walked back to my cave, and crawled inside. One more try to get my shield up and once more failed.

I think I fell asleep, for the storm passed, and the cold became less intense. That is something good. I walked back outside, still in my wolf form. Rhysand was nowhere to be seen. I will not fail his training, I am not weak!

I had shelter, I had food, or some food. Now fire or finding a way back to safety was next up. The winds had calmed down, and maybe I could fly up and look for a village or cabin. Or anything that could give me safety. One problem... I was too tired to shift, my magic strained to its limits by the cold and the lack of food.

Stupid of you Katie. To get so weak... I was stuck in my wolf form. I needed more food, rest, and warmth. In the group of trees I found a small creek of water. A stubborn small flow that refused to freeze over I managed to drink some of it. It was freezing cold, but better than nothing. A dark shadow landed in front of me, Rhysand himself. How he was not affected by the cold was beyond me.

"Show me what you have done." He said and I led him to my cave. "Impressive. I can see that you already have found some food, but I have some with me if you need it." He opened the bag, but I shook my head.