new day | ✔

viii

Two weeks had passed since River last witnessed the daylight, and the days were constantly getting colder, and if possible - darker. Her body was screaming for rest, her muscles ached from the recent riots, and her throat burned from the lack of water and food.

Yet River couldn't afford to let her guard down after what had happened with the men, and tried her best to ignore the unbearable fatigue clawing inside of her.

A freezing gust of wind picked up, whispering through the tree trunks like spirits from the dead. The pine needles bristled on their branches, and the deciduous trees were stripped bare, their gangling branches casting eerie shapes. She was panting, her paws growing numb with each step in the frozen snow, her ankles buckling beneath the weight of her body.

The vague scent of a female idled in the air, and River felt a wave of fear ebb over her mind. The exhausted she-wolf didn't want to loose another limb in this encounter, and perhaps it'd just be better to run.

Run.

Before she could even turn around and sprint away, a silhouette emerged from the wall of umbrage, and stepped into the moonlight.

It was another vagrant - a female - who was aged around four or so years. Her name was Nox.
Nox was a warm, tawny brown pigmented maiden whose coarse-sewn pelt was littered with countless scars. Her face and dorsal took on a darker hue of chocolate, and her eyes were almost like the northern lights, a wonderful constellation of greens, blues and yellows.

Though similar to River in height, she was discernibly stockier, possessing shorter appendages and a heftier torso. Her body was cloaked with dense muscle, but needless to say, she was quite adorable.

River curled her lip in response, pulling back her auditories and raising her hackles. Nox let a subtle whimper abscond her maw, tucking her tail in between her haunches - a submissive gesture. Confused on whether not this rogue was a threat, River continued to let soft growls vibrate in her larynx, her eyes still well fixed upon the others.

There was a thick layer of tension that idled over the two.

Perhaps River thought this situation to be a bit too awkward for her, and decided that she wouldn't waste her time on a vagabond. She trudged passed the brown female, her hackles once again settled down, and her tail had stopped bristling. Yet she kept her muscles tensed - there wasn't a chance that River would let the stranger attack.

However it wasn't as easy as River thought, getting rid of this new damsel. Nox trailed her footsteps, keeping the same, five feet away from her, halting when she does, quickening her pace. River pulled back her ears, suppressing growls that echoed with irritation. And surely, the rather, loud, footsteps of the female wasn't helping her annoyance either.

The silver wolf jumped into the the air, and whirled around to crash into Nox. Her forepaws made contact with her chest, pinning her to the snow that crumpled beneath their weight. She lowered her snout towards Nox's, her jowls pulled back in a display of dentitions.

Nox snarled back, her medley of eyes widening and pupils contracting in defense.  In a swift motion, she moved her snout closer to her's and nipped River's maw. The silver wolf immediately released her pin - though Nox could've easily slipped out - and bounded up further, her tail held high.

And that was it, River would now have to survive the rest of this dark month, and this time, as a leader, with her alliance, Nox.