Werewolf On A Train

Into Snow

The door to the little cafe clicked shut behind her. Alene stopped for a moment to let her mind adjust to the new situation. Her body didn't react to temperature the same way anymore. She could still feel the coldness of the air against her face and in her lungs, but it no longer meant anything.

Early on, just after she'd been turned it had caused her a lot of trouble. Time and again, she'd underestimated the weather and forgotten to bundle up when going outside. She'd earned herself some nasty frost burns, and once her hair had frozen so bad it shattered when she bumped her head.

The hair would grow out again, and the burn usually healed within hours, but it was still a nuisance, and it worried the people around her. These days, she made a point of adjusting her mind to the new surroundings when she went outside. She knew well the dangers of cold, and while her therianthropic affliction protected her from it, she was not immune. So she checked the temperature before she ventured outside, and she took a moment to set her mind right once she did.

Alene frowned and stepped away from the door, and out into the street. The snow nearly reached her knees. She saw no one else out and about. The locals would be hiding in their warm homes, and any tourists like herself with any sense would have sought shelter already.

Without sense, as she was, she trudged on through the snow. At least there was no wind to speak of – just the ever falling snow. The streetlights shone down on her, lighting her way as she pushed through towards the wanderer's dorm Michael had told her about. She hoped it wouldn't be full.

Eventually she found Hay Market square and stopped. A wide open space, with a statue or fountain in the middle. She couldn't quite tell what, seeing as the snow had transformed it into an enormous lumpy snow cone. Over on the other side of the square someone else trudged through the snow on their way to who knows where.

Alene thought for a moment about trying to catch them up and confirm her location, but shrugged and gave the idea up. She knew where she was and where she was going and she'd probably just scare the poor person.

Then there was that other reason – sometimes her animal aspect freaked out when she ran after someone, thought it was hunting time and tried to take over. Better keep calm. Better not give the poor wanderer an actual valid reason to be scared. They probably just wanted to get home to their family and have food.

A small needle of pain stabbed at her heart. She'd like to have a home too – at some point.