WINTER

The girl shivered against the cold. She pulled the coat closer to her, trying to bring new warmth into her flesh from the action.

He would come. He always came. At the change of the season, he arrived in their spot. Just to make sure he did not come in a surprise- a call without warning- she traveled to the lake every day. It had been a year since she first met her stranger. A year since he first found her.

And she still did not know who he was.

Not a member of the pack. That much she knew after that first day of meeting him. She traveled back to her home, eagerly talking of her encounter. But the more she described the beautiful stranger with dark skin and silver eyes, the more odd looks she received. Until soon she learned to keep quiet and not bring up her imaginary friend.

That first winter she waited for hours before he showed. An uneventful day. It was only her talking. It was always only her talking. But this would change. She would bring out more from him if she had to.

"Sansa."

The deep voice that she had only heard four other times previously before, rang out. She recognized it immediately.

"You're here!"

She knew better than to rush at him. He sidestepped her the first time she tried that, earning a plunge into the lake.

A ghost of a smile entered his face as he took in her excitement.

"I don't have much time."

She smiled, excitement growing at the sight of him. It didn't matter how much time he had to give her. So long as he was here.

They settled down across from each other, face to face as their backs pressed against the trunk of the trees. The dead bark crumbled at her contact- the dry winter doing its hardest in killing off everything it could.

"How are you?"

He only shrugged at her question.

"You are well?"

She nodded.

"How is your family?"

She smiled at his question, shrugging in response like him. His silver eyes narrowed in accurate perception.

"What did he do."

She shivered against the coldness of his voice. It frightened a small part of her, how quickly the sound could change from one of warmth and kindness to chilling menace.

"He does nothing bad. He just...forgets me I guess...."

She quickly looked at him, trying to gauge the reaction her words caused. His face remained blank, but a heat was growing in his silver eyes, as if flames could come out within the color to create flowing metal liquid.

"How could anyone forget you."

The words were whispered, not meant for her ears. They caused a thrill down her as she took them in.

"Your father still stays at the other pack?"

Sansa stilled, her posture becoming stiff. She didn't like to talk about her father, even with her beautiful stranger. He took in every movement from her. She had a feeling he could tell the thoughts that were running down her mind as he shifted in place and said, "Have you learned anything interesting?"

Sansa's interest lifted at that. "I learned about different plants you can eat to help wolves in fever."

The stranger continued his silence, listening as the girl explained the differences in the appearance of the leaves, where you could find them, and how they could easily become confused with other, more dangerous flowers.

"You never talk."

He startled at her sudden question.

Her intense gaze stared at him, brown eyes hardening into a wall of determination as she inched closer. Like always he began to move away- began to give every inch that she took.

"Where are you from?"

"I'm a... rouge...I don't have a home."

She frowned, "you can come here. Live at my pack! The Alpha is nice- nicer than the one we had last year. Everyone was glad to see him go."

The male remained silent, his face turned away as he shook his head.

"I wouldn't fit into a pack. I don't belong there."

"Why?"

He struggled with words. She watched as his long hands rose to cup the back of his head. Muscles flexed along his arms as the action was completed. She had not noticed it before, the little details such as these. Slowly she was beginning to take him in more. Not the surprise of his presence or the strangeness to his looks that took precedence over anything else. The smaller details.

"What's that on your arm?"

He stilled, looking where she stared to take in the dark ink that stained his skin.

"It's nothing."

"What does it mean."

He stood then. She looked up, a franticness coming over her.

"I'm sorry!"

He looked down to take her in. Her eyes were wide in fear as she folded her hands into her lap. 

"I won't ask any more...don't leave...please..."

He continued to stare at her, an unknown expression on her face. She felt the erratic beating of her heart, the desperate, unexplainable urge to reach out and touch his hand, grab it and pull him down to sit next to her.

"Please don't leave."

"But I will leave eventually."

"I know... but not now...don't leave right now."

She patted the place beside her- an offering.

Slowly he sat back down across from her- face to face- and continued his silence as she started back her conversation of the different events of her life that had happen since she last saw him.

The time always came to fast. Soon she was running out of things to say.

"Where do you go when you leave?"

He shook his head, a sign that this was a forbidden question. She moved on, trying desperately to think of something she could ask that would gain knowledge of his self.

"What food do you like?"

A whisper of a smile appeared before him, the image obscured by a cloud of sorrow. She took in the change to his appearance- the sudden expression of loss as he shook his head again.

A frustrated sigh left her.

He stood then, his gaze off to the distance.

"I have to go."

She stood also, brushing aside the dirt from her clothes as she nodded and stepped back. It wasn't so frightening now to watch him disappear. One minute there, the next stepping behind a nearby tree and vanishing.

She continued to stare at the spot he had vanished from, her eyes waiting and watching- hopeful that maybe he would reemerge- maybe he would come back.

But like always he didn't. Like always she waited in vain for his change of heart. The sun soon dipped low to the ground, melting into the lake and brushing along the edge of the trees.

She continued to watch, her mind running through the most recent memories that she now had acquired of him.