It had never been easy for her to leave the warmth of a fireside or a snug blanket in the middle of winter. The unwelcome contrast of heat and chill, the stark way the cold would hit her bones and make her shiver, was something she detested. For all her years of wilderness living, she never did find a love for the cold.
On this particular morning, it was all the more difficult. There had been warmth through the night, such as she had not known in years. It was faded now. Faded from her skin and her clothing. Faded from her hideaway beneath the trees and the earth.
It had felt strange to have another voice here, in her secret home. Another presence. Another soul. Strange, but not unwelcome.
The impression of a tall, broad figure was still pressed into the bear-skin where someone had slept. She sat now, and stared at that lumpy indentation. She didn't have the heart to reach over and smooth it away. Let it stay there a while longer.
Her joints grew stiff after so many hours had passed, and she had not moved. The fire had long since died, and the cold of winter was seeping through. With a breathy groan, she roused herself and crossed to the cooling ashes to stir the flames back to life. She was careful not to touch the bear-skin.
They had parted ways many times before, though such partings were long in the past. Ever those separations had been fraught with angry words, lashing tongues, hearts swollen with jealousy and vexed longing.
It felt good to finally have a parting that was not filled with barbs and picked-open wounds. Words of confession, of apology, and of declaration, that had been pent up for years had at last been uttered. And perhaps now, the scars of youth would have a chance to begin to heal.
But for this day, in this moment, she was once again...alone.
