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This was heaven, it had to be. There was no other explanation for the sudden falling of such thick, lush snow. The icy colored femme burrowed out from beneath a deep drift where she'd taken shelter for the night, and sprang to life from the ground, bringing with her a fury of flying snow. Livia was in full blossom that day, a pale blue streak upon a world of white. No more did the heat of spring assail her in her ever slow to fall out underfur. For a while, the earth was hers again, and she bounded along far to brove it.

Her breath came in mighty white clouds as she ran, flying along in a great kicked up screen of fresh powder. It wasn't long before the depth of the snow had her huffing though, and she tumbled flat into the ice to stare up at the pale sunshine coming down through the ice ridden trees, glittering like a million firey stars.

There she lay, grinning and panting, her fur wet and deeper blue for it, shiner than ever. Certainly she was hungry, but that could wait! The midsized female had an advantage in this weather, did she not? Cold stung noses and pierced the pawpads of many, but not Livia! She was queen of this chill, and her hunt today would be good. The scent of prey was everywhere. They would not know she was a wolf until it was too late in this lovely camoflauge.

Yes, this was heaven. It was perfect.

It seemed that a patch of cool night sky was approaching, and indeed may have been mistaken for an odd patch in the sky had it not been on the ground. Walking night, bounding ice. What a day. Livia watched the approaching wolf out of the corner of her eye, not willing to take her eyes fully off the glitter above her. It was much too pretty not to get attention.

Then again so was this other wolf. The falling snow made him look like the milky way, a shining band of it lay across his back like the band in the sky on the darkest night. And so torn, the female lay there with that dreamy look in her eyes, watching one thing and the other, though she found herself looking more and more toward the male. How he must have blended in the pitch black of a new moon. Walking stars, it would have seemed, though in the full light of day he was obviously a furred wolf who was covered in the glittering snow she loved so much.

Livia waited for him to close in, still deciding precisely how to deal with this intrusion on her thoughts. She was still as the ice and snow around her, but as he was nearly standing over her she let out a great frosty huff, and hauled to a sitting position. A rain of shimmering powder fell from her back and side as she came to her feet, and then the she-wolf shook even more from herself as she drew up to look the taller male over. Her pale blue eyes blinked, and she pulled her lips back into a smile. Certainly one such as this was welcome in her kingdom of sparkles, he fit in, though in an odd way. Livia thumped her tail twice in welcome.

"Hello shining star." The voice was soft and cool, and tiny wisps of frost blew about as she spoke.

The smile broadened as this walking star grasped for his senses. He looked like a puppy held in awe of the first winter snow, when he first felt the chill of an icy flake upon the nose. Cute, and poetic it seemed to her. Livia could sit and dwell on the odd sway she had over him in that moment for hours that she did not have. It was interesting to her, and unusual, so she took a moment to note it.

Winter eyes. The deep pools of pale blue softened at this name. Yes, she was winter, the embodiment of snow. But not cold and harsh, as she could have been. Instead she was soft and greeting, like a fresh drift after a hot summer. Indeed if the shining star had not caught her attention so, she may have brushed him off like a sudden chill. Now she laughed lightly, a twinkling of silver bells that brought down a chorus of loosened ice from the trees. The two were wrapped in a wind chime of ice falling against frozen pond.

She liked the attention his eyes gave her. And she deserved it, did she not? The pale blue and white female had always known she was beautiful and untouchable like the season she resembled, and it had made her a little haughty at times, though that did not show much now. This male before her was equally interesting and curiously marked, so that he might dissapear once night fell. He even knew how to make a witty greeting, how rare. Her cool voice came again, "Tell me, why does the night star walk in the snow? Is he lost?" Her head tilted, fluffy ears perked forward. Those eyes still studied him curiously, weighing him.

Ah, a poet indeed! Livia's smile came as bright as the sun through the blanketed trees. Surely it was settled, and he was fit to walk in her world. Equuleus, a prince among wolves. Unique among the rest he was, to hold her attention so. And his speech, that delighted her most. Again she found herself musing on how rare it was for someone to match her tone so well. Certainly not the first wolf she had met could manage it, and he had not been so lovely either. A black and brown dash across clear snow simply would not do, though a witty starred wolf was proving more than she could have hoped.

"Then the sky is wise to fine something which would match the twinkling of the brightest star, for the weather may prove heard, but it is a realm of beauty." This trance he was in, it was lovely. Never could she remember holding one in such awe. Even the careful advance of the young Equus seemed to delight her. Had she been a little humbler, she may have blushed at some of his actions.

"Ah, I see. And a map one would need, to navigate the vastness of the stars on a clear night, to note every detail would be impossible without one. I am Livia, a wolf of winter, as you have seen." Indeed she may not have been here without the sudden return of the snow, often Livia retreated to high places which never lost their glisten in the heat of summer. Her eyes danced as she watched him bow low, amused and at the same time a bit honored to be treated with such respect, though she reminded herself it was no less than what a lady should have after all.

The snowy female was utterly beaming with joy at her wonderous company. An intelligent young wolf he was certainly. Livia found herself wishing to gaze on him in his element as he was on her. "Indeed it is curious, it is not often one will find me far from the sprawling snow. High, high above the valley in summer you will find an everlasting chill."

She stood, trailing her tail side to side as she did, shaking the glitter from it in a small rain. His merriness and lovely eyes were a marvel to her, and the gentlemanly politeness, everpresent. Surely she would take him to the greatest part of winter, as that time was nearing. The sun was preparing his final trek across the sky, the final great lightshow of the day. There the greatest sight of an ice blanketed world would be. "So softly you ask, how can I refuse? The greatest part begins as the sun touches the horizon."

Livia started off in the direction of a clearing, pausing to give a smiling glance over her shoulder at the shining star, and to be sure that he was following. She did not realize that she looked like a dream or a fa ntasy, but if she had she would love the thought. Such a thing played to her pride like a warming sonnet in the deepest chill. However, for the moment she was not musing on herself, but her companion. Locked in each other's gaze she could have sat for hours and neither moved nor spoken, and been content. He was lovely to look over, the subtle patterns of starring across his side, the bright sparkle markings on his muzzle and above the eye. For once the female was just as taken with someone else as she was with herself.

Turning back with some effort, she led off toward the clearing and an awaiting lightshow across the treetops and the sky.

That fleeting sadness in him when she mentioned where she dwelt, it stung at Livia's heart just a little. She wondered if he might follow her back to the heights, or if he had ties here. It would be a shame to lose one so lovely so quickly. Shining star ought to stay with her, to give her paths at night. That would be ideal, if he shared her distaste of the heat.

This was unlikely however. Best to revel in her time with the star. Livia broke into her laughing bounds again as she neared the edge of the clearing, breaking free of the snow in great leaps only to come down heavily into it again. The disturbance on the ground brought ice out of the lower branches on the trees down on her as it had earlier, jingling. She was not aware of the sight she was making, and was only acting out of joy for the prolonging of her most beloved season. Snow came up about her in great puffs as she ran, and finally tumbled joyously free of the trees.

She lay there a moment, letting the cold flakes that leaped up about her fall settle over her as she rested for a moment. Soon she sat up, just in time to catch sight of beautiful patch of night breaking from the trees. Behind him the last trek of the sun began to light the sky aflame. "Look, Shining Star!" For now that was his name, Equuleus did not encompass the interest she found in him.

The deep red sun sank further, deepening the colors of the sunset. As though on command, the ice ridden trees, still largely bare save buds, burst alight in orange and red. A million tiny sunsets reflected against the one large one, the brightest of all light shows. Livia sat back on her haunches and stared in wonder. Things like this were the epitome of why she loved winter. Some saw desolation and a lack of things in that season, but perhaps only because they had never come to witness this.

Ah, if only he had known from the beginning that it wasn't a dream. She was as real as the kaleidoscope, this enchanting wolfess. Smiling she watched until the lights in the trees faded to blues and purples. That last bit of light reminded her of the male beside, and she turned to gaze on him almost as his hushed whisper of admiration came to her ear. At this her own fluffy ears came to attention in curiosity, and she stared into his dark brown eyes with her own pale blues.

For a time she watched him like that, her body drawn up with wonder at the hushed declaration in her ear. More and more she enjoyed him, not only because he reminded her of falling snow on a starry night, but because of his gentlemanly manner and soft spoken nature. Those were high qualities to be held dear, that she knew. Those were qualities that a lady deserved in a male. Her eyes glittered in reflection of the last fading lights of blues as she sat at a momentary loss, contemplating him fully. It was only at length that she realized how close he was, and that she had not realized it from simply looking at his eyes. The two were nearly nose to nose, and Livia felt a blush creeping beneath her pale cheeks under the cover of darkness.

What would she do, once she had to retreat back to her high mesas and crags? Leaving a wolf such as this behind would be like never seeing the lights of a winter sunset after a storm again. And where were her words? They caught in her throat at her thoughts. She knew tomorrow would bring spring back again, a warm wind was coming from the south. Her snow would turn to slush and then what? Surely Shining Star would not leave too.

Livia swallowed the little lump that had come to her throat against her will. "And you are the greatest wolf I've yet come to know, even for a brief while. It is such that I am at a loss to describe it." Her ears sank a bit as she continued to think, and hope was a little more dashed. No one had yet followed her into the lands that were eternal snow.