A wandering wolf pads through the virgin snow, where flakes of white shimmer in their downward glide.

At the foot of the forest, an eerie silence, and a whisper of wind that weaves through exposed branches.

Where the trees have gathered to shelter darkness; near the threshold, a visible skeleton.

A sense of familiarity, and kindling mystery; as lay blanketed in snow were bones of his own species.

Silhouetted by the decayed outline of fur and skin, not much overshadowed that grinning skull.

Til' the hoarse caw of a flapping raven broke the silence as she landed in the snow.

Just at the shoulder, and beside the vacant eyes, the corvid casts a sidelong glance at the dumbfounded lupine.

His ears perk to to her, then towards howls behind.

A glance over shoulder reveals distant dots in the sunlit expanse of his family.

His heart urged to join them, but his paws were bound here, and he regarded the raven with golden eyes dimmed with fear.

There she now was perched atop that skull, head held high with an impartial expression.

The great hunt called him, yet he could not run, his entire body tensed with defiance, and yet eerily calm the raven was.

A humored cackle as she lifts a single wing; bequeathing time as not a single line, and black feathers exploded into countless falling leaves.

All around him, the rainbow of autumn fell, in a flurry of confusion, he bellowed a desperate howl.

Before he realized, the forest and snow were gone. To where he fell with the hissing vortex in an endless, silent void.

The raven glides beside the disquieted wolf as he descended with the swirling leaves; pointing with a single wingtip to each.

From each leaf shined distant ensembles of image and voice.

They whirled together, netting and lacing into the form of a dream catcher.

Elk, grass, trees, and hare.

Wolves and stars, and oceans far.

Moon with sun, and clouds where thunder thrummed.

His home in brush; by a river where his pups from years past play and run.

The vision faded back into drifting autumn leaves, and he realized the raven was larger than he.

Wings embraced his airborne form, so warm and comforting that his desire to run was numbed.

Floating together as light on water, they returned to the foot of the forest where she bore him in great black wings.

Back to the same snowy scene; but where he had stepped before, pawprints missing.

Unwrapping her great, feathery arms, she rested the tired beast on his side.

He was tranquil and free of weariness as the breath of winter air lulled him gently.

Closing his drowsy, golden eyes; the wolf bounds into dawn's luminous rise.

And the raven, with a somber gleam of yearning and endearment in her dark eyes.

Regards the bones of the wolf she knew her whole life.