Snow fell silently, as the night. Sunlight faded, and the poor young wolf padded through the frozen forest. He carried a letter in his teeth. For whom the letter was, he didn't know, but he did as he was told.

He shivered, not so much out of cold, but in fright, for he was told of the strangeness of the place, hidden deep within the Ice Kingdom, of how animals have ventured in, and never come out.

What am I worried about? He thought as he walked. Animals go missing all the time. Other animals eat them; it's the circle of life. The reassurance nearly worked for him. Then a branch snapped and fell, overpowered by the heavy snow. But I'm not looking for another animal. I'm looking for a witch.

A witch was what those who feared her would call her. And everything feared her. Nesha was a mysterious being who lived in complete solitude, because she also feared herself.

The wolf, known to his comrades by the name of Durn, shook on his paws, staring at the menacing destination. The thousand year old tree, frozen mid-fall in pikes and pillars of pure ice. Frozen air and water embraced the branches of the elder pine, trying to keep it up in death. Snowflakes held needles in place, and cracks allowed sap to flow. Durn whimpered.

He took another step, remembering his orders: Leave the letter and go. Leave the letter and go. He approached the opening of the icy fortress and laid the envelope in the packed snow, quickly turning tail to flee. He was cut short.

A wooden arrow whizzed past his muzzle and stuck into the ground before him. Instantly, a wall of thick ice shot up, blocking his path. He turned again, back toward the icy home, but another arrow closed him in. Surrounded by ice on all sides, he panicked like a pup in the dark.

Then a figure fell before him, outside the walls of his cage. "What brought you here, wolf?"

Nesha sounded strong, but her figure, though distorted through the ice, looked frail, young. Durn found himself staring, trying to make out details of her face, unknowing whether they would comfort him, or strike fear.

"Can you speak?" She demanded.

He shook his head and responded, "Yes miss, I can speak."

"Then tell me why you are here."

"I was sent to deliver a letter. It's there by your door."

She turned and picked up the envelope Durn had left. She took a moment to read it, and Durn hopelessly searched for an escape. Finally she spoke again. "Who sent it?"

"I can't tell you," Durn whined.

She quickly knocked an arrow and drew it back, ready to fire. Durn didn't deny that she would be able to shot him through her own ice barricade, but intended to keep the secret regardless.

She sensed the determination in him, through the fear. She knew the animal would not subject to intimidation as easily as others. Plus, she didn't really like making people fear her.

She took the arrow and scrapped it along the surface of the ice wall and it cracked, falling apart like a sand castle under a wave. Durn gazed at her face for too long, absorbing her glistening beauty which portrayed in the strangest way. "You're made of ice," he whispered.

"Yes," she frowned, "Now please tell me who sent you."

Durn sighed, knowing better than to give away his master's identity. "I can't tell you," Though he wanted to. He wanted to find friendship in her that would save him from his master's cruelty.

"Yes," she said quietly, reaching down to pet his head, "you can." Her hand, though made of ice, sent warm feelings through Durn's skull. Was it a spell?

Durn looked at her. She wasn't smiling, but he felt like she was happy to see him. He wanted to like her, truly, but if it was a spell and she betrayed him, he would answer to his master's punishments.

Nesha pulled away. "You think I'm fooling you?"

Had she read his mind? "N-n-no, miss… I –"

"You do, you fear the person who sent you more than you trust me."

She was spot on, all Durn could do was look at her. He was aria to trust her. "I'm afraid of you, and him."

"Fair enough," she said. "Since the letter is instructing me to go to the Ice King's castle, why don't we go together? The Ice Kingdom can be pretty scary if you travel alone."

Durn whimpered. He wasn't supposed to stay with her. He was instructed to return the way he had come.

Suddenly, he saw no harm in it. What could go wrong? As long as he made it back anyway, right?

He nodded, still scared out of his wits, but a little more comfortable in her presence. She half-smiled, and with another touch of an arrow, the entire ice wall crumbled to snow.

"Let us make our way to the castle then." She stood and began making her way out of the dense forest.

Durn begrudgingly followed. He had made the deal with her, and the deal sort of worked out with his original plans. He could stick with her and find their way back to where he was supposed to be.

After some time walking, he grew rather bored and decided to make conversation. "So," he began, "how did you figure out the letter's riddle so quickly?"

"It was easy, really. There were all kinds of folds in the paper that made out to look like pointed tops. Those tops pointed to certain letters that spelled Ice King." She was impressed by the original mode of trivial messaging, and pleased with herself for figuring it out so quickly.

"That's amazing," Durn complimented. "I never would have figured it out."

"I'm sure an idea would have sparked in your brilliant mind sooner or later." Nesha patted his head again and he smiled. He had never known such kindness.

"So," he tried to keep going, "where does an ice girl come from?"

"I am meager ice sculpture given life from the lost spirit of an ancient huntress." She said it with such a serious tone, it kind of worried Durn. Then she looked down at him and smiled. "I'm only joking. I don't really know how I'm alive. Some magic spell a long time ago animated me, or maybe transformed me. I don't have any memory beyond about fifty years ago, when I woke up in that treehouse."

Fifty years! Durn thought, is she really that old?

"If I can even really call it a treehouse," she mentioned.

"It's a tree, and your house," Durn said, attempting to joke. "What more do you need?"

Nesha snickered. "You're right, it is my house." She laughed a little more, which inspired a little laughter from Durn, too. Then, "Hey, I don' think I got your name."

"Oh, I'm Durn," he answered before thinking. After he realized he'd told her, he saw no harm. "I'm the youngest in my pack, so Fenris gave me the task of sending the letter to you."

"Fenris, huh?" Nesha stroked her chin and glanced at him. Durn silently cursed himself for giving away the information so willingly. She laughed some more. "Well, I can't wait to meet this 'Fenris.' What's he like?"

"Oh, I really shouldn't tell you. He wants to meet with you personally."

"Okay, can you tell me about the contest he's hosting?" She was really eager to get info from him.

"Contest?" He looked at her. "I don't know anything about a contest." It was true too. He wasn't told anything other than to deliver the letter.

"Oh really?" She glanced at him sideways again, obviously not believing him. "Well, it was in the letter that he had chosen me to compete against heroes of all kinds for a prize unlike any other."

Durn's eyes widened. "Wow," he said, "I wish he had chosen me, if the prize is really that great."

Nesha laughed, "Don't worry Durn, I'll share it with you."

Durn couldn't believe how hospitable she was, especially in contrast to how she acted when he'd first shown up. He laughed with her and they walked for a while, telling stories and jokes, making merry and all that. Durn was glad to have finally found a friend.

"Okay, so tell me," Nesha insisted as they continued walking, "how does the hierarchy really work with wolves?"

"What's a 'hierarchy'?" Durn asked.

"A hierarchy, my dear wolf, is the social ladder of a functioning society." A blank stare was all she got. "Just tell me who's in charge and why."

"Oh, my dad's in charge because he's oldest."

"So he's the alpha wolf?"

Durn sighed, "Is that what you were getting at?"

"Well, sort of, what's wrong?" She stopped and kneeled closer to him.

"That whole alpha wolf thing is a bunch of hoopla," Durn explained, disheartened. "We run more by family matters. I'm the youngest, so I have the least influence. Any lone wolves that would join our pack would be sent to the end of the 'ladder' until they proved themselves to my father to be worthy of a higher position."

"What if they're younger than you?"

"I dunno," he shrugged. "We've never accepted any lone wolves."

"Aww," Nesha wrapped a frozen hand around Durn and hugged him. Despite her icy nature, the hug was infinitely warm for him. "Well, you're my alpha wolf."

The sun was coming up as the Ice King's castle came within sight. Durn and Nesha gazed at the glowing ice in the rising sunlight. Nesha whistled, "What a view."

"Yeah," they paused. "Well, let's go," Durn urged.

"Whoa whoa whoa…" Nesha stopped him. "Do you have any idea what we're looking for in there?"

Durn rubbed his chin, then said, "Not a clue."

"Then we can't just go in there. We need to come up with a plan."

"Right."

They sat on the ground and thought for a few minutes. A few long minutes.

Nesha had a plan of her own, but felt like giving Durn a chance to come up with something. Meanwhile, Durn was just silently waiting for Nesha to come up with something.

Finally, Durn got bored. "Why don't we just wait until nighttime?"

"Great idea!" She praised him. It was partly her idea as well. "But if he leaves sometime during the day, we could have a chance to sneak in then." Nesha knew all too well about how often Ice King left his castle to go around and search for princesses to capture.

"That sounds good." He held out his paw and Nesha shook it. "It's a deal; we'll wait for the ice king to leave and sneak in."

"And if we have to, we'll wait until tonight."

Then, Durn's ears pricked. Nesha caught it. "What's wrong?"

"I thought I heard something." He glanced down a hill and spotted a polar bear running toward the Ice Castle. "Stop!" He shouted, and began chasing.

Nesha ran too, but couldn't hardly keep up.

Durn ran after the polar bear with all his might, knowing that the animal had heard the conversation and intended to tell Ice King about their plan. He tackled the bear and they rolled through the snow. Unfortunately, the bear was bigger and ultimately pinned Durn down. "No," the bear growled, "I must warn the Ice King." He raised a massive paw the strike Durn, but an arrow stopped him. It pierced his neck and froze him solid. Durn was mortified.

Nesha shoved the bear off of Durn and the wolf staggered away. "You just shot that animal!"

"He was about to kill you!"

Durn stuttered. "Well, y-you… but, Agh…" He paced quickly. "That's the food chain. Bigger, stronger animals eat little ones."

"He wasn't going to eat you," Nesha argued, "he was going to kill you and tell Ice King of our plan."

Durn growled some more. "NO, that's not right."

"Look," Nesha sighed, "You're right about the food chain. I'm stronger, and now I can eat a bear." Durn just glared at her. "Well, what was I supposed to do? I didn't want him killing my friend!"

Durn's scowl fell. Friend?

"We're… we're friends?"

"Of course, we've been through so much together now, I freakin' killed bear to save your life!"

Durn looked at the dead bear. She had a point, now they could eat a bear. It would be more like a feast. "You're right." He smiled at her. She smiled back.

"All right, well," she breathed heavily. She was pretty wiped out, having never argued with anyone before. "Let's eat."