From where the creature’s back legs ought to be, Shadow’s head rose up, shaking some stray snow off of his face.  Kiona jumped; how was her brother able to stretch his body so far?  She did not see Shadow getting to his feet, still in the process of waking up; she was nearly overcome by shock.  Her brother’s voice made her come to her senses: “Kiona?  What are you doing here?” he inquired.  “I… I just had to make sure you were okay; I’ve been really uncomfortable not knowing what’s been happening to you,” she stuttered.  She looked up to see Shadow staring down at her; even though she had seen him stand at full height once before, only now did Kiona realize how large her brother truly was. 

Shadow had a nervous look on his face, but his eyes seemed to almost be shining; this had happened when the two had first met, and Kiona made the assumption that the glow in his eyes was an indication that Shadow was overjoyed about something.  “Kiona… you realize that you might be risking your life by looking for me, right?  I mean, I’m glad you’re looking out for me, but I want you to stay safe,” said Shadow.  “Shadow, I know exactly what I may be getting myself into, but you didn’t seem to mind putting your own life on the line when you stood up to Achak; why shouldn’t I return the favor?” she responded. 

Shadow was startled by this comment; while his family back in Nome had stood up for him before, never had they put their own well being at risk for him like Kiona was doing.  “Kiona, thank you, but I would really like for you to return to your pack.  Please, I’ll be fine; I’ve been able to look out for myself, and I can smell your pack a mile away.  I don’t want you getting hurt because of me,” he said.  “Are you sure about this, Shadow?” she asked.  Her brother started to nod, but ended up simply staring at the ground, not wanting to see her reaction.  Kiona started to head towards the mouth of the cave; when she looked back, Shadow was still hanging his head.  Kiona was about to leave, but before she even reached the cave’s opening, a wave of cold swept over her body, almost freezing her to the bone; the blizzard had intensified.  She staggered back, and heard Shadow running to her side; “Kiona! Are you okay?!” he gasped.  “I’m fine, Shadow, but I don’t think I’ll be able to head back in this weather; I barely made it here when the blizzard was nowhere near this strong,” Kiona responded.

Kiona was nervous about what Shadow would say; he seemed so determined for her to return to her pack, and Kiona thought for a moment that her brother would think she was bluffing in order to stay with him.  “I’m not surprised, Kiona; even I have a hard time standing the cold here, but it’s the best place I could find,” Shadow said; “Don’t worry, you can stay with me for now.”  “Thanks a lot, Shadow,” Kiona replied.  Shadow began to walk back to the spot where he had been sleeping, Kiona by his side.

As Shadow lay on the snowy floor, Kiona sat down a few feet away from him; she was still shivering uncontrollably from the blast of cold earlier.  While she watched Shadow, he seemed to be concentrating on something.  Perhaps she could convince him to tell her what was on his mind.  “Shadow,” she began, but her brother interrupted her; “Kiona, this blizzard is going to get a lot worse soon.  There were storms like this one a few days ago, and pretty soon, the temperature is going to drop fast, much worse that what you just experienced.  We’re not going to be able to leave here until it’s over,” he said.  “Well, what am I going to do to keep warm?” inquired Kiona; “I wasn’t lucky enough to get as thick a coat of fur from our mother as you did,” she chuckled.  Shadow gave a shallow laugh as well.  “Well, if we stay close together, I should be able to keep you warm,” he said, turning to face away from the mouth of the cave; “Just stay as far from the entrance as you can.  I can probably block a good amount of cold from reaching you, but you’ll still need to stay close.”

Kiona silently agreed, trotting over to lie down by her brother.  However, she, unlike Shadow, was not tired at all; instead of lying on her side like Shadow was, she first sat on all fours, then slid her front paws through the snow so that she was lying on her stomach, her head still held up.  Kiona could tell that her brother wanted to sleep once again, but while she wanted to respect his wishes, she felt that she had too much to ask him, too many questions to keep to herself…

It took Kiona a moment to muster up enough courage to ask Shadow anything; why she was so nervous about this, she did not know.  “Shadow… Do you mind if I ask you something?” she said.  “What is it, Kiona?” inquired Shadow, opening his eyes.  “Well, I just want to know, why are you risking so much to join my pack?” she asked.  Shadow stared at the wall of the cave for a while before responding; “It’s kind of stressful thinking about it, Kiona,” he said.  “Oh, don’t worry, Shadow; you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to,” Kiona said hastily.  She watched her brother stare at the wall, undoubtedly still thinking about what she had asked him.  She eventually decided that she may as well try to get some sleep, and laid her head up on the side of Shadow’s chest.  It was quite relaxing, feeling her head slowly rise and fall with each breath that Shadow took.  It took Kiona a moment to notice that her brother was starting to shiver; Kiona had a strange feeling, however, that Shadow was not shaking because of the blizzard.

“I lived in Nome with our parents until a few days ago,” Shadow said.  Kiona perked her head up; why did Shadow change his mind?  “I don’t know what made Father decide to send me away,” he continued, rolling onto his stomach.  Shadow was now in the same position as Kiona, his head now up and alert.  “For some reason, he wanted me to be more independent.  I don’t know why, though; I didn’t rely on his help for everything I did…  Now, though, I’m starting to think he was right.”  As Shadow said this, Kiona noticed that his eyes were sparkling again, but not in the same way that they did when they indicated that he was happy.  Kiona had a hard time watching her brother directly, and stared at the ground.  After a moment, she put her front right paw across Shadow’s left paw in an attempt to comfort him.  His eyes widened, and he glanced down at his feet.

Shadow didn’t know what to make of what Kiona had just done; it took him a moment to realize that she was trying to comfort him.  He quickly looked over at her; she was still staring at the ground.  Shadow laid his head on his paws, attempting to forget what he had just told her.  A sudden wave of warmth came over the left side of his body; he glanced back to see that Kiona had now pressed her entire body up against his, her head lying against the side of his chest again; she was still wide awake, and was now looking directly at him.  He quickly turned his gaze towards the wall of the cave again.  Suddenly, he felt Kiona’s paw slide off of his own.  He thought she had finally fallen asleep until he felt her place it on the back of his neck, close to his ear; it felt like ice shot down his spine when she did so.

Although Kiona was doing her best to calm Shadow down from earlier, she felt like she wanted to laugh at Shadow’s reaction to her efforts.  Her ear was pressed against his side, and she heard his heart beating rapidly.  When she put her paw on his neck, he shuddered nervously; it was all she could do not to laugh at that.  She waited for what seemed like an hour for Shadow to close his eyes and finally fall asleep; she had to take her paw off of his neck after a few minutes, and the stroke that she made as it slid off had caused her brother to shudder again.  His heartbeat had slowed down to a normal pace; to Kiona, it had a very calming effect.  She was about to doze off herself when she felt something glide across her front paws.

A wave of cold –the same feeling, she was sure, that Shadow had felt earlier- went down Kiona’s spine.  She was not sure what she would see when she looked down but it was not what she had expected.  The end of Shadow’s tail was lying across her paws, the tip of it occasionally twitching in random directions; even as Kiona watched it, it flicked upwards, brushing the side of her face.  It was odd, but she thought that watching it flick about had a somewhat entrancing effect to it.

Kiona glanced back to see that her brother’s tail had curled around behind her, and was up against her side, much like she had pressed herself against Shadow; it seemed to form a blanket around her, keeping almost all of her body warm.  She looked up at his face, smiling at him; she could tell that he wasn’t aware of what he was doing.  Nevertheless, Kiona decided to humor herself a bit: she pinned the end his tail to the ground with her front paws; Shadow would understand that she was doing whatever she could to