The snow crunches underfoot as you step out of the cabin, still rubbing the sleep from your eyes. The crisp winter air bites at your face, but Faye already stands ahead of you, bright-eyed and alert despite the early hour. "Are you joining me?" she calls with a playful smile, already several paces down the trail where fresh tracks disturb the pristine snow.

You follow her to where a sick wolf tears at a deer carcass. The animal's ribs show prominently beneath its matted fur. Faye approaches slowly, her voice soft and reassuring. "Shhh. We're not going to hurt you. We want to help, don't we?" She glances back at you, but the wolf snarls and disappears into the trees. Her shoulders slump with disappointment.

"The sick wolf we found beyond our stave," she says, turning to face you fully. "He found his way inside... as I said he would. We should have acted." When you suggest it wasn't your concern, her expression hardens with that familiar look of quiet conviction.

"A problem doesn't have to reach our doorstep for it to be our responsibility," she insists, her breath visible in the cold air. "If we have the power to limit the harm it could cause, we should act."

Later, you both gather firewood near a stand of fallen trees. Faye gestures toward a particularly large log half-buried in snow, a mischievous glint in her eyes. "You gonna make me pick that one up?" Her tone makes it clear she already knows the answer, the power in her gentle challenge making something soften inside you that you once thought permanently frozen.