It was a whimper of a dog or wolf cub, barely audible in the mild snow storm, or so it was supposed to be but somehow I felt like I could hear them clearly in my mind with each passing minute, pulling my heart strings, a deep feeling of pang there, every part of me feeling connected with the passage of time as if a part of me finally being found, the sorrow and deep pain getting deeper with joy after long separation since the beginning, there was this voice in my subconscious asking me to go to that voice, if i don't I will regret forever to come, for my younger self who was naturally optimistic despite outsiders opinions, the family gave her full love so this experience was particularly antagonizing, wanting to end this was my first priority was so I rushed out from backyard as even in this pain my rationality told me to do so going from main gate was a no no, thankfully my backyard was connected to forest, so I dashed, could hear some maids asking me where I was going and some to be careful, but I paid no heed to it, finally leaving from corridors to opening of the door, biting chill seeping through my skin to bones, puff of smoke coming from my mouth as I breathed in cold air while panting from the run, listening to clearer voice and feeling, following the direction into the woods, trudging through the just fresh snow to the garden, followed by clearing and woods into a small path from there I saw a shadow of a limping young snow white wolf, making whimpering noises because of pain, when our eyes met, it felt like everything stood still for a moment, who knows how long it took until he crashed into snow by fainting, his beautiful clear blue eyes changing from vertical slits full of alertness and ferocity to melting into gentle roundness full of relief and joy (clear stupidity so I called later at times). I ran up to him, calling it 'hey...hey...Hey!!!' panicking and trembling, I first used magic to check his internal organs so as not to complicate his injuries if moved, thankfully his internal organs were okay, only a few fractures that would be okay within 2-3 months without magic and half a month with it, at least by a novice like me, it was already great for my age as practicing magic wasn't done in-depth only basics and theory before talent was known, oh the discrimination later, oh well everyone has their plight, so I used my scarf to stop bleeding, making sure nothing would aggravate more took him on my back and started moving to my secret base while using wind magic to remove our traces and smell like done in spy novels hahaha, that brought a smile as I thought and carried him with each step the pain and sorrow receding replaced by relief and happiness of getting my wish come true for the pet (or partner) and secret expectation for the future. Some people later lamented whether it was my bad fate or a good one to meet at the time, so the following complexities would have happened, when I asked him he said he thought I was a nymph (guardian of the forest), followed by cringy lines of moth meeting flames, traveler seeing oasis in a desert, sailors seeing a lighthouse, like finally meeting my destiny, I just had a good fight with him especially when he said the last sentence, if asked me what I thought, I would say if I didn't go at that time I would regret for the rest of my life