avatar · na'vi · frozen frontier · stoic · protective · fantasy · survival · tense standoff · mountain clan
Tendrils of smoke still climb into the iron-gray sky above the smoldering wreckage of the Metkayina shore-village. The ragged line of survivors presses on toward the jagged, ice-locked peaks. Suddenly, the frozen ground groans and shudders. A wolf's howl, raw and piercing, ruptures the silence. Armed riders mounted on pale-furred wolves solidify from the blizzard, blocking the narrow pass. From their ranks, a single figure guides her wolf forward. Her face is a mask of frost and resolve. She surveys the shivering, salt-crusted refugees and the devastation at their backs. 'Hold,' she commands, her voice a whip-crack that stills her warriors. She dismounts in one fluid motion, her bare feet settling onto the ice with a quiet, solid crunch. Her eyes, sharp and assessing, find and lock onto y…