Lindvald curled up into a ball, his shadow flowed like a black liquid away from him and lifted up into the air forming a common buzzard, the hawk-like bird from this specific area. The black colored buzzard flapped in the direction of the village. Seeing through the hawk's eyes, Lindvald observed the villagers in their day to day work as they weren't feeling strange or afraid with a wolf's presence around them. As the hawk reached the outskirts of Firthdyr, Lindvald spotted two men entering the village and as he circled above the first awoken persons who were just coming outside of their homes.

'Hm, so they do have people watching during the night. They are very well hidden since I didn't sense them before.'

Getting his focus back on the men that just started their day, they walked to the herd of deer just on the edge of the village. One of them started to throb into the snow to clear the ice layer from the deer's drinking tub while the other one was running up and down in front of a larger building. Lindvald took a second to realize that it was where he slept. The man took his courage to enter the straw storage. Not long after disappearing inside, he came back out with a huge pile of straw and stuck it into the hay rack. At the time some villagers were taking care of the animals, others were traveling down to the river, pulling several ropes out of the river. On the rope were numerous hooks attached, hanging on those were some fishes. The hunters took them off and put some fresh bait before throwing it back into the half frozen river. On their way back, the villagers checked their traps which Lindvald was familiar with since living in the woods. The sun was already high in the sky and various smokes were rising when the shadow hawk glided back to the village after spying the hunters. Lindvald was napping as everyone was cooking and having their meals, as he  didn't feel hunger after the welcome feast. Listening to the wind whistling as the afternoon passed by the grey wolf's ear caught the sounds of a few people calling out. Concentrating again on his shadow to see what was going on in the village, a new herd of deer emerged from the darkness of the forest along with four humans. One of them was carrying a dead deer on their shoulders, the rest of the villagers welcomed them back as they helped guide the herd into a separated section of the fences. The vice-chief was talking with one of the herdsmen before both and the other herdsmen from the morning entered the mead hall. Lindvald cursed to himself as he remembered his master's word to keep training and developing his spiritual abilities. How he wished now that he had listened to his master's wise words, the ability of seeing through the eyes of his shadow was the only skill he could pull off so far. Thus he couldn't listen in on what the villagers were discussing. If his current ability was only to see then he might use it to get every and any information he could get. So the shadow buzzard flapped to the deer cadaver and examined for any clue he could find. On the stomach of the deer were four big cuts, those were very clean cuts concluding that the animal who slashed it had very sharp claws. Thus it was not the polar bears this time but rather a mountain lion, although it was not a deadly wound, Lindvald's final conclusion was that the deer must have died from blood loss. The shadow hawk waited on top of a chimney for the herdsmen and vice-chief Yegu to come back out of the hall and when it finally happen the herdsmen were giving a big sacks by their loved ones, before they opened the fences of the deer herd who were cared for in the morning. Both deer and herdsmen then made their way into the opposite site of the forest where their fellow friends just came from. Circling the small town from above, Lindvald spotted a small frame of a human walking alone along the edge of the forest, what was even more catching his attention to that tiny body was that they were heading in his direction. Before the shadow hawk could reach the tiny silhouette, it stepped into the forest and as a result Lindvald lost his sight. The shadow bird's wings flapped wildly as the hawk flew up and down for a few minutes to catch the sight of the kid who ran blindly into the woods.

"Finally! I found you!"

Lindvald's eyes opened wide while his ears stood up like a perfect vertical line when suddenly a high pitch voice rang out of nowhere. He lifted his head to glance at a child right in front of him warped in a full body deer fursuit. Before Lindvald could stand up or even speak, Ydis ran at his max speed and jumped onto the grey wolf's neck and chest to give him a big hug.

"Why are you here and how did you even find me? Are your parents not worried, little one?"

Ydis was enjoying the warm fur on his face that at first he ignored the spiritual wolf's words. Slowly Ydis lifted himself on his feet again and then pointed to the snow behind him.

"I followed your footsteps. That is what we are taught to find our deer. Whatever, why are you always calling me little one? My name is Ydis!"

Lindvald's eyes were still wide open at everything that just occurred, on being hugged again, the kid finding him by their footprints left on the snow and foremost the little human standing right in front of him with a firm expression on his face while both of his hand grabbed his waist on the side and talking with full confidence. Lindvald chuckled at his display, the grey wolf bumped his nose on Ydis' one.

"Fine, Ydis! But why are you here?"

"When I woke up and searched for you, you were already gone. I asked Temur and he said you left. So I search for you to come back and finally play with me."

Lindvald was baffled by the obstinacy and their innocent child behavior. A second chuckle escaped the grey wolf. Ydis reminded him of his younger sibling when they looked angry at them for not having time to play with them.

"Alright, let's go back then. Although It will be dawn soon, so I don't know if we can play today."

The grey wolf stretched himself out of his napping position before laying flat on the snow and hinting with his head for Ydis to climb on his back. Without any hesitation, the kid ran forward and struggled a bit climbing on the wolf's back but in the end his excitement for the ride made him persistent on getting up there. When Lindvald was sure that Ydis was sitting firm and holding on to his fur, they strolled back to the village.

"This is way better than riding our deer. It is so high up. Wolf Lindvald is amazing!"

"Just don't fall off, okay?"

"Don't worry, the snow is soft and will break my fall."

The grey wolf's right eyebrow rose half way as he started to figure out the character of Ydis always having a smart aleck answer. Reaching the archer's training grounds, someone was running towards them with an angry face.

"Ydis! You ran away again! Do I need to punish you again!"

"Ma, I didn't run away this time. I was just practicing my tracking skills with wolf Lindvald, right?"

Ydis' mother looked confused at the giant wolf waiting for their response, while also Lindvald looked baffled that he was brought into a family quarrel.

"He did indeed find me using my footsteps."

"Even so, Ydis you can't just leave without telling anyone. You know how worried I get. Also, don't you remember what happened last time? Come down there now and be prepared to get punished again."

The woman stretched her arms out to pull Ydis off the wolf's back, while Lindvald was lowering himself a bit to accommodate the mother. As she held her child in her arms, Ydis waved to the wolf.

"Are you not coming with us? It is very soon dinner time."

"Ah, sure."

Lindvald gazed at Ydis' mother and her face had a conflicted expression as on her forehead very small wrinkles appeared, before nodding. Yegu waited patiently between houses to watch if the wolf would turn around or walk forward. A deep breath of relief escaped the vice-chief's lungs when he saw that everyone was coming towards him.

"Welcome back spiritual wolf Lindvald, join us for dinner."

"Vice-chief Yegu, just call me by my name."

Lindvald gave a piercing stare at Yegu, as both never confirmed or denied the proposal. It was the wolf's way of reminding Yegu, that it was yet to be decided. Turning his head to the center of the village, Lindvald glimpsed at a familiar younger figure.

"Little Ydis, listen to your mother and don't just run into the woods alone anymore."

"Hmm, okay~."

Ydis mumbled to the wolf before he left Yegu and the family behind to join the waiting Temur. Lindvald heard half a sentence from Yegu to Ydis' mother before he addressed the young man lingering in front of the house door.

"Glad to see you again, Lindvald. I wanted to thank you again this morning. I kept practicing alongside my dad. He was actually sulking at you to help me so easily where he tried for so long to improve my skills."

"There isn't any reason to thank me. I only showed you the basics because your posture was so bad that it kept bothering me."

"Is that so? I also wanted to ask for permission to share your archer tips with the rest of the village. Let me explain, we usually train all together in the morning, but since yesterday the chief gave us a free day, only my father and I were up so early. So don't tell my father but he also tried your guidance for a while."

"It is a good thing wanting to learn new ways rather than sticking to old habits. I guess that makes a good vice-chief. It is just the basics, there is still a lot of practice needed to get used to the new form, but you don't have to ask for permission. I also learned it from others."

Temur's eyes opened wide in confusion.

"You learned it yourself? But why would you need to learn that if you are ... Ah."

"Huh! I guess that you don't know what spiritual animals really mean, right?"

"... I ask for forgiveness but we really don't. I guess my father sees that you are intelligent enough regardless of your form and we really need every help we can get, even if it is the most unusual circumstances."

Lindvald looked behind him as he picked up the crunching sound of snow.

"Where are your manners Temur? Why haven't you invited our guest inside? Please Lindvald come inside."

Yegu passed by them and opened the door while one hand made a gesture to step in first.