“Though I must admit, I’ve come to like the cold.” “Really?” I could feel his skin, like warm velvet, just beneath his fur. “Why?” “The cold makes everything clearer. Crystallized. You can see things you couldn’t see before. The frost on the ground. Your own breath in the air. Even the birds are easier to see in the trees, once the leaves have fallen. When the water has frozen solid, lakes and creeks that used to be barriers become their own kind of pathway.”