Austin's plan

For the next few weeks, Leo was constantly thinking about the events he read in the journal. He was forced to put the matters aside though, when shortly before the next full moon it snowed for the first time. At first Leo enjoyed the cold weather until he noticed something else he seemed to overlook, he rarely felt the cold anymore. While the temperature usually had a chill, he thought it wasn't a big deal. As the temperature started dropping low enough for snow however, he was still wearing the same leather outfits while everyone else started wearing thicker leathers with fur. It was especially noticeable when after the full moon, he had to make his way for several miles in the nude with almost a foot of snow on the ground.

He had gone with his previous suggestion, and the day before the full moon he took off away from the village, and headed for a Mountain in the distance that would be noticeable. He then stripped voluntarily after remembering his state the last month, and put on rags that didn't matter much and would be easy to fix later. Natalie had the duty of making sure no one left the village for the entire night, but no one was surprised when Iris came and joined her as if waiting the whole night for Leo. Shortly after the moon rose they heard a howl in the distance, but nothing more after that.

Leo awoke the next morning and repeated his ritual of the previous month where he expelled the contents he ate while transformed. This was when he noticed that he didn't even feel the freezing weather, even when he had almost been buried in snow when he awoke. He then made the many mile trek, but noticed he felt better than he did the previous month and even started moving in he treetops like usual after a while to shorten the journey. He started thinking that maybe as he got used to the transformations, it might not effect him as much in the future.

After returning to where he stored his clothes the previous day, he cleaned himself up and returned to the village. It was then that he learned that the hunters would be busier in the winter than usual, due to the fact that since the outside garden was no lower usable. There would be less produce since they could only rely on the cave, and as a result the hunters needed to supply the difference with meat. He also learned that the villagers had also used magic to make the winter life easier, by burying fire crystals in the ground to warm the earth and melt snow. This meant that regardless of how deep the snow got, they wouldn't be trapped inside their houses.

Leo soon realized that there was another concern taking root in his mind, he was completely unable to improve his relationship with Iris! As the weeks passed he became more aware of the fact that they were "living together" but they haven't advanced their relationship. Leo recalled that when he read a book or watched a show, the main character would always have someone interrupt during critical moments. He used to laugh at them, but now he was suffering from the same thing! No matter what, he would randomly take her hand only to have people tease them for their intimacy. He had even tried to go for a kiss once or twice, but no mater how isolated they were someone always interrupted.

He had even tried while they were alone in their house, only to have Jack rush in suddenly to talk to him. When he realized what he interrupted he quickly tried to leave, but the mood was already destroyed. The main culprits were the housewives that had nothing to gossip about, so Leo and iris's relationship was their primary target. But especially with Leo's super hearing he always caught them talking about them. In this manner the next couple months passed and Leo was still unable to properly solidify a relationship with Iris. Now it was almost the end of fall, and with the fall feast in just a few days Leo was desperate to make some progress soon. But the day before it was the full moon again. Leo was about to take off and wanted to try another attempt at Iris before leaving.

"I have to go soon, but maybe we could talk a bit before?" Leo asked hoping she could get his meaning. Iris noticed what he wanted to talk about and was almost eager to talk as well. She had been wanting to advance her relationship with Leo as well, but didn't know how to and was only made embarrassed when they would get interrupted whenever Leo tried something. She was teased especially bad when it was found out Leo wasn't effected by the cold as much. The other women jumped right onto the topic and immediately pointed out to Iris she probably appreciated his traits as well as a personal heater at night. She had only turned tomato red at the idea of sharing her bed with Leo and made the women go off on her even more.

"What do you want to talk about?" She played dumb on purpose to test to see if they'd be interrupted again. She was surprised as Leo grabbed her waist and pulled her closer, then his face came closer as well but stopped a small distance from hers.

"I want to talk about the relationship we seem to have. I'm not sure what to call it, but I want to be closer to you." As he talked Leo was slowly moving closer to Iris, who looked at him with expectation In Her beautiful golden eyes. But as they were about to connect,

"IRIS AND LEO ARE ABOUT TO KISS!!!!" One of the little kids suddenly shouted as if to alert everyone in the village to their actions. Leo could only pull away suddenly in surprise. Iris looked sad for a moment, but started glaring at the kid that shouted. He was soon quiet and practically ran to his now approaching mother as more people started paying attention to them. Leo looked sad at the fat that they were interrupted AGAIN. He could only look at Iris with a bit of regret and said,

"We'll try again later. See you tomorrow." Iris returned his fair wells, then turned to glare at the people who had gathered and started teasing the young couple again. Neither she nor, Leo noticed Austin looking on from his houses doorway thinking he might have to give the two of them a small push in their relationship.