Ivy
Even in the warmth of the last days of summer Ivy's breathes were cool enough to create tiny snow squalls, crystalizing any moisture and showering it down as tiny snowflakes. Her left hand was wrapped easily on what could have been anyone's walking stick. This gnarled and worn piece of hawthorn wood, however, offered a nasty and life threatening surprise should someone other than herself or another strong witch pick it up. It was a place to diffuse the enormous amount of winter magic she carried inside her body, it stored enough magic to kill. Her other hand was buried in the thick fur of the large black dog who followed her nearly everywhere. Most days Ivy was quite sure he wasn't a dog at all but something else entirely, what though she wasn't sure. He was far too intelligent and it shone behind his lush yellow-gold eyes. When she had found him curled up and injured beside a tree she had immediately known his name, Leka.
Moving along the path to the dorms came easily now, she was in her last years at the university and was more at home here now than ever before. This place was quite nearly her only escape from the torturous confines of her coven, always pressuring her for some favor or pushing some agenda. When she graduated she knew that she would strike off on her own path and find somewhere far away from the coven to live. Leaving frosty footsteps along the stone path as she went made the path behind her look like a fairy tale but far stranger things happened here for anyone to truly take much notice. She was dressed down today, glad to be out of the robes that the coven often forced her to wear. Simple dark wash jeans and a black v-neck that exposed the porcelain skin of her chest and shoulders. Tiny, soft tan, freckles dotted her shoulders, angel kisses her mother had always called them. She remembered that time fondly, back before she had really come into her magic.
The dorms were particularly spectacular though they often were during the beginning of the year. Each year they redecorated the great rooms and the lounges so that nothing ever remained the same. She was headed for her room for the first time of the year, all of the students would be here soon and she hoped that her roommates hadn't yet arrived. Of course, she'd been stuck with two males. One of them was apparently a human and the other a dragon. She wasn't sure how this was going to work as she'd never formally met either of them. At least they all had their own bathrooms. That was going to be a saving grace she was sure.
Leka padded along beside her, content to be even in the coldness that nearly always surrounded her. It took a great deal of effort to reduce the cold around her to a minimum. She was, in a sense, winter itself born into a witches body. Supposedly that's why there was never more than one witch for each solstice or equinox at any given time. She found her way to her shared room, Leka pushing past her to check for any dangers before returning to her side as she was accustomed to him doing. It was one of the habits that made her sure that he had once been a man rather than the large black and grey beast that lurked in the shadows not far away from her. She found the bedroom that was to be hers, obvious from the decorations she found inside and the presence of her belongings.
She looked like a faerie inside her own room, inky black ebony floors sprawled in front of her, covered only briefly by a beautifully woven gold and red rug. The walls were a dark and rich red though the one beside her bed was covered in a network of satin black designs that traced across the red wall in elegant patterns. The lights were dim as she liked them and Leka immediately settled on the luxurious silk sheets of the bed. Darkness was her retreat away from the brightness of the day time. She didn't bother to shut the door as she relaxed across the bed, still in her clothes next to Leka. He promptly covered part of her tiny body with his massive head, closing his golden eyes though he faced towards the door.
