Stay warm, Rayld

For second Myths in Winter contest

Bonus points: Snow
Graphite, colored with Photoshop, with my construction paper stock background

Rayld the albino Desert Ghoul in his winter layers. Ghouls originally hunted and scavenged in hot arid regions, but a large population has since immigrated to colder areas.

The First Cold Winter is WarmestThe snowflakes were numerous as grains of wind-blown sand. They dimmed the sunset and brought a freezing, premature nightfall. Bundled humans hurried past the lure of shop windows aglow with inviting warmth, toys, and tasty smells. A ribbon-clad tree towered over all from the place of honor cleared for it in the town square.
Hidden amongst rubbish in an alley where he could search for food unseen, Yerv was too miserable to enjoy it. He buried his hands in his coat sleeves and tried to thaw them against his arms. He shivered and watched his breath form clouds in front of his muzzle. The unnatural sight gave him a different kind of chill. Though his kin assured him this was a normal byproduct of harsh northern winters, it still gave him the creeps.
When feeling returned to his fingers he dipped his hand into a pocket and read the imprints left on the coins he had collected. None of their stories were very interesting (all had traded human hands in exchange for work and been lost on the s Bloodline Curse"I do not want them to see him.”
Yril lowered his ears and frowned at his mate. He knew he couldn’t keep it from happening, but he wished he could pretend it wouldn’t for a little while longer.
Taiph nuzzled the child sprawled on his belly between her arms. Rayld was only four months old. He had no way of knowing that life was more than warm earth, mother’s milk, and naps. His pudgy legs twitched as he slept.
She met Yril’s eyes and held them, unblinking. “They are old and wise,” she said. “They may be the only ones who know how to fix him. We do him no good by putting it off.”
She was right. He knew it and he couldn’t do anything about it. “All right,” he said, reaching out to run a finger over one of his son’s floppy little ears. “I will find them and bring them here so you do not have to carry him away from the den.”
He poked his head out of the den’s main entrance tunnel, scanned for dan