Witch's Marsh and so it begins

If the boy hoped to find a frog, he would be sorely out of luck. Ibis had spent the better part of the evening doing the same; she knew by now that the cold had scared away most of the little prey, and the quakes and dangers of the rest of the Wilds had kept the large creatures from venturing towards any place that stank of wolf. Her hopes for finding something filling were swiftly dashed as she scoured the small murky pools of water - that is, until she heard something moving within a thicket of grass.

It was bigger than a frog - had to be! Ibis hadn't seen many edible things in her life (not while they were alive exactly, as Okeanos often would hunt for her) so she had no real reference point when it came to big-versus-small; except for the one elk that had gotten its crown tangled in the dead branches of a tree, Ibis had very little hunting experience. So, that sound - it caught in her ears and pulled the bestial side out of her, drawing her forward like a true huntress as she fell in to step along the dryer ledge of raised earth.

She hunkered down as she prowled, drawing up close to where the sound had originated, and when she thought she saw movement out of the corner of her eye she erupted triumphantly from where she hid - !!