Whitefish River Like white smoke

thanks for starting - tag is just for visibility!

by morning iliksis had managed to score a small family of woodgrouse that had been stunned by the wintry cold overnight. they hardly stirred as he descended across them in their roost - one by one, he plucked from the frozen boughs and dispatched them with silent efficiency. they met their bitter ends dulled witless by the cold, and hardly stirred more than a squabble as he killed them. he left two of them cached for @Ithrik, and set out across the plains with the last mangled bird clapsed between his thin jaws. its barred feathering stuck out between his sharp teeth, with tufts of soft cream down-feathers still rimmed around his jaws.

he had only gone several acres when he saw another figure illuminated by the sun's nascent rays - he watched as the wolf, scintillated by a golden halo, broke beams of gentle sun with its long blued shadow. he would have ignored the wolf were it not for the strange thing wrapped around its neck, foreign and curious. with a wordless dip of his head iliksis stepped out in a lofty trot towards him.