Lost Creek Hollow drink my blood like wine

Two days ago, Nara had filled all of her caches. They were scattered around the Hollow and hidden well, but she knew exactly where they were located. One at the southern border, another close to her den and a last one underneath the dead remains of a fallen tree. 

When she went to check on that last one yesterday night, she had noticed that it was completely empty. The culprit hadn't even taken the time to cover up their crime. Maybe a fox? A badger? There hadn't been a clear scent. Nara had been angry for only a short while before she went out to fill it once again. It was winter after all, and since she saw herself as the most experienced hunter of the pack, it was her duty to provide them with a fresh meal every once in a while. Or at least a better meal than the meager, dead-for-a-week mouse she had seen someone devour like it was a nice piece of baby deer-butt.

Nara was sure that the one responsible would to steal from her cache again, so when the night came, she waited close-by—silent and hidden from view. 

The best thing about being an almost-an-adult and having no supervision was that Nunataq could have her outings at any time of the day. As it happened this took place during the night. The pungent smell of decidedly feline piss had invaded the resident jalapeno's pleasant dream, where she had been about to eat the best food in creation a fermented fish (*for those, who do not know, fish were Nuna's poison). And feeling rather grumpy about this kind of rude thing, she had left the den, intent to track down the notorious bastard, who had desecrated trees along it's way too.

All too soon Nuna realized that the cat she wanted to take was a tad bit too big, even if it was busying itself with something and was not looking at her, but she hid herself and waited. This paid off, because, when the cat left and she inspected the site, she found a lower piece of some canine's foot. Nuna would be a disgrace to the Pepper squad, were she to leave such treasure lying around. She snatched it and returned home, holding her war spoils proudly in her mouth and her paths crossed with Nara's around that time.

Had Indra seen her adopted daughter with yet another piece from someone's desecrated grave, she would have probably got a heart attack. Even though she was spared this fate, Nunataq was still wary of approaching and going past the white huntress, because adults could be jerks like that and demand interesting objects just because they could. But the shortest way to her treasure chest went right here and going around would mean ploughing through snow, which she was not eager to do now.

Therefore with a sigh, she resolved to move forwards and pretend as if she had nothing at all.

Nara had been on the verge of giving up. She had stood guard for almost three long and tedious hours, but alas—no fox or any other hungry critter had come around to loot her cache (or at least tried to). Granted, she had been asleep for most of the second hour. However, there was no sign that any animal had been here.

Then she heard nearby branches moving. Nara quickly lowered her head, hiding herself between the underbrush—then she realized that it wasn't the cache-robber she had been waiting for, instead it was Nunataq. She relaxed again and sat back on her haunches. But the young wolf seemed to be walking past without so much of a glance in her direction.

what you got there? Nara said by way of greeting, as she nodded in the direction of whatever Nunataq was obviously trying to hide from her. She felt a little uncertain when it came to communicating with Nunataq. She had briefly greeted her when they had crossed paths in the Hollow a couple of times, but honestly nothing more than that. Nara already regretted speaking up. It was really none of her business what this young wolf decided to drag around the territory. But she couldn't stop herself from being curious after all. From what she could see, it looked like a gnawed off limb of, well—something dead for sure. 

Darn! Nunataq thought and stopped, when the white she-wolf adressed her. Apparently she had looked so inconspicious that it had looked suspicious. The gears and wheels of her mind were turning, trying to come up with the best solution for the problem and then she simply fit as much of the foot in her mouth as possible, so that only two fingers and the odd shape of her cheeks gave away that she had - in fact - something to hide.

Nuna had no way of seeing her reflection, therefore she turned to greet the adult with a friendly expression, innocent eyes and wagging tail - nothing to see here, all is fine - were it not for the fact that a hairy foot that filled your entire mouth made it hard to smile and even harder to keep it there for too long. Naturally the inevitable happened, she began to choke on it, broke out in a coughing fit, which ended with her spitting out the slobber-covered canine foot right at Nara's feet.

Nara cocked her head to the side, watching how Nunataq basically fit an entire paw in her mouth. You've got to hand it to her, that was impressive. Nara couldn't help but laugh at the sight. How far was she willing to go for not having to give up her price? For a moment it seemed like she was going to succeed, but then the entire thing came back out rather ungracefully. 

Nara watched how the tragic thing rolled over to where she was sitting. Although now covered in earth and drool, she could still make out orange-colored patches of fur. It might have been the paw of a fox. Nara doubted Nunataq killed it herself, because this was for sure the least tasty part of the animal. And if she didn't kill it, then what did? It concerned her that something big enough to kill a fox was hunting this close to their borders.

can you show me where you found it? she asked, pushing the thing to Nunataq with the back of her paw—hmm, sticky. She got up and watched Nunataq intently, hoping that the young wolf had understood what she was asking for.

Nunataq followed with her gaze every Nara's movement, when she leaned down to inspect her finding. Her look was distrustful and almost rebellious, because it was HER foot and it was in a temporary possession of an adult, who she did not know. Which was even worse, given her experience with adults, who she knew very well, acting like jerks and taking away her stuff.

But when the worst scenario did not play out, Nunataq was a little confused and looked at the lady for a bit, before pouncing at the foot, pawed at it, tossing it up and grabbing it mid-air. The lady asked something, which - naturally - she did not understand the least and turned to go one of the many "X" marked treasure spots on the Lost Creek Hollow map.

Nara can follow, if she wants.

When Nuna—she decided that Nunataq was a mouthful and this matched nicely with her own name—happily grabbed the foot and started off for, well, somewhere, Nara thought it best to follow her. There was no way of knowing if the young wolf had understood her. However, because they were now headed in the opposite direction of where Nuna had come from before, she seriously doubted it.

Nara was trailing just a few hesitant steps behind her. How can it be, she thought, that of all people, the only one who knows the whereabouts of a potentially dangerous animal, is a mute girl. She sighed loudly, but kept on following the young wolf nonetheless. 

Nunataq decided to hide her finding at the Treasure Spot No. 35 (yup, she had that many and more, she remembered them all, because her memory was that of an elephants, and - no - she did not know, how to count, but five word description of a hiding place is easier for the author than a whole paragraph about trees and grass, and holes). And she had padded half-way there, when she realized that the white she-wolf, who had won some bonus points for returning her foot, was trailing after her. The Pirate Jalapeno stopped, looked over her shoulder with a furrowed brow, seemed to contemplate something for a bit and then moved on.

The idea was pretty simple and straightforward now - she wanted to lose the lady on the way - therefore her path was no longer a straight line, but she made many curves, false stops, pretend - Oh, what was that?!"s, but eventually she hit Treasure Spot No. 5 and realized that even Lost Creek hollow had it's limits and she could not keep messing with the adult forever. Oh, well - she sighed - she could afford to share one spot with the community. This particular place was an old tree with a hollow middle. And the hole that gave her access from the horizontal plane was just in the height of the young wolf, who had raised herself on her hind paws and now began to stuff the paw inside and down the hole.

 

Sooo sorry for taking so long!! We can wrap it up in our next post if you want

Nara kept on following the young wolf, and the further they went, the more she concluded that Nuna was leading her on a winding road to nowhere in particular. When the other wolf stopped suddenly, Nara lifted her head in surprise, her ears swiveled forward, eyes scanning the woods. Nothing. Nothing at all. No sounds, other than the soft rustling of leaves and a babbling brook hidden between the trees, could be heard. She sighed heavily before following Nuna once again.

Then the young wolf stopped at a peculiar looking tree. It had a big hole in the middle. Nara sat back on her haunches and watched curiously how Nuna crammed the paw into the hole. figures she mumbled.

It was clear that this had all been for naught and that Nuna had been wasting her time just for the fun of it. Well, who could blame her. Nara could use some fun times herself, now that she thought of it. But first, duty called. She decided to leave the young girl with her paw and go look for the supposed predator on her own.
 
She got up and gave Nuna a quick, gentle nudge with her shoulder, meaning to say 'be careful, alright', before turning around to head back—until she realized she had been blindly following Nuna without really paying attention and that she had no idea which way 'back' was exactly. 

Nunataq finally managed to stuff the paw over the brim of the hole and with a muffled "flop" it fell atop other stuff that was already hidden there: a piece of spiky hedgehog pelt, a rock, what remained of a heavily chewed-on antler and some other random stuff. The girl did not know that her secret hideout was also used as a nesting place for birds, who would be very surprised to find their apartment filled with, what they would consider trash in the spring. And also a long forgotten stash made by a squirrel. A place of an anthill in formation as well.

The white lady seemed to have satisfied her couriousity and prepared to leave. Nunataq endured her nudge with a painful expression, which changed to a smiley and happy one, once she saw the grown-up go her own way.

Good. Now... back to the original plan!