Blacktail Deer Plateau always been that way

The weather proved fair that day, and Malachi aimed to make the most of autumn while the season remained. He took to the warren he and Dante had flushed many weeks before, but the scent there proved stale, and after a look about, he struck in a random direction to scour for anything fresh. The morning ebbed by without much affair. He managed to take down a thinning hare, but the rest of his efforts proved fruitless.

He had no qualm when a familiar voice tickled his ears. Malachi fixed his attention on Eilidh and heeded her without a second thought. A squirm of nerves and excitement wrestled in his belly, and he did not slow until her distant speck grew close enough for him to see her face. He slacked in speed then, and a genuine smile lit his face. "Good day, Eilidh." She had grown since he'd first met her, but he viewed her with eyes of innocence. Soon she would be a woman, but even then his duty was to guide and protect her in any way he could.