Qeya River Feels

Re-posting for today's post date. ATTN: SD wolves!

Once on the far side of the treacherous glacial path, Wildfire—miraculously still in one piece—threaded slowly between mountains to the north and woods to the south. She gave her sister's territory a wide berth out of respect, eventually arriving at a bend in the very stream she had crossed over in the opposite direction two weeks back. The ranger paused there to catch her breath and will away the pain in her smarting ribs. She then drifted slightly further north, coming to a joint where river met stream, the waters swelling from all the recent rain.

She chose a relatively calm spot and dipped in a small paw, testing the current beneath the surface. Wildfire then slowly shuffled into the water and began to paddle as soon as it hit her chest. She hissed as the motion made her ribs twinge quite painfully, yet kept kicking. Then an unexpectedly frigid undertow suddenly tugged at her slender legs with startling force. She managed not to get sucked underwater, yet it pushed her quickly downstream, toward a decidedly more turbulent section of rapids. Wildfire fought as the rough water battered her, filling her mouth and stealing her breath.

Some time later, a spluttering Wildfire somehow dragged her weak, weary and waterlogged body onto the shore, having been swept several miles downstream toward Bitteroot Valley. She sucked in deep breaths which made her whimper with pain, collapsing just clear of the water line. Fortunately, the April air was warm, though she nonetheless shivered before she started to cough. That was agonizing and all she could do was roll onto her side, close her eyes and numbly hope for some sort of relief.