Twisted Slough In just no time at all

He trudged along through unknown land, having no memory of the place beyond his cubhood, and soon became lost to it. The world was so different without the greenery to blanket every inch. Familiar slopes of the mountain and the valley had been mutated by this absence, and though Mortar did not think too hard upon it, he knew he was unhappy. The more he wandered the more he wished for the company of his kin; even Brick would have been a welcome reprieve from the nothingness of their once beautiful home. But the bear could find no others. He assumed they slept, that he had woken too early perhaps, and now struggled to keep himself fed.

When his path crossed beyond what was known, when he found himself upon the twisting landscape beyond the empty forests, he stopped. The sea had never interested him because he never knew it existed, but the scent of it lured him. He raised his big head and sniffed at the salty air, tasting it beyond the oddness of the slough, and that was when he noticed the dry scent of wolf among it. With a piggish grunt the bear turned his attention to his immediate surroundings and began to lurch along the edge of the slough, eager to find the hound. He was curious - would this beast have found something tasty, or would he be the meal himself?