The Heartwood not this year

She'd searched out a mate and found many a rutting male - but her heart was not in it, and as many as she found, she also chased away. Though she'd had plans of bringing another little moose into the world this year, it seemed that it was not in the cards - Yes, perhaps by her own design, but struck all the same from her plans for the future.

And that left... very little. She had no agenda at this time. Artemis had disappeared, and no one else seemed to need her assistance. Was it all in her head, or was she outgrowing her usefulness?

Surely not. I am not a spring filly, but I am still in my prime. Old Kinna lived past twenty, and I am less than half that age. But there was still not much to do but eat and rest and travel the world, and those things did not hold the same shine for her as they did for other moose. She needed to feel needed; helpful. And it was not helpful to roam this sorry woodland and mope about not being pregnant when it was her own damn fault.

With a weary sigh, she found a few low branches and began to eat away her troubles.