Big Salmon Lake la vie en rose

She’d spent most of her return from the mountains on the outskirts of the caldera. The longer she stayed, the more it didn’t feel like the right fit. She knew, deep down, she hadn’t changed. Leaving the heights doesn’t mean she left everything behind and now she feels like she might go crazy with the everyday mundane life. It has given her a home base to keep her tethered to one area, giving her a chance to meet wolves in the area and what she has to work with. She doesn’t have the protection of the manmade dens as she had before but the caldera has offered enough.

West parts for the north by the end of the day and the lake greets her with pale moonlight reflecting its ray on a cool night. The wind blows lightly, only ruffling the tips of her fur, and even though she doesn’t have the poppy lacing her system now, she feels the serenity she can’t deny.

A flicker of light moves in the distance and her emerald eyes refocus. The pale fur reflects the moonlight back at her and she slowly moves along the shore until she’s only a few yards away. She smells blood, causing her nose to wrinkle, and she’s briefly reminded of Amari and how she’d found the girl. It lingers for a few more seconds but wisps away as soon as she realizes she knows the crumbled heap of a girl. A lump lodges in her throat and she scrunches her face, stumbling several steps forward until she closes the distance between them.

“Kitsch?” she calls, slowing to a stop in the muddy bank of the lake.