Otter Creek wolves of the calla

the river indra had come to know in her childhood now had a new sheath of firm ice splintering across its surface. grey snow and blue ice that spread in small crystalline formations,  the water below dark and gurgling. the bank she stood upon was a heap of snow and stone, and the first few feet of the river were formed like a thick, knobbly glacier. indra stepped over the ice carefully, lowering her muzzle along the surface looking for a weak place to puncture when she saw a figure out of the corner of her eye.

something about the wolf's presence seemed unsteady; the red wolf lifted her head and studied her carefully. she would have hailed the wolf then, were it not for the sudden sinking motion that pulled the stranger out of view and down into the creekbank. indra felt her body twitch in mild confusion and inaction; for a few seconds she was not sure what to do before a natural sense of concern overcame her.

"hey!" she called from across the river's bend, pacing along the ice to identify the safest place of egress. one thick sheet of ruptured ice, mostly clear for the frayed white edges, looked safest -- with a suck of air and several leaps and bounds indra forded the river and sprinted towards the downed female. "hey!" she repeated as she came upon the prone form, her brow wrinkled with concern. her concerned deepened into puzzlement as she saw the disfigurement the female bore across her skull, and the sinister gleam of her exposed and dry teeth made indra recoil in shock. if she was unlikely to touch the female before, she was even less likely to do so now and instead she settled to snuffling snow from the ground with her muzzle and flicking it on the wolf's muzzle. "wake up!"