Blacktail Deer Plateau lost lost lost

Okay was one word for it. By scent alone, the male could detect that she was edgy and malnourished - malnourished by his standards, at least. And something else. "You smell - " he began, and then paused, ears flicking forward and back as he tried to place it. Finally, he found the name that went with her scent.

"Sorrel?" he asked, his heart leaping into his throat. "Is that really you?"

He remembered a scared little girl hiding in the bushes, just a little bit younger than his own children had been at the time. She was brown in his memories, but here and now, she was only a voice. One that sounded far different from the little-girl voice he remembered. Could it really be her?