Heron Lake Plateau I fought death and lost.

Sounds good to me! Last one from me here. :)

Had Raven known how guilty Towhee felt about the stash she'd had to leave behind, the healer would have told her not to worry about it. Much of what she'd had was withered and crumbling to dust anyway, and truthfully she looked forward to the busy-work of foraging a new stockpile in the spring. What she would miss the most, however, was her little badger den. She'd never slept in the den -- not since she was a baby, anyway -- but it had made a perfect place to house all her various plants, flowers, and other weird objects she happened to collect (she'd had a number of interesting feathers, some oddly-twisted sticks, brightly-colored rocks, and a few random bones, to name a few).

She nodded in agreement to Towhee's observation re: birds being a sign of fish in the lake, and commented in reply to her previous statement, "If you happen to see a small place where I could keep my new stash, that would be really awesome." She grinned at her sister and continued, "When the snowmelt slows and things have dried out a bit more, maybe we can go picking together and I'll show you what to look for so you can grab stuff for me while you're out and about."

They continued to walk side-by-side, occasionally stopping to observe something interesting or to discuss some topic or another. Raven considered it one of her favorite evenings in recent weeks, and for days afterward, her heart would be full from this quality time spent with her sister.