Dawnlark Plains heavy-sighed and open-eyed I heard him speak

there was no pride left in the huntress as she woke late in the night; when time held still and dawn lingered near to the horizon. the earliest of birds began waning and timid calls, and she rose stiffly from the barren patch of sun-burnt grasses she'd chosen that night, near to Aviana's den. part of her longed to leave the borders for more than her all-consuming hunts as the caches reached new lows; the knowledge that Sunny, somewhere, walked alone and perhaps just out of her reach was tantalizing, now. 

in the space of a few weeks had her family been ripped from her. some, by her own hand; others, leaving her quietly and suddenly and painfully. and so she found herself aimless, bond only by her loyalty to morningside and her unwillingness to allow the mothers and pups to go hungry. and so she slept and she hunted, and rarely did she pause. rarely did she remain within the borders long after wakefulness came prematurely, and yet today found her slipping soundlessly across the plains in the general direction of the maplewood, with no desire to stray from the plains until exhaustion forced her to endure another few hours of muddled sleep.