Firestone Hot Springs It's just some beasts from the wild can't be tamed, babe

Wraen had spent the whole afternoon and evening of the previous day at Hoshor plains. Even without the duties and responsibilities of a leader, searching for food took up at least 2/3 of her time awake. As the daylight hours grew shorter, nights colder, the number of small prey - rodents and lagomorphs mostly - dwindled and it was considerably harder for her to track them down. Especially, since finding one did not automatically mean a success. Even for an experienced hunter like her the rate of hunts with a good outcome was around 50% at best and often it was even less than that. 

But she did not lament the challenges she had to face every day. Freedom felt good and with every passing day she grew more convinced that leaving and starting anew had been the best decision for her. On evenings she met Loneliness, which she had pictured as a she-wolf with a dusky gray pelt and dark, dark eyes. She never spoke to her, yet her presence reminded her of some yearning that was hiding deep inside Wraen's heart. Not entirely unfamiliar though - now that she had time to contemplate things more, she realized that this dark-eyed creature had been her friend and constant companion for a very long time. Always standing behind her, looming in the darkness and shadows, Wraen had felt her presence, but had refused to turn around and face her. 

But now that she did not have to keep up appearances, Wraen willingly sought out every fear, insecurity, anger, discontent and unhappiness. That night, in the safety and comforts of a fern grove, she dreamt about finding that dark pool inside her mind, she dived inside, knowing well that, when she would hit the bottom of it, she could rise again and be reborn. She was awoken by the sound of movement and feeling of warmth and, when she looked around, she realized that she was in the middle of a deer herd that had chosen the same place to take a rest. The young wolf smiled to herself - Here I thought that life held no more surprises for me - and moved soundlessly between the sleeping figures, careful not to wake them and scare them. 

Once she had put distance between herself and the herd, she turned to gaze at them once more, and then in the other direction, where the rising steam marked Fire Hot springs, and against the backdrop of the white vapour, she saw another hunter sitting and observing the herd with such an air of royalty as that of a queen's.