Lost Creek Hollow burning away at the heartwood

she was beginning to settle.
mona patrolled; she hunted. the caches were well-stocked, and therefore her kills were placed in a newer place. some small distance from where indra made her den did the recruit hunt for her own shelter, and by way of it, her own caching spot. it was a short search and the locale required some small amount of excavation, but when the mayfair had finished, she stepped back with mud-caked ankles to regard the low, snug shelter that would be hers for as long as she was in the hollow.
bearclaw was missed, but not as much as the little scout had come to pine for stigmata's imposing presence. he had been angered, and she annoyed by him; mona had somehow still been dismayed to see that he would leave them. but he had been wrong! had he not?
perturbed, the girl moved through the wood, aimless for once. mona would have moved beyond the grove, had not the gentle sound of paw upon earth sounded. it was enough to rouse her curiosity; she wended her way between the trees until a small clearing revealed the presence of another. for an irrational moment she had believed it was tadec, but it was not. still, the coywolf build was something with which mona was familiar, having come to love merrick a great deal.
"hello," the cardinal murmured softly, opting not to stare at what the other was doing. it would have been rude of her, and she was not about to leave that impression with a new packmate.