Lost Creek Hollow So, I guess I saved you from a boring existence

@Breccan

When Nunataq was not out hunting or resting in her den, she would often wander to the borders to see, what the adults, who used to patrol there, were up to. By now she recognized Terance, the dark pelted older female, who had acted so nicely to her weeks earlier, the piebald female guardian, who had looked so stern and serious, when the Bearclaw family had asked for shelter at her pack and an agouti male, with whom she had not yet made an acquaintance. With the exception of the first two, the girl had not approached the others, preferring to keep her distance, when she caught sight of them, or checking out the scent marks they had left along the invisible wall that separated the hollow from the rest of the world.

It was interesting, really, how with the help of few observations, you could tell so much about the person, who had left the marks. She was good now at discerning, whether it had been a female or a male, who had put their message on the board. The thing being that male's urine had a slightly different, bitter odour added to the usually acidic and nitrogenous smell. Now and then she would pick up a hint of blood or crystals in the mark, at other times the smell could differ from very pungent to sickeningly sweet, depending on, what they had had for dinner or lunch the other day.

Today she was continuing her exploratory work in the nature's laboratory by comparing two scents - one left earlier and one left by her now, trying to understand, whether there were differences regarding the time frames. And, when the first experiment had not given her the desired results, she moved on, seeking another mark to discover and test her theory.