Alpine Lake will it leave us anything to show

A mild, sunny day had dawned, warmer than the recent ones before it and thanks to this, the dark Ostrega couldn't stay put. It had been a stifled sensation for the last few weeks, one pointedly ignored in favor of busywork around the mountain while everyone else kept to it too, all doing their own work here, and worrying, and whatever else here and there—but this was a moment to step back for himself. It was high time, after all. Addled worst of all by the grief over his last littermate's fresh absence on top of the old sore from Alya's leave back before, and still feeling distantly rankled by the mentions made in his last chat with his father, he just had to go and shake free for a little while.

So this was what it was as he set off past the slopes and first went skimming down the taper of the range, then beyond. By late in the afternoon he was rising new elevations, and these were the ones that led him to the elevated, confined lake.

His and Vela's travels out this way and passed near here since it was one of the landmarks he had been given prior, but he hadn't taken the time to dawdle at length, being too invested in the greater trail then. Now he had nothing else, and no one else trekking with him to concern himself with, so he could afford to take his time—he had all day. Quiet, and careful of where he placed his footfalls, he began perusing the lake's edge idly looking for some kind of meal to chase to give his motivation somewhere to go.