Arrow Lake eyes carved in

there was a pack here; once. the scent marks are barely distinguishable, and easily missed, but combined with the remains of caches, the girl is confident that this place has not been empty long. hela noses at a carved-out burrow which once might have been a den, wondering idly what'd happened here. packs came and went, she knew, and stressors like the famine did not help. 

the mountains have been good to her, and while she's wandered into the valley oft, and occasionally the flatlands, she is ever drawn back here. small game seems easier to catch amongst the rock than it had been in the wood, after she'd gotten used to moving on the rock. it had taken two bad falls for her to gain her balance, and learn to test the rock and ice before moving. what supported a hare did not always support her. 

the birds are helpful, too. carrion birds and hawks seem plentiful, and she's learned following them to where they congregate yield rewards, most of the time. it's the flight of a raven she traces now as it circles lazily over the lake edge, minute adjustments to its wings all it needs to keep going for a moment, two at a time.