Iktome Plains And I am losing more each day it seems

Night fell over the plains, and from where Niamh was she could see the rise and rush of the ocean's surf against the shore. She sat at the edge of the plains where the grass still poked up from beneath the snow simply on account of the ocean breeze that caused it to drift in snow dunes along the natural line of the beach's edge. She sat under the dim light of a crescent moon so slim it was barely a cheshire cat's smile, and it lazed just barely above the pitch black, writhing horizon of the ocean's shoulder. She felt as though she was in some sort of trance as she cast her gaze out over the ocean- something which had always had some sly lure for her, though she had never chosen to live a life at its edge, as the wolves of Rusalka and Drageda had. No- she knew the cruel lash of the sea-witch's whip, and how her breath could send such a chill as to steal the words from a wolf's mouth. Niamh preferred a land where the air was still and fresh- renewed  and kept calm by the shelter of conifers. 

It was only when she heard a soft hissing sound from overhead that she tilted her head back and gazed up at the sky, and at first, she thought that what she saw might be a flock of birds...Though it was the wrong time of year to spot a starling murmuration. It looked at first like a grey cloud, but moved the way a fish moves under the surface of water- too quickly to be clouds, and aside from that, no wind would be fickle enough to tease the cloud out in so many directions before clenching it together- and then allowing it to even out again. What she was seeing, though she didn't know it, was a glimpse of the Northern Lights- something she had heard of, but had never seen...And what she saw now was nothing like what she'd been told they looked like. 

She remembered them being described as giant pillars, writhing ribbons of violet and green...Not a cloud of grey that moved much like an amoeba- and so, she wasn't sure what she was looking at, but the thought of it being Northern Lights didn't even cross her mind- not yet, at least. Not while the colour was still a faint, rippling grey. Still- the cloud (or whatever it was, as she was still not sure) moved with such grace and intriguing movements, that she remained where she was, gazing up at the sky.

She was aware, of course, that she should have headed home much earlier in the day. Having roved up the coast in hopes of crossing paths with Raleska or Caiaphas, she had been disappointed to see that Rusalka no longer held its claim along the coast, nor was she sure where they had gone. But mother nature had seen fit to gift Niamh with her annual surge of hormones, and she had hastened her pace to return to the pack. Her journey was swayed by the beauty of the crescent moon, hanging over the ocean- and she delayed even longer, her attention transfixed on the pale lights above which painted the night sky with such loving movements. With each swell and sweep of movement, she felt her emotions ebb and flow with the tide of the lights above her, and for the time being at least, she was lulled into a calm, but happy place.