Big Salmon Lake A Slow Magic

@Lunaria — Postdated to June 19th, 2020

Finding a path through the mountains had been no easy feat. This landscape was truly varied and wondrous; every peek around the corner of a tree led to a new discovery. The wolf found himself moving through vast swaths of land. Each was quite different from the last. Grassland led into fish-filled streams. Dark forests with strange remnants of creatures and dramas abounded. There were sounds from animals he had seldom or never seen. There were hilltops and peaks that boasted incredible panoramas, or would have, had the weather not been so spotty.
Taikon's ever constant journeying had led him past the mountains, over plains, and eventually toward the smell of easy food.
This most recent find was a fantastic lake that was absolutely teaming with salmon. Massive fish, some surely with glorious roe stuffed in their soft bellies, jumped out of the water excitedly. Taikon's gold eyes widened in the overcast daylight. Despite the day's rain, the white wolf found himself grinning. Incredibly, no bears or indeed any predators were on this side of the lake. He could see at some distance at least one brown bear in the water, but much too far to be a threat to him.
Taikon waded into a patch of algea-ridden water. He moved up to his neck, but it was clear that his prize was much farther than his meager reach. Huffing such that the water sprayed lightly under his nose, he moved back out of the water and shook himself free of water noisily. The honest truth was that he had never caught a fish, and wouldn't know how to start.
Moving back to the dry safety of the bank, he sniffed at the skull of a long-dead salmon, sighing with aggravation. His stomach was empty, and there seemed nothing he could do about it.