Mount Apikuni cat and mouse in partnership

Thade kept away from strangers as best he could after leaving Mother behind. He couldn't trust strangers. He remembered when Mother had been a stranger, and what she had been capable of without provocation. It made him mistrustful, despite his deep-seeded loneliness. But the boy was also starved — hungry enough now to reconsider his policy on unfamiliar wolves — and now he wasn't just putting his nose to the ground in search of food.
The first peak he saw, he went towards. It wasn't home, but he couldn't tell that until he had gotten to its base, and realized that he did not recognize the slopes, nor could he smell his family. But it had begun to drizzle again, so he couldn't be sure. He wanted to start ascending, but his belly felt cramped with tightness, and exhaustion wouldn't let him search anymore.
He turned a few circles in the gravel beneath a small ridge, out of the rain, and curled up to sleep.  

For @Wintersbane. Slightly forward-dated.