Big Salmon Lake it's time we tried to find the sunrise

The faint smile that lingered upon Tehama's lips faltered almost imperceptibly as the grizzled male asked about her future travel plans before offering his name.  Tahoe.  Tehama considered the name carefully for a moment, attaching it in her mind to the older wolf's accented voice and rough-hewn features.  He was more pleasant to speak with than she had given him credit for, and the girl was not an introvert at heart; it was nice to exchange words with another after a long time travelling alone.  "It's good to meet you, Tahoe." The words were a nicety, but not without earnest gratitude for the company.

A slight sigh escaped her as she responded to his query, silver gaze cast upon the mountains before them."I'm not sure where, to tell the truth.  I don't know this area, and I didn't set out from..." From where?  From home?  Thousand Rivers held her family now, but Te could not call it home.  Home was Mount Mirror, now a broken, irreparable place. "... from my previous pack with a particular destination in mind."  The charcoal-dusted female's tail quivered faintly, reflecting her uncertainty.  Why she was burdening this near stranger (Tahoe, she reminded herself) with her musings?  Something about the morning light and the reflections upon the calm lake seemed to draw inner thoughts to the forefront of her mind.  

"I came up from the south in the past fortnight or so.  I heard the howls of others there and kept moving.  Now I guess I wonder if I ought to have sought them out instead."  The weather would be turning soon toward shortening days of lackluster sunshine, long dark nights of biting cold.  The woman did not seek to spend winter growing ever thinner and ever hungrier.  Tahoe didn't seem to be a pack wolf himself, and perhaps from his appearance he was used to such a life, but Tehama preferred the creature comforts that came from the collective efforts of a pack to sustain one another through good times and bad.