Moonspear inca mummy girl

Te hadn't expected that she'd find herself in the company of one of the Moonspear's pups before meeting any more of its adult members, but she enjoyed the girl's presence perhaps more than that of an older wolf.  Adults always had expectations and purpose behind what they said, whereas youths were often more straightforward and undemanding of anything beyond respect and attention.  Young Te had always hated being ignored, or worse, talked down to, and so she endeavored not to do that to any child now herself.  So to Sialuk's explanation, as they took a gentle walk along in the autumn-wreathed wood, Tehama nodded sympathetically.  "Mountains can be friend and foe both, can't they?"

Her silver eyes grew momentarily unfocused as she recalled the days of adolescence where a young lady's body was quite literally put off balance from one day to the next.  "You're a growing girl.  Your paws and legs just don't always cooperate.  Happened to me more than once.  You'll get your gracefulness back again, when you've reached your adult height."  Te grinned self-deprecatingly.  "Just hope that your adult height is a taller than mine."  It was challenging to tell, without having seen the girl's parents, what stature she might hope to aspire to, but it wasn't a bad guess that it would be taller than Tehama.  Te was, well... compact might be a nice word for it.

They came soon enough to a narrow, spindly stream that trickled over rocks slick with moss and embedded in mud.  Te took Sialuk's instructions to heart, and trepidatiously chose her path where the rocks seemed least hazardous.  Cold water seeped between her toes, then as the silvered lady lowered herself slowly, rose up to her mid-legs.  "G-great M-mother, it's cold!" she sputtered an oath, teeth beginning to chatter.  Tehama wasn't much for water, be it swimming for fun or bathing, and hadn't thought of just how chilly it would feel in late autumn.  Still, she held her tail stiffly out behind her to avoid getting its plume wet, and leaned to let the fresh water cleanse her shoulder.

Healers, she decided, were usually right but their advice wasn't usually pleasant, even advice from the apprentice variety.