Ouroboros Spine surprise

Calls from the lowlands, from higher on the mountain, and from where the woman rested. What Raimo thought to be two stranded wolves piecing themselves together sounded like more now. He listened to the information as he came and resisted the urge to call back them — an instinct that was easy to dismiss. Instead, he tracked the sound of the girl's voice and found her not long after the calls ceased.

Raimo prowled a good distance from where the caribou's corpse lay frozen to the ground. He heard the tearing of skin before he saw the curve of the girl's spine as she ate, and waited for her to take a breath. Was she even chewing her food? The work of keeping her mother fed must have been draining; but he was here now, he could help.

Doing well for yourself, little hunter. He remarks lowly, his dark face rising to be level with his shoulders, and he moved towards the carcass, sniffing at the musk-riddled air.