Big Salmon Lake I got used to living without you

She'd made good on her promise, but that day again, Fennec had woken up to find Killdeer gone. When she went looking, she found him.... with his cousins. And though she was tempted to grab him away, as she had done previously, today she didn't. She didn't have it in her today.

The anger that had been whirling in her these past few weeks, slowly growing, was beginning to burn her out. She'd succeeded in pushing just about everyone in the Caldera away, even her mom, and at this point she wondered if she should just take Killdeer and go. This wasn't what she'd wanted her life to be.

Slowly, Fennec made her way along the lake's edge, occasionally trailing towards the water as her mind raced through reasons to stay, reasons to go. Places she could hide, names she could take up, lives she could lead where she could forget everyone and everything here.

Finally she found a place where the shore led, in a soft slant, into the water. Fennec waded her way in and let it submerge her up to her shoulders, then ducked her head beneath. It cooled the heat and it helped her to think. She stayed there until her lungs protested, then broke the surface again, taking only a step toward shore. She had a while before she needed to get back.