Redsand Canyon I'm standing on your porch screamin' out

sunrise, 30 F

Kallik woke on the cold stone floor of the cave, alone like always. The loneliness sat like a stone in his gut, growing bigger and heavier every day. But he knew the feeling well; it hurt but it was familiar and most importantly, it was safe. 

He hardly noticed the cold most of the time, blessed with a thick northern coat. But in the mornings his isolation almost negated any protection he had from the icy wind, especially this high in the mountains. 

He needed to get up and moving, so he pulled himself from the ground and shook the sleep from his body. He padded out and sat on the the cliff that overlooked the brown sands of the canyon below. He had left a large lake behind him yesterday, finding a meal in a large fish he had caught. Then he had traveled as high as he could until he found somewhere to rest for the night. 

The sun illuminated the dusty valley below and started to warm some of the frigidness within him. Once he was moving again, it would be easy to get lost in the rhythm of travel and forget the things that plagued his mind. He had dreamed of her again last night. She was hanging on this very cliff, paws slipping with each second that passed, but he was frozen in place, doomed to watch her fall to her death in the sands. Jawahir he had even called out, but it was no use; he watched her small paws slip from the stone and then she was gone. 

He sighed and shook out his coat once more. He would give the mountains one thorough pass over with his gaze before starting to make his way down.