Morningside Cuesta wachsam

heda had not come home. druid had. he expected that in the care of duskfire glacier, the rivenwood girl would thrive. 
but he had helped to rear her from infancy, and so he worried.
the graf slipped out into the frigid air and marched toward the borderlands of the valley and the taiga. as he drew closer he smelled the manure and the churning of the caribou, heard their lowing.
and beyond, many wolves.
he stood quietly and silhouetted against the daytime snow.