Swiftcurrent Creek Good men are not like buses. There won't be another one 'round in ten minutes.

For @Aquene. No need to match length, I got carried away.

Ruenna trudged through the gray, slushy snow lining Swiftcurrent Creek, continuing onward on her trip down memory lane. She had sniffed around the Arrow Lake for any clue about Diaspora's disappearance or whereabouts, but no hints remained after over a year, if there had ever been any at all. Her former home had been all but taken over by the elements, and Ruenna had hardly found any sign that wolves had ever lived there it all. 

And now here she was, arrived at the next stop on this tour of memories. Swiftcurrent Creek. Ruenna had been unhappy living here, she recalled, except for those sweet moments she shared with the monochrome man who made her heart flutter. Soltero. She could have made a life with him easily, if she hadn't allowed her principles and loyalty to take priority. Now that she had arrived a few years down this path, she wondered if she would make a different choice, given the chance to do it all again. Would she have been able to swallow her disgust for the alpha Kavik-- who had betrayed her dear friend Liri by impregnating another-- if it meant she could have settled down here and had pups in a loving, family-oriented pack? 

Ruenna sighed. It would not do to dwell too long on missed opportunities. She was not in a bad position now, persay. She was newly married to a good man: a man of status and means. It was a match that would have made her mother proud. The foundation of respect was there, and love grows with time. It had been many years since Ruenna heard her mother's advice repeated in her mind, but the echos of Avis's voice had been stronger lately, since her marriage to Germanicus. 

Ruenna's steps began to squelch as the slushy riverbank gave way to the soupy marshland. She stopped, wondering if it was time to start digging for the horsetail fronds buried under the gritty snow-slop.