Snowforest Taiga break my heart but don't tell me i'm not doin' fine

@Meerkat pls? :eyes:

aniruk couldn't seem to move through these lands fast enough. fresh wolf-scent lingered just around every bend, haunting him. he'd left to find solitude, and in it, perhaps some semblance of self or purpose — but such an existence seemed worlds away from the crowding he'd found instead. was there no place in the world where wolves did not rule?
disease lurked here, too; he'd smelled it on dead caribou left to rot, and on living ones wandering aimlessly with no fear for the wolf who walked at their side. unnatural, he thought, and shuddered, for he knew better than most what it was to be at the mercy of spirits.
today he'd had good luck, though; a corpse free of the scent of disease or other wolves. the stale scent of a big cat lingered, but aniruk figured the other predator was long gone. he tore at the meat without reservation, glad for the frost that had preserved it past when it should have spoiled. he would have no such luck when spring came to these lands, warm as they already were.