Arrow Lake Jol

River made a small huff, turning her nose out over the lake as he apologized. You’re fine. It was hard to tell him this. A part of her would always want to chase strangers away from this area. A part of her would always want to live the life her father would have wanted, though not for him, but rather for her mother – Ketzia – whose dreams had been dashed away the moment her mate died, just as River’s dreams had been as she watched her own children succumb to illness, one by one. I’m only visiting. I don’t live here anymore.

She supposed she could live here, but what kind of life would she have, existing under the shadow of a ghost? She hadn’t been able to stay where her children had passed; this place would be no different.

Her ears twitched as his paws shifted in the snow, anxious before her. To his question, she turned to look at him again, her silver eyes alighting upon his face; her expression tempered to softness at the timidity of his query. River, she said. River Sandraudiga. What may I call you?