Cassiopeia's View Use the rocks to show where the frame will go.

They ought to head back to Epoch soon, though Towhee just wasn’t ready to return. It’s only been, like, three days, she reminded herself as she walked along the edge of Bramblepoint. She was hunting with @Jack Snipe, purportedly. She was too distracted and her son had disappeared off into the trees fifteen minutes ago. He hadn’t turned back up yet.

But even a rusty old hunter like Towhee couldn’t ignore the pungent musk of deer. She halted to look at the ground, where she saw imprints pressed into the soft earth. She bent to sniff at them, reading the story of the herd like leafing through the pages of a book. There was a stag, three does and a couple of fawns.

Jack? Towhee hisspered, raising her head and swiveling it like an owl to see if her son might appear out of the woodwork.

He did not, which left Towhee to idly track the scents by herself, well aware she could never attempt anything. Their trail led her due westbound toward the mountains. When it hit the foothills, it turned south. She continued following it and soon came across a spring tumbling down the slope to her right. Towhee looked up at it, then turned to squint to her left.

Ha, I was right…!

Feeling rather pleased with herself, Towhee waded across a shallow part of the stream, fully expecting to hit a dead end. But the deer’s scents were just as strong on the far side, so she kept tracking them, up into the mountains.