Ouroboros Spine Oh, in time you'll see

@Mordecai

A brisk, high wind whistled over the spires of the Spine, but its chill reach didn't extend into the bottom of the small valley. The pack was therefore nestled in a sort of dead zone—they were destined to collect heaps of snow, Sialuk predicted as she loped between trees, but would evade the cold wind in the dead of winter.

This was bittersweet, for the plentiful snow would remind Sialuk of the harsh north, but hunting would be a struggle for those not born of Arctic blood. It may even be tough for her, she thought, emerging on a stretch of open, spongy and marshy grassland widely bordering a lake. Temperatures would be higher than her norm, and Sialuk knew she couldn't count on the snow to form the compact sheets of ice she was accustomed to.

Her tailed bobbed horizontally behind her as Sialuk began making her way across the cold marsh in search of waterfowl or other semi-aquatic prey. Her lower legs were soon drenched in muddy water, but she showed no signs of being bothered by it. She'd had worse.