Wild Berry Meadow Oh, the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful

He took a detour after the trip to Moonglow. Ariadne would be expecting him back, but he half hoped he might run into Dutch on his way home a successful hunt. It was unlikely, as the younger man had said he would be away for many days — but there was no harm in checking things out.

Instead of Dutch, he came across a field of wild berries. And where there were berries, there was also one of Valiant's favorite things: turkeys.

It wasn't for their meat that he coveted them. in fact, he found them just a little too stringy, and they tended to make him sleepy if he ate too much. No, Valiant liked them for their fragrant feathers. Stripping them off in a snowstorm of fluff and then rolling around in the aftermath was a special treat. Even better — Dutch was not around to tease him about it.

He had hunted and killed one and was partway through his cavorting — into the rolling around stage — when a prickle ran down his spine. He sat very still, sniffing and listening for a disturbance, but he could only heard singing snow birds and he could only smell the feathers that now covered his body. It was a few long minutes later that he finally sat up and poked his head over the nearest bushes. His ears swiveled until he caught sight of a figure in the distance, and then he shrank down into the bushes to watch while she settled in the meadow. It would be impossible to leave without her noticing, but the risk of being discovered in such a situation made him anxious to distance himself from his downy bed.

He shook out his pelt and, still trailing feathers, headed in her direction. Better to say hello than to turn tail and run, right?

"Hey," he called with a wag of his tail, unaware of the smattering of feathers that still stuck out of his thick pelt like porcupine quills. "Do you have a pack nearby?