Gyrfalcon's Keep Kindle my heart

Setting: Gyrfalcon's Keep.

When Pied reached the summit of the range's shortest peak, she found her way to a small ledge which overlooked the sprawling valley to the southeast. Angling herself on this rock shelf, the yearling actually found herself peering across at the plateau she'd called home for just a few short weeks. Directly beneath it wound the river and immediately below her perch, Pied gazed down upon a thick copse of bare tree limbs.

A flash of movement caught her eye and she glanced upward at two birds of prey circling in the whitewashed sky. Another silhouette drifted a bit further away and, even from here, Pied recognized the shape of Mag. As ever, the sight of her spectral companion made her feel somehow grounded and safe. She wondered if Mag would venture any nearer or if she was content wheeling about in the wide open space of the skies.

An abrupt noise behind her elicited an immediate reaction from the sightseeing she-wolf; her small body pressed flat to the cold shale and her ears slicked back against her head. She glanced over her shoulder, her eyes brimming with fear at the sight of a mountain lion skulking nearer, repeating its territorial shriek a second and third time. Its cream belly swayed between thick, muscular legs as the large cat prowled toward her, cutting off Pied's only route of escape.