Qeya River kuugaamiut

the shadow girl spent the early morning at the edge of the river.

this water was as cold as the deep sea, she thought. it was sharp and then it numbed. it moved quickly down the center, and so she was mindful and wary. her goal was not to fish but to explore — and so her path cut along the qeya's belly.

there were some scents here she did not know, and so she would pull away from the water and study them. a few she gathered by rolling shoulder-first against the loam, or she would scratch at rocks to cleave them away and see what lingered underneath.

one such moment earned her a mouthful of earthworms, which she pulled free and quickly swallowed.