Duck Lake blue heron

The caribou had fallen prey to its nature.  To compete, and to divide, meant to fall to stronger teeth.  It was a lesson she had tried to impart to those of the rise but she had never been able to find the thread to have it be heard.  To test one’s strength meant to rely on the pack in a way a herd could not.  No defenders came to their fellow’s aid.  Instead they watched him die.

Would this pack test one another similarly?  Food was plentiful, but it was hard to read intentions in a storm.  Some lingered with just gentle thunder.  Others washed away cliffs and set fire to forests.

He gestured her closer and she came without hesitation, hauling a portion of the catch from the water and dragging it onto the bank as he did.  Then she shook water from her coat.

A question still lingered.  Perhaps it could answer even more.  Why Sun Eater?  It sounded like a name earned rather than given.  Maybe his parents had seen a future for him and tried to name something grand.  This she could at least, in small ways, relate to.