Sequoia Coast DISCOVER · Jawbone Hill

The young Iota stood on the beach at the foot of Horizon Ridge, facing the sea. She knew the river ran to the left and Sea Lion Shores lay beyond that. Presently, she squinted off to the right, her eyes narrowed against the cold, salty wind that whipped down the coastline. Pied wondered what lay in that direction and knew in the next beat that there was only one way to find out: she would have to go there.

She wandered slowly, the ocean sparkling off her left shoulder as she trekked into the unknown wilderness. The crags and peaks of the ridge line fell away behind her and she found herself walking parallel with a grassland. The dappled she-wolf wandered slightly further inland and found the earth beneath her feet rising into a slope as she traversed the seaside prairie.

The gradient suddenly became much more severe and Pied felt her muscles tightening and pulling as she ascended the incline. When she reached the top, panting, she swung around to take in the view. Directly below her rolled the hillock, leveling off into the grassland. Beyond that, the sea shone beyond a strip of white sands.

She turned to examine what lay behind the unexplored side of the hill. Her two-toned eyes landed upon a small mill pond. At the bottom of the hill, the ground became quite rocky, with a stone hanging over the water. Intrigued, Pied trotted down the scarp, slowing as she approached the ledge. She crept to its edge and peered down into the water, which was breathlessly still, especially relative to the river and the sea.

Turning back, Pied climbed the hill again and sniffed along its summit. As she meandered, her splotched forepaw struck something and she stopped to examine it. When she turned it upright, her lips parted and she let out a noise not unlike a gasp. It was the jawbone of a deer, bleached white by the sun and salty air.

The young Starbuck-Virtúte knew when she returned to the ridge, she would tell Kisu and the others of this place. Already, she knew what she would call it when she described it to them: Jawbone Hill, after the very place where Pied had been born.