Big Salmon Lake runaway

The frostmaiden lingered where stone gave way to sand and water, the breeze pulling at the strands of her pale coat. She had heard them before she’d seen them; the bickering, the flustered flutter of wings and sharp, rasping sounds. A vulture and a heron, locked in petty dispute; strange company for a lake so still.
Her turquoise eyes glinted with cool amusement, though her posture remained reserved. She did not enter the shallows, nor demand attention. She only watched them now, as a snowdrift watching fire try to burn the sea.
„You bicker so loudly I half-expected the lake to freeze shut in protest.” Aneira wasn’t sure words would reach them; let alone make sense.