Swiftcurrent Creek I am not a legend, I'm a fraud

@Kaiaka <3

So they were gone. That much was clear, at least. Mae took to patrolling the borders by rote, marking them religiously with each dawn and dusk. In the time between, she tried to keep herself fed. Spring's bounty offered more than meat: berries and fresh green sprouts, sometimes eggs if she was lucky. Mostly she subsisted on rodents and rabbits, and what little she could scavenge or bully away from smaller predators.

It was enough. Just barely. Mae was dimly aware of the world brightening around her, the sun rising again; lucky that she could see light, at least, or she might never know night from day. She paused to mark next to a large stone, wondering how many sunrises she would see before her family returned to her.