Swiftcurrent Creek Now how can he smile

for @Mae and/or anyone around SC!

Despite his best (worst) efforts, Hirundo was getting very hungry.

He couldn’t remember the last time he’d had a nice elk haunch. Or a fat, silvery trout belly. (He pretended he didn’t remember). Maybe he’d never had such things. Or maybe it was all some terrible nightmare, and he would awake from it and everything would be fine and normal.

He opened his eyes, and everything remained the same.

With a sigh, he dragged himself to his feet and kept walking through the woodlands. He snapped up a pretty flower in his jaws, only to be reminded of his gnawing stomach by the stem’s bitter taste. He dropped it and shook his head.

His paws brought him to the edge of the forest. A dark, languid river snaked through the rock. Its surface seemed still and silent—but now and then he thought he saw a splash. His mouth immediately began to water.

Hirundo went to sit by the water’s edge, nose pressed close to the glassy surface. He nipped at a shadow and caught only water on his tongue. There were more, though, silvery bodies just out of his jaws’ reach. If he just jumped in…

Some tiny part of him whispered that it wasn’t such a good idea. Even so, he began to lean forwards. He tentatively dipped one paw in, only to yank it back out at the sudden cold.