Duck Lake dancing shores

it is only some moments that pass before her attention is stolen from the trackless ground and cast upward toward the fleeing pair of waterfowl. the blushing sky painted the birds in rosy shades of apricot and amber, but it is not their momentary beauty that she is concerned with.

her attention glided across the now rustled waters to where the moorhen had been startled and set sky-born. there stood an inky-drawn figure, darkened now by the waning last light of a fleeting sun. she turned her steps toward the other, a misty puff of vaporized air set hurling across the lake.

but just as she lifted her footing to tread near, the booming whisper of hooves drew louder and louder, until galloping hearts met glass-bound waters. and then there was another in the biting cold, each exhale a ghostly plume as steam curled and twisted like silver ribbons in the air around him.

paws shifted hesitantly beneath her, a glance toward each figure now triangulated across the lake. but her stomach set her feet steady, and her attention drew swiftly toward the now water-snared caribou.