As she ran steady onward trying to catch her quarry, she wondered briefly if she would have had games like this had she grown closer to her siblings. Would they have danced like this, yipping playfully at each other as they ran toward fleeting heels? Would they have exhausted themselves merrily in the game, smiling broadly as they tasted the winter chill on their tongues?
They were questions she would never know the answer to, yet they came to mind none the less admist this game. She applauded the male's ability to keep ahead, but while she was not noted for speed or dexterity, she was certainly noted for her unyielding stamina. One of them would tire, and it would not be her. The very thought of outrunning him increased the width of her smile, even as he lept from flatter ground to the banks and continued his flee atop them.
Cheater.
But she was determined and kept her stride alongside him. Her eyes on his paws as he made the pursuit easy to follow. With an extra push from powerful legs against the snow, she aided to nip him just at the pastern, followed swiftly by a skid onto slick snow as she landed. Her legs nearly buckled as all her weight came down on the newly fallen snow, but for lacking in grace, she made up for in stability. It would take more than a wet patch to bring her down. |