ten feet under and upside down

He left her alone in the shelter, and she contemplated things while waiting. Saskia thought of home more and more, and not the one she had abandoned for this journey - that one was ruined by its own storm (perhaps the same one that hit this coast) - but the idyllic place she was born. It was the same, but her memories of it were fonder; the great stone monuments, the red dust of the canyon walls, the thin forests and warm golden shrubs of the lowlands... It wasn't the same after the storm hit. The family wasn't the same. Maybe that was why she had left --

Charon arrived back quickly, carrying a meaty chunk of death warmed over. The squirrel did not look appetizing in the least, but as soon as the smell of its fur hit her nose, she set upon it. Pinning the carcass with her paws and working at the flesh with her front teeth, or chewing at the bony bits with the side of her mouth; it tasted foul, but the meal was over quickly. Saskia licked bits of old fur from her lips and, instinct-driven, rooted through the mossy earth with her snout as if to find more. Her belly was content, but not full.

"Thank you." She finally surmised, when the frenzy of hunger abated. There wasn't much else to do now but sit and wait for the weather to improve - and Saskia wasn't sure about how to pass the time. Trying to sleep with this stranger beside her would be difficult.