Firestone Hot Springs baby, you're like lightning in a bottle

The collie had thought warmth gone from her life, until she'd seen the steam rising in the distance. She'd been surviving the chill well enough, her breed and history considered. But still, the absence of a warm barn or nook to retreat to had taken its toll, and Poppy had come close to being frostbitten one too many times. But still she persisted, for surely the winter would pass as it had the year before. Besides, she'd gone too far to turn back now, or have any hope of finding her way. 

The warmth of the pools melted the snow around them, leaving stone and mud. They certainly smelled odd, but the collie approached eagerly all the same,  slipping into them carefully, sighing at the warmth and allowing her eyes to flutter closed as the water lapped at her underbelly, driving away the persistent cold and shutting out the wind that tore at her pelt like frigid claws, the snow that fell softly still.