Whitebark Stream Some say you can get hurt by what you don't know

@Vercingetorix

Downtime was a good opportunity for Ephraim to lose himself in his thoughts. He resided in his head a great deal of the time. He'd been trained to never sacrifice alertness for it, so even now his long ears were twitching to and fro to survey his surroundings and his eyes remained sharp while his mind churned. He thought of nothing in particular, just whatever idle thing floated across his consciousness. He found it cathartic to just let his brain buzz like that without much attention.

He paused at the edge of a bubbling stream, lined at the edges with shards of ice. He had never experienced a winter, but knew what to expect—cold and emptiness. Ephraim dipped his head low to brush his nares across the sharp edge, inhaling its biting scent, but found no significant information forthcoming. Lifting a narrow paw, the coywolf contemplated the ice, then deftly brought his foot down on it. His ears flew upright at the sound of it shattering and his nape prickled.

A splash drew his attention up to the stream and he just saw the webbed tail of a fish disappearing into the water. Licking his chops, the boy picked his way along the bank, hopeful for a meal despite knowing he had no experience with catching fish.