Blacktail Deer Plateau now that the evening is slowing

she wakes late the morning, emerging to heavy, thick snow that seems to muffle all sound. the result is an utterly silent morning and the distinct sense that she is strikingly, entirely, alone. the girl steps carefully into the blowing storm, threading her way along a line of conifers. squinting into the blowing snow, she considers briefly returning to her sheltered den, before stiffening her shoulders against the onslaught and moving on, in the direction of the crayfish pond.