Jade Fern Grove gonna spend the rest of my life

AW (@Dægmar you can also join this one if you'd like but it is dated after her previous thread)

the woods were suspended in the hushed stillness of winter, just as the cuesta had been. a frozen mausoleum of bare limbs and frosted tree trunks echoing of the landscape's once abundant greenery and the life it had sustained. 

a cluster of scent trails overlapped the unclaimed territories she'd wandered through, leading her to the presumption that a group must reside nearby. such a notion made her wary of hunting on this land, for fear of being intercepted by a territorial and aggressive pack wolf. 

still, as the sun crept ceaselessly towards its zenith and the temperature peaked, the angry snarling of her ravenous stomach could be ignored no longer. midday found her creeping along the muddy banks of a shallow stream, cold muck oozing between her toes and splattering up to her knees. in the trees, the occasional cry of a starving songbird pierced the air.

it was cold, biting into her skin with sharp prickles, but no colder than the trickling water she splashed into. shivering lightly, the midwife inched along the slippery stones of the creekbed. 

she treaded water slowly upstream, concentrated on not splashing the waters too much or slipping and accidentally submerging herself in the icy water. 

by some stroke of luck, the stream was still home to a few fish even in the midst of the cold season. it took several long moments of patience and intense focus to pounce on a fish and pin it to the rocky bottom. 

amidst the panicked flapping and the clouds of substrate that stirred in the grey water, aerin's jaws flashed and snapped amongst the flying droplets until the scaly creature merely twitched under her paws. 

gathering up her catch, the gypsy emerged half-drenched with a small trout clasped in her pallid maw. she curled upon a rock in the faint sunlight, brushing her paws with powdery snow to protect them from freezing and becoming lame. 

moonstones flickered about nevously as she tucked into her meal, hoping she was close enough to the boundaries of the grove to go unbothered and unnoticed. she ate hastily, as if still running from a threat or she needed to keep moving as soon as possible.