Horizon Ridge Niptaruk

The man rumbled out a name that Lane forgot immediately. With names like that, it was hopeless anyway. The only part that she caught was the "pig," and that combined with their boar hunt would solidify the hunter's name as "Pig-Man" in Lane's memory. 

He mentioned that he could almost do it all over again. Lane lifted her gaze from her meal, mouth full and eyes wide. She paused her chewing, trying to gauge exactly how serious the man was about that statement. After a beat, she decided that he was joking. 

"You're as crazy as the boar," Lane joked back through her mouthful of food. A smile pulled at the corners of her stuffed cheeks. 

She would take only what she needed to get her back to the Glacier, knowing that there were more hungry mouths for Pig-Man to feed at the plateau. Lane reminded herself to check in at the plateau in a few months, to see how the woman's pack as coming along and perhaps visit with Pig-Man if he was still there. 

They would part on friendly and jovial terms. At some point in her journey back to the glacier, Lane would realize where she had seen the white hunter before: he was the wolf who had appeared to her in the blizzard, the very first time she ascended the glacier. He had probably saved her life that day, for it was his appearance that motivated Lane to dig herself out of that snowdrift instead of succumbing to sleep and the heavy pull of hypothermia. 

Lane would kick herself for not realizing sooner and recounting the story to Kigipigak to see if it had truly been him that day on the mountain. 

Oh well. Perhaps they would meet again someday. 

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