Otter Creek gamma rays

she pauses at the base of one of the alders that line the river, sniffing at the interesting combination of scents there. she'd wanted to follow the winding creek ever since she'd noticed it flowing into the great lake; however, she didn't quite dare do so by herself. curiosity edged her onward, but fear at leaving her comfort zone kept her bound to Blackfeather. 

but in the end, curiosity won out, and she'd asked @Moonshadow to accompany her on the trip. her mother is somewhere behind her, though out of sight. when she realizes this, she pauses and turns back towards where she expects Moonshadow to reappear.

She had been asked by her little one to go with her as she explored the surrounding territories near black feather and she agreed. Moonshine had traveled a little more ahead then she but soon came back to where she was. “So what do you want to do or learn about?” She asked

her mother appears again, offering an open-ended question that moonshine thinks on before replying. she doesn't want to waste the chance, and so after a moment, says, "I want to know where the river comes from." and then a moment later, "and where all the water comes from. shouldn't it run out? it's not raining, and it has to come from somewhere."

a source of infinite water seems unlikely and unrealistic, and if all this water came from a second lake, wouldn't that have to empty sometime, too?

She was surprised by her question but gave her young pup a smile and was glad she could answer this question. “Well to my knowledge rivers normally lead to the ocean.” She thought back to her brief time there and would one day like to take them on a trip there.

"oh," is all she says, having no idea whatsoever what an ocean is. "what's that?" she stops, making a sudden rush to the right. she lunges forward and her fangs snap shut on empty air a moment later, the dull splash all there is to prove there ever really was a frog there in the first place. 

moonshine turns back to her mother, waiting on an answer now that the brief excitement of the short-lived hunt is fading.

As she said her answer first, Moonshadow had remembered that they weren’t born in Stormrift as intended and wouldn’t know of it and she child chased a frog which resulted in a chuckle from her. “The ocean is a vast body of salt water and where it ends no body knows. One day I’ll show you.”

"bigger than the lake?" she asks, a little redundantly. even though she can't make them out, she knows the lake has borders - maybe one day she'll walk all around it. that, she thinks, would be a grand adventure. her mother uses yet another word not yet in her vocabulary, and she echoes back, "salt?" she's excited to see this boundless, salty lake, and so asks again, "how far?"

Now that was something she did not know how to explain. “It is much bigger than a lake and salt it’s hard to explain.” She smiles at the wonder in her child’s eyes. “Very far, if we were to travel there it’s take days.”

salt had begun to take on mythical proportions in her mind. was it some creature, that lived only in oceans? or was it a colour, a smell, a taste? she only knew she wanted to see it, badly. "which way?" she asks, next, distracted briefly by a kingfisher winging overhead. the ground has begun to roll gradually upwards, and they are near to the great mountains that stood taller than even the highest canopy at blackfeather woods. she glances back at moonshadow, curious. "how high do the mountains go? can birds fly that high?" 

She pointed with with her muzzle in the direction of the ocean and the direction she came when she returned to blackfeather. “It is that way. I lived in a pack located near the waters before you were born.” She smiled at the thought. “I think some birds can fly that high and mountain height varies depending on the sight.”

moonshine abruptly grows silent after a contemplative "hm." she's working to process the information, and the dozens of questions that come to find as soon as she thinks back on all her mother's told her. she grows more interested in their surroundings once more, at one point charging down a narrow trail to the river's edge and starting a group of sparrow's into flight. despite her questions, and the long winding of the river, moonshadow is patient, and the pair make their slow way towards the base of the sunspire range.