There was a disheartening lull with the edge of winter daring to strangle them. Their numbers could stand some growing, without a doubt, but visitors were scarce up here. She couldn't blame them at all. A mountain was a treacherous place to be in the winter, staying or going. She had climbed to one of the higher points of the Cove with hopes of catching the land that laid before them. A pitiful attempt perhaps but she needed to know what laid beyond them. Not to the west, to the east. Forests and hills beckoned her. A safer place than a mountain.

She huffed at the concept and moved back into the lands she held some reign over. The issue would be getting anyone to agree to go somewhere safer, somewhere they could thrive. Yet she had made it this far. What was a little further?