She hadn't meant to go so far.

Diantha dragged herself up the mountain. Some days it did quite literally feel like dragging, like when she'd half carried Tulip home with her. Sometimes she hoped she'd see Leo or maybe even Stella in the snow, coming to help her get back to the lake. She'd only gone for a short walk, looking for signs of Galen or Stella or someone, just so she could say she'd done something, and all she'd found were surprise snowstorms and paths that only ever seemed to lead down and not up.

Finally there was a break in the weather and she'd been able to find a usable path up Serpent's Pass - though how she'd ended up there she didn't know. This was her second winter; she should know better. Now, at least, the trees were familiar and she could smell her pack up ahead. She'd never been so relieved. She paused at the borders, dropping to her haunches to catch her breath and calling out to her packmates.

I'm home.