Heartleaf Creek Snow diver

For @Felix <3

Despite her mother's best attempts, the girl was beginning to look rather disheveled. Where as recently as a week ago she would have been prancing along with her head held high and a smile at the edges of her mouth now she walked with her nose to the ground, intent on easing the aching in her gut above all else. What a stupid idea it had been for them to leave the Bend. Her resentment was growing by the day, and not for the first time she wondered if she would be better off just running away.

But she couldn't just leave Reiko alone.

She only glanced at the trees briefly before putting her nose back to the ground, green still despite the biting cold. Her breath came in steamy puffs as she set her first paw on the ice, remembering Maera's warning just a few days before. She didn't want to fall in, but there was no food on this side of the creek. If there was, well she hadn't found it yet. She tried to keep herself collected as she slipped across the river, still completely unaccustomed to the art of traversing ice. The other bank was finally in sight so she tried to time her disembarkment but thoroughly misjudged, front paws tucked against her chest as her pale chin hit the snow.

She should have expected it. Nothing had gone right since they left their home.