Sitting here wishing

Bright had made her way to the very edge of the Mangroves, where the water weaved in amongst the uneven roots. There were some sandy patches just at the edges of the strange trees, and she dropped down to the soft, watery land, paws sinking in. She spread her toes to keep from getting stuck, and crept around the edges of some of the mangrove roots. She knew there would be prey within the tangled growth, and sure enough, she quickly spotted a mud crab. It's movements were slow, inhibited by the freezing cold water. She pounced on it and quickly dispatched it by cracking its shell in her powerful jaws. With the sea creature in her jaws, she leapt up to the mangrove roots and placed the prey carefully before dropping back down to the sand.

Where the water was shallow, she could see the sand leading out to a tiny make-shift island, where a group of gulls huddled, some of them pecking away busily at washed up dead fish, left over from the spawning season. She wrinkled her nose at the smell - even she wouldn't touch such rotten meat unless she was absolutely starving to death - but the birds that scavenged it would be tasty if caught fresh. She approached the flock casually, very lightly lapping at the water that was tangy and salty, half fresh and half oceany as the sea water mixed with the river. Most of the birds suspected nothing, so it was not difficult to get close to them. Some of them fluttered nervously, but many kept foraging. Bright took her opportunity to rush in, leaping on the closest bird that noticed her too late, pinning it down and killing it quickly.

She then dragged the fairly large sea bird back to where she'd left the crab. Awkwardly, she grabbed the crab and gripped some of the large flight feathers of the bird's wing together, and carried them deeper into the territory, where she was more likely to see some of the pack. At last she had come closer to the middle of the territory and set the food down, panting lightly. Winter was a difficult season and doing anything was exhausting. With less and much leaner food than usual, all one could do was hunt to survive until spring returned. Flopping down, Bright grabbed the crab between her paws, her teeth pulling at pieces of the cracked shell so she could get to the meat inside. As she lay there nibbling away, she hoped that someone else would find her and share in the small amount of prey she'd found today.