a toadstool for your time

All of the loud buzzing in her head and the pain-filled ebb and flow of her body fighting off poison slowed to a halt. Once her gray snout made contact with dirt she simply let go. In just a moment, everything faded away into peaceful darkness. She twitched occasionally; little phantom movements, but she was gone to the world.

Slowly, one by one, a sense phased back in. First, sounds. She heard the sound of ripping, crackling, rustling. It sounded so foreign in her world deprived of other senses. She couldn't make sense of it. Slowly, the sounds paired with smells --- the crackling with smoke, the rustling noises paired with the wolf who was creating them. She smelled a fresh kill as well, which brought back her body's senses a little better. Fresh kill?

Slowly she opened a yellow eye to see the brown wolf from earlier. Her vision was still blurred, but not so badly she couldn’t see the strip of white beneath his eye. The male was working over a fallen deer - where did that come from? Did he have that earlier? Her throat was so raw and dry she didn't even attempt to speak. Instead, she just watched from the ground with curious yellow eyes.