Unwanted Silence

Night was coming on the land and as the sun dipped below the horizon the warmth it offered to the wintery landscape went with it.  Kotori had made his way to the rio grande, enjoying the difference of this winter to last years.  He was larger and could roam freely now instead of the small pup that had a careful eye kept over him.  Snow was on the ground but not in the huge piles it was prior, and under the tree’s or bushes the snow was all but missing.

The rio grande wasn’t a river to easily freeze up.  Ice crystals could be seen at either banks but the middle in the middle still flowed freely.  It generally made a pleasant background sound amidst chirping crickets nor was there an owl or other nightbird voicing an opinion.  

Looking skywards the young wolf looked at what stars he could see and a fuzzy yet bright moon.  Shadowy thin clouds drifted along occasionally dimming but never extinguishing the night lights.  He was at a river but not even a frog croaking?  Kotori’s ears flicked back and looked up towards the moon.  Even when the wispy clouds passed by it the large moon still seemed especially bright and the bluish purplish shade seemed odd.  Of course, he had been young last year and the weather hadn’t been normal so this was his first time to experience a ‘normal’ winter.  
Nose to the wind it was almost a relief to scent the life he wasn’t hearing.  He could scent where rabbits had been nearby recently, surely asleep in a warren nearby.  Birds were about even if hidden.  The scent of deer was to the south.  Lifee, food was here, just subdued and hidden from sight. Perhaps  something of the evening was troubling them as well.  Prey animals were always more timid than predators, except the ones too dumb to be scared.

It appeared the hunter was unlikely to find easy prey tonight if everything was on guard.  Not even a hint of wind to stir his fur at the moment.  Perhaps Kotori should be glad for that bit of stillness, it was already cold enough tonight and eerie enough the last thing he wanted was a cold wind added to the backdrop.  Kotori felt his own nerves on edge, the silence bothered him and he felt as if something was bound to spring up, it was just that sort of mood.

Kotori Fatalis