walled off

The other woman was unconcerned about any intrusion, introducing herself as a member of a nearby pack. Her curiosity about where Corbie lived, and the invitation to join her, drew Corbie to the patch of grass in the sunlight. "Oh, the west is much hotter than here, and mostly arid." She knew there were arid places in the north, windswept steppes like frozen deserts, but she had never been there before. "I live along the coast so it isn't so arid, but it is still quite hot during the summer. There are other territories a little further north that I've considered moving the flock to, but it can be difficult to leave the familiar, and every land has some upsides and some downsides after all.
The basin has great grazing to make up for the heat. How do you like living up here in the north?"