Nightstalker

Rúna glanced back over her shoulder as she left the den to make sure everyone at least appeared asleep before she set out into the chilly evening. Sleep felt impossible and she could only stare at a wall for so long before she started to lose her mind so she quietly crept out, hoping that she'd be able to escape without anyone noticing. And even if they did who would stop her? Sure, she knew they were supposed to respect and answer to whoever their babysitter of the day was, but the longer this went on the more she refused. They were a season away from being yearlings and in her mind that practically made them adults. She was taller than some of the adults anyway. With a grumpy, angsty frown she trudged ahead, her large paws crunching through the snow as she went nowhere in particular out into the night. It was bitterly cold out here at night, but she was used to it having been on the mountain pretty much her whole life with just small adventures to other places to give her some context of just how cold winter in the mountains was.

Eventually she made it to a flat plateau a fair distance from the den where the sky opened up overhead and she could clearly see the wide expanse of stars. That was one thing she did like about living here. The stars and moon felt so close and the crisp air seemed so incredibly clear. She could see every star point and she loved coming here to look at them. She sat back on her haunches and started tracing the shapes the stars made and guessing what they could be. It was more abstract than when she would draw in the snow or the dirt, but the fact that the stars made patters or shapes at all felt too intentional to be coincidence. The night that their parents had left to tend to their mother's illness had been dark and heavily clouded, so much so that she couldn't see even a single star. Ever since then it felt like the stars were a sign of some kind and she was determined to figure out what they were trying to say.

She was engrossed in her studying so when she heard a soft crunch that sounded louder than it probably was in the absolute silence that was a winter night it made her jump a bit and her silver gaze quickly looked away from the sky and out toward her surroundings. "Who's there?" she called, her brow furrowing. She didn't care if it was one of her siblings or even one of the other pack wolves, but it wasn't uncommon for bears to be wandering about in the mountain range so she didn't want to get snuck up on by one of those.

WC: 478
Total: 920 / 1500

"Rúna"