In the past few weeks, Hickory has made a circuit of the entire crater, exploring the oddly circular dent in the earth from north to south. There had been canyons in his home, and valleys aplenty, but nothing quite like this place. There’s not enough water at the bottom for his satisfaction, but the red and black wolf has always been fond of excess water. Today he’s following the sound of falling water and his flaring nose, sure that there’s something exciting ahead.

Sure enough, he clambers atop a boulder and sees a trickle of water below, and he leaps down gracelessly to land in the two foot wide little river. It seeps from a solid stone wall, which Hickory sniffs at for a while before wading around. No fish in this shallow water, but he is not hungry now, and the young wolf is content to splash around. Reaching into the water, he grasps a smooth pebble between his teeth and tosses it into the air, following it with his pale blue eyes as it clatters down the slope. With a little bark, he chases after it, his bad ear momentarily erect with his sudden speed.

Farther down the hill, the little creek is joined by others, and Hickory follows it until he finds a waterfall that cascades ten feet down the slope. At the base is a dark pool, and Hickory stares into the water curiously. Still no fish, but he cannot see the bottom before it fades into blackness. Not a good place to swim, he decides, and drops the rock he has been tossing and catching at the shore. Hickory takes a few slurps of water – cold! – and then sets to sniffing around the bank of the waterfall, mostly out of curiously, and not for anything or anyone in particular.