STARdust

Stardust was bored as usual. She had been told that it was spring. Supposedly, the weather was going to let up and green was going to return to the tundra of the Bay. She was doubtful of that. Trotting through the pine forest did nothing to indicate that the weather was heating up. However, she thought she spotted a squirrel run up a tree. She giggled to herself and shook her head. She was trotting up towards the mountains that dominated the north side. Supposedly, there was a cat up here; she had been warned about cats.

All her parents’ warnings did was make her more curious. With her father preoccupied with Acelynn and Arachne and their new arrivals (new siblings, but her mother said she was too big to play with them), it had been the perfect time to check this side of the Bay out.

She was confident in her own home, sniffing about the rocks and crannies as she moved up the slope. However, a ways up the slope, she heard noises. They were not horse-like. One of the patterns was definitely wolves; she’d heard wolfsong (as her father put it) before many times. The other was a very deep growl. She’d never heard anything like it before. Her eager hoofbeats slowed as every instinct in her told her to beat it back towards the herd.

She still decided to take a look from behind a bolder. She saw about four wolves surrounding a huge creature. She did not have words for it yet, but the polar bear and the wolves were fighting over a caribou carcass. She couldn’t tell who had taken down the creature first, but it didn’t matter. She’d never seen anything like the large, white bear. There was also an injured or dead wolf tossed across the valley and the snow stained red. That was all Stardust needed to see to beat it back towards the herds at top speed.

do the stars gaze back? now there's a question