One paw was placed in front of the other with careful precision as the shewolf moved across the frozen surface of the pond. Claws clicked against the ice, paw pads keeping her firmly upright as she made her way. Tauriel had crossed frozen bodies of water much larger - and deeper - than this before, but with the turn towards spring not far away she was careful to check her weight in each step. A paw out of place could crack the ice and plunge her into the shallow, freezing waters. And though she would be able to easily extricate herself from the water, it was the aftermath of trying to warm her body and dry her fur that was worrisome. The nights could still get deathly cold, and the last thing she needed was to become hypothermic.
Why bother at all, then? Tauriel's sights were set on a small alcove in the stone wall that bordered the back of the pond. Within was one of her many caches, this one strategically placed to keep other animals from finding a stash of food. Most would steer clear of the thinly frozen ice, but Tauriel was smart enough in her ways to ensure she hadn't placed them in a location that she could not reach herself.
The ice groaned beneath her, and the young woman's ears flickered, listening closely for the telltale signs that the surface would give way. But it was simply the usual protestations of the substance, and so she moved forward, reaching the backside of the pond and stepping up onto the ledge of rock that she would normally have had to leap up to from the water during summer. Once inside, Tauriel glanced over her shoulder, ensuring she was still alone before moving forward and nosing behind some well placed rocks that kept her cache hidden. Withdrawing a scrap of meat still attached to an unidentifiable bone, she circled and laid down on the rocky ledge to gnaw on her snack. Green and orange eyes roamed what she could see of the crags from her perch, but she doubted she would need to defend herself from any interlopers here, tucked back away from prying eyes and shielded by the slippery, treacherous surface of the frozen pond.