[/html]As the afternoon waned, Cassandra woke at the sound of thunder rumbling low and menacing in the distance. The rain had been gathering for many days now, and she had been grateful for the cloud cover during the day, but now that the inevitable downpour was nearly there, she was less happy about it. She unwrapped herself from her cloak, stretched lazily and stood from the shallow pit she had dug at the base of a large oak, where tall ferns covered most of its roots and hid her sleeping form from view. On the lowest branch, she had hidden her various new supplies in the leaves.
The pallid woman, confident that she was not being pursued by the jackal, had decided to camp a few days in order to treat and rest her newly claimed mare, and the small efforts had surely been worth it. With daily applications of aloe vera to her various sores, regular grooming, and switchgrass to supplement whatever she grazed during the day, the palomino had shown great improvement in both health and temperment.
Soir, as she had started to call her, was tied to the oak by a long length of rope, which gave her a fair radius to roam, but ensured she did not wander off. Cassandra would have preferred to allow her free reign, but while she liked to think the palomino had developed some fondness for her -- or at the very least, realized that she was no longer in negligent hands -- she was not yet certain that the horse would not bolt at a chance at freedom. In time though, perhaps. Lady had been the only horse that had ever stuck by her completely willingly, but she did not want to think about the old dappled grey.
The thunder rumbled again. Soir was not in view, but the albino coywolf could hear her rummaging through the brush nearby. Knowing that it would be best to hunt before the rain came, Cassandra sighed, picked up her cloak, and started away from her modest camp. The air was moist and damp already and there was no breeze. It would be hard to find prey, but she had to try if she didn't want to spend the night hungry.
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