Just Another Day

Let's see, if I were an adventurous cub somewhere new, where would I go? Shanku wondered as she made a slow, wide circle around the springs. She looked intently at what was around. A few cliffs, a forest, and in the distance she heard the familiar roar she had been dismissing for most of her time there. Waterfalls!

Shanku altered course and glided out to the massive falls thundering down to the valley. She landed just before the trees that separated the springs and falls. She got down on four feet and crept through the woods.

Those huge hairballs aren't suited to trawling through forests like we Sylvans, she thought proudly. The underbrush was dense, the canopy was thick, and it would be a great way for a small child to slip away from overprotective adults.

One advantage to not being over seven feet tall, Shanku giggled as she slipped under a bush. She caught scent of a strange earthy scent and began to sneak as quietly as she could past two trolls sat nearby discussing last night's star readings. And having been raised near minocentaurs. Ick, trolls!

The woods were mostly full of thick pines, ferns, mosses, and briers. The air was heavy with the sweet perfume of the pines. Shanku picked her way carefully over a collection of fallen pinecones. Thick forest, thick canopy, thick underbrush, thick mountains, Shanku prattled. And therefore, thick-headed kurach! It would seem Arloda's pride had rubbed off on Shanku.

The roaring of the falls became louder and Shanku found herself on the muddy banks of a creek.