By the time the smell of the river began to change, Ev’s paws hurt. Not enough to stop her, apparently. She’d been ignoring them for the better part of an hour, along with the ache that had settled into her hips and the increasingly persuasive argument her back was making for finding somewhere to lie down. She kept walking. Hell, there wasn’t really much else to do.
The river remained somewhere off to her right, though it had grown harder to follow as the afternoon wore on. Smaller streams had begun feeding into it, each one adding another layer of rushing water for her ears to sort through. Twice she’d followed the wrong one. The second mistake had cost her nearly half an hour before she’d realized the sound beside her was getting quieter instead of louder.
Ev had turned around without comment. There was nobody there to hear her complain anyway. Now, something else had changed. She slowed. One paw came down carefully against damp stone. The next found the same, slick enough beneath her pawpads that she shifted her weight backward before trusting it.
The air felt different here, warmer. Ev lifted her muzzle and breathed in. Wet stone came first, then pine, and finally, the lingering dampness of rain caught in her fur. Beneath those was something sharper that she didn’t recognize, earthy and mineral-heavy enough to wrinkle her nose. “What the hell is that?”
No answer. Not that she’d honestly expected one. She followed it anyway. The sensible part of her suggested that following strange smells through an unfamiliar mountain range was probably not the best survival strategy. Then again, neither was dying. And apparently she’d survived that. No, not bitter at all about that, were we?
Ev stepped over a shallow run of water and immediately regretted it when her back leg protested the stretch. Her teeth clicked together. Oh, don’t fucking start.
Her body had been quick to remind her that resurrection hadn’t made her young. That seemed hellishly unfair. If something was going to drag an old woman out of the afterlife, the least it could have done was fix her hips. She continued upward anyway. The warmer air thickened around her until moisture began collecting along her whiskers. Not rain. She could feel that much. This came and went in soft waves, touching her face whenever the wind shifted.
Steam? Ev’s ears tipped forward, curiosity overtaking her. Water was close again, but this wasn’t the river. There was no current roaring over stone. Just an occasional lap, a faint bubbling somewhere farther off and, oh? Voices. Her steps slowed and then stopped altogether.
Two of them, women, unless her hearing had deteriorated considerably in death. One was speaking when Ev came close enough to make out the words.
How have you been feeling?
Ev lingered there, considering retreat. She had no desire to introduce herself to every stranger she stumbled across in this world. She’d spent enough years knowing everybody’s business, solving everybody’s problems and being responsible for too many damn wolves. There was something deeply appealing about letting whatever was happening ahead remain someone else’s concern.
Then another wave of warmth rolled across her face. Her hip throbbed. Ev reconsidered, grumbling the whole time. She could also simply not care that they were there. That option was better. She moved closer, following the quieter sound of water until one paw touched something wet. Ev lowered her nose, sniffed, then cautiously stretched a forepaw ahead. Her toes slipped beneath the surface. She stopped, hesitated. Hm, it was warm. Not lukewarm, and not merely warmer than the air.
Warm.
For a few seconds Ev forgot entirely about the strangers. She pushed her paw deeper. Heat worked between her toes and up her leg, and some of the tension she’d been carrying since morning loosened almost immediately. Oh, that was nice. That was very nice. Her other paw joined the first. A quiet sound escaped her, halfway between a sigh and a groan, before she could swallow it.
Ev didn’t bother being embarrassed. She’d earned this. She wasn’t entirely sure what this was, but she’d earned it. Another step brought the water farther up her legs. Her joints practically sang. Maybe being alive again isn’t completely terrible.
Nah, too generous. It remained terrible, and this was simply nice. She became aware of the silence nearby a moment later. Ah, right, yes. The women. Ev angled an ear toward them. There was probably etiquette involved here. There always was.
“I’m going to assume this isn’t private,” she called. She waited just long enough to make it seem as though their answer might actually influence what she did next. “If it is, you’ve got about three seconds to tell me before I get comfortable.”
