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carried the sweet scent of the season with it, the smell of fresh earth and blossoms.  It served to confuse Aura further, for it was summer, not spring.  She ran her hand through the water of the pond at the base of the falls and found it cold to the touch.  It reminded her of how cold she was becoming herself, and she returned to the cave for a coat.

The wolf cub woke and as Aura donned her jacket, she watched him as he whimpered, then wobbled to his feet.  He shook himself, and stretched as he yawned, before weaving its way over to her.  Aura smiled, captivated by the sheer puppy antics of the animal.  She had never had a dog before, something she could really love, and she worried about how she would keep him.  She sorted through her supplies for a while, until she found something that they both could eat, and after they had, she made her way back to the pool.

There were actually, as she found out, two pools.  One, the larger of the two, lay behind the boulders on the higher ground, feeding the falls.  The other lay beneath the cascading water, as a sort of catch basin.  The water then ran off in a stream, heading to wherever it went.

Aura knelt by the edge of the uppermost pond to scoop up some water in her cupped hands.  She had been amazed by the clarity of the liquid.  There were no signs of oils or chemicals, which often covered the rivers where she lived.  She remembered how she used to think the compound beautiful, as it formed rainbows in the water on sunny days.  She had found, however, that the oil in water made it undrinkable.  She took a tentative mouthful of the pond water, and closed her eyes in appreciation of the purity of the taste.  Who said, she smiled in thought, that water did not have a flavor.  She drank her fill, then rinsed off her face, before returning to her explorations.  She made a sling for the pup and saw to her own personal hygiene before setting off.  The pup, she decided, she would take along with her.  All things considered, it was probably the safest thing she could do with him.  Roger was not going to enjoy a second pup type meal while she could prevent it, he could take care of himself while she was gone.  Even asleep, she had found, most people tended to find his size intimidating, and left him alone.  Aura smiled in amusement as some of the myths and stories she had heard about snakes of his size crossed her mind.  Some of the fabrications had almost been enough to make her laugh.  People could be so gullible about the simplest of things.

Walking through the surrounding wood, with the pup and a lunch stored in a sack, Aura marked her trail so she could find her way back.  She was thoroughly convinced by now that she was no longer in the place where she had slept the night before.  The terrain around her was different and the forest, where there had been none before, was green and lush.  The land looked young and fresh and so alive.  Nor was there the sensation of history that there had been before.  History, her inner senses told her, had yet to be written here.

Aura walked for almost six hours before encountering any true forms of civilization, and even that wasn’t much, just huts in a clearing.  There were no visible means of transportation, or what she considered permanent dwellings, and the stench emitted by the hovels was overpowering.  Having observed the living conditions, she decided to return to the cave, to think over what she had discovered.  She had to accept the fact that she was no longer home, which presented a new set of problems, but she had no idea what to do about it.

Where was she?  How in the world had she gotten here?  These questions were primary in her mind.  Her secondary concern was about obtaining a future food supply.  Sure, she had a good short-term supply of edible products, so she would not be immediately pressed on the matter but the question would have to be addressed in the not so distant future.