Waterways

Fresh to life, emerging in the watery slush of a fading winter, Drift was experiencing spring for the first time. Life was already tumultuous so far, hatching in an empty nest, avoiding half-starved adults and trying to scrape enough food together to fill her small belly. As the weather grew warmer the snow she had grown accustomed to was vanishing to reveal a brown-ish carpet of plants, weedy and deprived from the thick white blanket that had covered them. Drift gnawed at them cautiously but found neither pleasure nor nourishment from them. She had figured through her instincts that live prey was her preferred diet, but scavenging the remains of an adult's kill also quelled the aching hunger. As the weeks passed she found puddles replacing high piles of snow, the streams turned into rivers as more melt began to descend from the highlands. More than anything, Drift noticed the increase in activity amongst the other creatures of the land. She had to hide from the sight of large creatures more often, including enormous furry brown mammals that had appeared seemingly from nowhere. Others like her, small and sharp-toothed, fought her for the scraps she managed to scrounge together for herself and Drift began to learn the art of combat. Her focus became less about the slow survival of winter and now was entirely on the frantic scramble for resources that emerged from the new season. She rarely found herself without water nowadays, drinking fresh and cold meltwater from new rivers instead of stuffing mouthfuls of snow down her throat. The new waters drew more life, and she would spend her days hidden and watching the various creatures come and go. The large brown animals would wade fully into the freezing water and emerge with writhing fish in their jaws, making Drift's mouth water with desire. She had yet to catch a fish, but they looked juicy and delicious, and she wanted a chance at catching one of her own.

Drift had yet to establish territory of any kind for herself, she moved further downstream to avoid conflict with others and had simply no need or means to fight for her own patch of land. She enjoyed this transitory lifestyle, especially when she would pass a warring pair of dinosaurs tearing each other apart. No thank you, she would think, I would rather keep moving. She felt it was beneficial, a Cryolophosaurus of her age seeing this much of the world. Every day brought her new experiences, like today, where she encountered the strangest nest she had ever seen.

It was entirely branches and logs, sitting in the middle of a fast flowing river. At least, the river had been fast flowing the last time she had passed through here. Now it was a serene lake, blooming out across the empty grassland and submerging much of the plant life. It seemed to matter little to most of the grasses, they grew tall and strong above the lake's surface and provided the ideal cover for Drift to spy on this strange nest. The river that had once rushed down the hillside here was a pale shadow of its former self, emerging as a slow meander on the other side of the nest. She could only assume that the nest was blocking it, causing this slower flow and the emergence of these new flooded areas. It fascinated her, the way a creature could influence its surroundings so much. She wondered if she could build a nest this grand, dense enough to redirect the flow of an entire river. Probably not, when she thought back to her own hatching, all those weeks ago, and tried to imagine if she would have been able to swim to shore. If she had eggs she would probably be better off laying them in a hole in the ground instead of building something in a raging river. Already the cold water was making her shiver as she stood in the shallows, she imagined the shock would kill a fragile little hatchling.

As she stood there, contemplating her future, she finally spotted movement in the nest. She froze, not daring to move an inch in case it alerted whatever had laid its eggs there. Her eyes were keen in this early morning light and she could see a shadow moving under the water, away from the nest and climbing towards the surface. Its head broke through the water and Drift watched it cruise through the lake to reach the shore. It was a glossy brown thing, smaller than her but not by much, and it had a large flat tail that dragged the ground behind it as it came ashore. It sat on the grass and began to preen itself, pulling its small black claws through what was now clearly identifiable as fur. It was blissfully unaware it was being watched, and was soon joined by others of its kind. They were all around the same size and Drift felt a twinge of disappointment at not being able to see their hatchlings. A pang of hunger struck her and she reluctantly stepped out from the tall grass to begin fishing. The creatures began to flee when they saw movement, but upon locking eyes with Drift they relaxed, clearly not viewing her as a threat. She tried not to feel insulted at that and redirected her efforts into finding fish. The new animals had made her crave one so badly, she wouldn't leave this lake without having tasted one.