17 ____________________ Alone with the WindsSAVAGE WINDS WHIPPED THE PLATEAU, sending fine-grained sand in Blanche’s eyes. She brushed the sand with her tears away, without stopping. Each mechanical step raised small dust vortexes, craters fast-erased by the wind. In front of her, the yellow dawn light revealed wrinkled rocks rising from the plain. She has reached the first foothills of the mountain range. Her claws dug in the fallen debris and mudslides that no vegetation would stabilize. The rising sun clipped the steep mountain flanks, sending reflection that lighted her path. She felt goosebumps erupting on her torso, despite the sweaters she had piled on to endure the cooler air. Her exposed ears were probably red from the cold, as her cap did not reach it. It had been so stuffin

