Sleepy Fox Hollow love made the danger in you to look like safety

Adeline assumed she safely escaped the foxes from the forest on the other side of the rocky terrain, but traveling through the hollow sends a chill only caused by the distant chattering and yips of foxes down her spine. She does not immerse herself in the trees north of how she came in and chooses to instead sticking close to the wall the spire has as a barrier against the hollow. She knows what is always on her left and she only has to focus on her right until she’s able to get herself to the other side and over the next obstacle in her way.

The skies remain bright and sunny, giving her hope that she’ll spot a fox if one shows up out of nowhere but she constantly feels on edge, as if each turn she makes will present a family of foxes. She eases a rough breath through her nose as a sound up ahead catches her by surprise. Adeline flinches and quickly stiffens her form to hopefully keep the silence on her side.

On the other hand, Tael absolutely loved foxes! He'd spent many hours observing the resident family near the Ridge—watched them rear their children from kits to capable adults while learning much about their behavior and how, really, they're not at all unlike wolves in their unwavering devotion to hearth and home. Their hunting techniques, specifically the pouncing and how to listen for voles underground, was once of special use to the younger male. Because he'd been born right on the cusp of winter, he had to learn how to hunt when the weather was not on his side.

But today he was not looking for food. Instead he was elbow-deep in a hollowed out log, investigating a scent of particular interest. It was musky, but it didn't belong to fox nor wolf. Something in the darkness made an angry chittering noise, but it only piqued his intrigue further. Who lived in here? No animal he was familiar with, that was for sure, and he wanted to see it for himself! He braced his hind paws against the moss, and pushed his front half in as far as it would go.

And that was when something small, furry, and very angry launched itself at his face and sank it's tiny teeth into his nose. Tael shrieked with alarm—"WO-AAA!" and backpedaled swiftly, yanking both him and the creature, out from the log in one fell-swoop. His momentum carried him back onto his hind legs where he teetered for a moment before toppling backwards, flinging the pine marten into a nearby bush where it quickly scurried up a tree and continued to curse at the pale wolf.

The tension carrying in her form makes her steps tight and short and her eyes and ears constantly on the move. She’s so out of focused on what is really right in front of her that she does not note the wolf scent in the slight breeze. Her searched for their fiery brethren leaves her no time to see what may be the real danger she’s facing.

A shrill shriek causes her heart to stop and her entire body to freeze. Her ears plastered harder (if at all possible) to the back of her head and she snaps her head around to find the culprit. It is high enough pitch to remind her of a wolf but if she’d been properly paying attention, she’d know it isn’t. Her breath lodges in her throat and she has to consciously breathe—something she to distract her—and she releases a shaggy breath.

When the blur of brown and black rushes by in the distance she finally notices the pale wolf in the distance reeling back from the attack. The blip of an animal hadn’t been big enough to be a fox, and the wrong color, but it hadn’t been something she could recognize. Hints of blood touch the air and she stiffens a little more before she pushes herself forward with force to see if he needs help.