Rising Sun Valley and the profit will outweigh the cost

She stayed her gaze on the stranger when he spoke. More than a friend of Mordecai's. His niece. But relations were nothing to discuss with strangers, unless you wished to bore them, or unless they inquired. Her name would suffice, and she gave a small tip of her head in more a formal greeting. "Andalusia Ostrega." She inclined her ears in the chance he would offer his name in return. They wouldn't need it for the hunt, but the giving of names was a good indicator of one's character, and if he was to join them, she wished to know him from the start.

Time quickly proved the hunt would consist of their trio alone. Their number would have brought concern if they were tracking deer or elk. But they were hunting foxes, who were more cunning than strong. Their small number would suffice, and after such a lengthy ordeal as a traveler, she was almost thankful no one else had come. She followed Mordecai at pace with Riordan, her nostrils flared to catch any fresh trails and any leads further than what they now followed.

A shift in her uncle's movement caught her attention, and Andalusia met the command with a short dip of her snout. She eyed Riordan and nudged her head to the forest at her side, a cue to say she would take the right. Darkness clung to every leaf, and a few steps in her chosen direction brought an onslaught of fox musk, but nothing more than what they had followed before. Sight did her little good in the swelling night, and Andalusia set to work again in a continued effort to pry scent from scent to see if this was the way the foxes had chosen to settle. She kept one ear inclined for any sound from her companions. If they made so much as a growl, she would turn right round to join in their chase.