Stone Circle B-E-A-UTIFUL DAY!

Her reaction was immediate and clear - and it was just as Day had feared. "I know," he blurted, ears falling back. "I mean, I know, but I thought you might like a dead one," he clarified. That didn't sound any better. There didn't seem to be a good way to fix this, and Day was eager to remove the offensive object from her vicinty. "I'll get this out of here," he said quickly, snatching up the fox and pulling it away from her. He glanced back at her one last time before trotting quickly away, intending to deposit the fox in one of their caches - the one furthest from where they slept.

As he walked, he mused over his decision to bring the fox to Adeline. Had her reaction been over the top, or had this simply been a bad idea? Day was leaning toward the latter, but he supposed it might be somewhere in the middle. Distantly, he wondered whether Szymon had suffered the same problems with Doe - but she'd been fond enough of him when they'd spoken. Perhaps the deerskin had been to her liking. Probably, Doe had never been attacked by a fawn.

"Just a bad idea, then," he said to the fox carcass, having deposited it into the cache. He looked at it a moment longer, thinking about how dull Adeline's fur had looked next to the vivid orange of the carcass. In his head, he always thought of her as red, but now... Day was beginning to realize he hadn't seen the girl clearly for some time. When he tried to picture her - really picture her - all he could see was a brownish blur.

Knowing he should give her some time to calm down, Day didn't return to the stone circle once his deposit was done. He wanted to check on her to make sure she was alright, but Adeline was a big girl. He'd seek her out if she didn't return to the den that night, but hopefully, that wouldn't be necessary.