Broken Antler Fen there's no place like home

The pallid brute might have gone unnoticed, had he not verbally announced his presence. His ghostly form would blend well with the snow that littered the ground. Lucy was far too enraptured with the discovery of home to have taken note of the stranger. As his bark traveled through the trees, her ears swiveled and she locked her eyes to his shape in the wood. 

Immediately, the inky wisp stiffened. Her limbs locked in place and her eyes met his, unblinking. Cosmic blue latched tightly to burning gold. The hair along her neck began to rise and her hocks buckled slightly, readying her to spring away should this encounter turn sour. He hadn’t moved yet, and his posture did not suggest that he was aiming to cause harm to the dark girl. Fear still gripped her like a tight leash. She could not find the strength to loosen her figure. Relaxation was a foreign concept to the child. She had grown so used to trauma that she believed it waited around every corner, eager to pull her from her life. Still, logic and reason told her to wait. See what this brute could want before darting to the shadows. 

A single tentative step is all that her body would allow. Her paw sunk into the snow and she tucked her tail against her rump. Lucy attempted to swallow the lump that had risen in her throat. Her eyes remained wide and she clung to her alertness with sharp claws. Quickly, she huffed inward through her nares and captured his scent. He was as unfamiliar as her home.