Fairspell Meadow an agitation of the air

The woman got out ahead of Pumpkin after a few seconds, and she gladly followed her. She heard no sound of the bear behind them, and was glad for that. Eventually she slowed her pace and glanced over her shoulder. The bear’s form was smaller now. It had not followed them. It had probably gone back to eating berries, much to Pumpkin’s relief. She had never encountered a bear face-to-face like that before—although, in reality, that hadn’t exactly been a face-to-face encounter. Still, that was the closest to danger she’d ever come, as far as she could recall. Her heart still pounded in her chest and she thought of the bear. She was panting from her sprint and grinned at the woman who had run with her. The woman was giggling.

“Well, that was an adventure,” Pumpkin quipped, a giggle begging to escape her. She tried to pull a straight face and then immediately began giggling. Part of it was because laughter is always contagious, and part of it was from the adrenaline rush. In a few moments, she found herself on the ground, laughing until she was out of breath. “I’ll… I’ll have to tell my siblings about this… some day,” she managed to get out between guffaws. She could only imagine the looks on their faces when she told them she’d almost been eaten by a bear. (That, of course, was a lie, but it would certainly make the retelling more interesting).

The white woman seemed to have nothing to say to her, so after a short time, Pumpkin said her goodbyes and was on her way from that crazy situation. She would be sure to be more careful in the future.

[Exit.]