Sleepy Fox Hollow Drags me under, takes me home.

The objects settled where he had placed them. The skull he had collected stared mutely back at him. Once, maybe, he would have found it unsettling. Now it was like looking in a mirror, those dark eye-holes staring endlessly back at him. The red of the maple leaf caught against the bleached bone patches exposed beneath ragged skin, and he thought, "You almost look alive."

Then - What are you doing?

The child's voice prompted a glance, and Mou did not know what to say. He did not know this boy well, although he had done his best to adhere to Maegi's wishes and keep him safe, keep him fed. Perhaps it was residual guilt over his involvement with Sobek. This was not a child of the woods and yet they had just as much misfortune, just as much darkness, Mou justified in silence - otherwise why would they have been brought to the two ghosts?

The man turned back to the pile and looked upon it thoughtfully, then carefully retrieved the skull. He gingerly placed it before the little flame. There was still some tissue attached but it was not edible. With a nudge of his nose Mou sent it rolling towards the child - a gift, or a game, to pass the time.