Fox's Glade and who shall wear the starry crown?

for @Kove and those tagged only -- afternoon of September 5

No luck in the mountains, it seemed. She felt the weight of her failure drag on her with each step, the three of them spilling into the valley. It was so much brighter out here than the forest; Maegi wondered how her shadow-born children were handling the abundance of light, and of open space. It surely had thrown her when she had first traveled outside her home.

That was partially why she entered the glade, immediately a little more at ease when the shade cloaked them all. The smell of foxes was particularly thick here, as well as assorted wolves. Maegi and @Sakhmet and @Anansi had walked a bit farther when she felt a jolt of realization, the ghost of blood-taste in her mouth and a searing pain across her lips —

She'd been here before.

I was found here after my troubles in the mountains by a woman, Maegi murmured, looking around almost warily at their surroundings. She'd halted abruptly at the flashback, and now stood square in a small clearing, bristling slightly. She helped me. I was almost too scared to be helped, at that point. . .but she gave me food and kindness, and took me back to her home.

She pursed her lips, letting out a contemplative hmmm. I wonder where she is now, she thought aloud, not staring at anything in particular before her. Nothing of existence in this moment, anyway.