A sickening feeling twisted within her gut as a mixture of dread and fear curdled in her stomach. The prints of what had been a rabbit had vanished before her eyes, and there remained the delicate curves of a heart in their place. Uncanny, and yet unbelievable, as Alue finally grappled with her tiny ounce of courage. So small it battered and thrashed against her tongue as she forced her multi-hued gaze toward the sky.

A sky she could not see, by the simple fact that the groves around her bent and twisted into an intricate tunnel that echoed the very same shapes littered across the ground.

Her stomach flipped again.

In some form or fashion, it reminded her of those haunted caves, with their decrepit walls and ravenous shadows that had wished to rip and shred. And yet, her fear was dissuaded by a gentle, warm breeze that caressed her sides and fluttered past strands of auburn fur.

Her head turned curiously as though she could catch the wind in a tangible grasp and see it with her very own eyes. However, as futile as it was, her nose had caught the unlikely scent of warmth, of honey paired with the sweetness of a rose, and she paused, balking with a quiet drop of her mouth.

They were in the dead of winter, she had presumed…and yet, it smelled like spring, on the verge of summer. That was…odd, was it not?

A warmth spread in her chest, comforting the delicate beat of her heart as she found her paws involuntarily moving forward as if encouraged by that gentle blow of the wind.

And as she walked further into that grove of curled heart-shaped trees, her spirit began to soar. An eddying feeling of release, freedom, and peace wrapped around her mind like a cocoon for safekeeping. She smiled gently as the curves of her lips twisted across her features, her eyes absorbing the beauty that this tunnel-not-cave offered her.

Maybe she should enjoy herself, she thought.

And then, a voice had come whispering past the wind. Alue would snake a waving head toward its source. Hello? She echoed into the trees, je deviens fou (I’m going crazy), were her mumbled words hastily thrown beneath her breath.

But she continued until the scent of that summer-time warmth spread like weeds across her senses and briefly introduced a hint of something…copper.

There was most definitely someone here.

Is someone out there? She called out down the tunnel, her voice a wavering lilt as she peered forward with narrowing, careful eyes.