The beautiful human -- she was a splendid one -- well, perfect really, in every sense, even to a fox boy. The sweetness of her scent. The brilliance of her hair. I had never seen that color before or since.

"Listen!" My brother commanded.

I held fast, but the sound of my heart beating distorted all sound. Human voices and then footsteps approached. Against our will we skittered backwards, crouching low in the shadows. Our real enemy was our own clumsiness.

A bright lightning bolt shot like an arrow out of the darkness. But this was like no lightning I had seen before. It was steadfast and true. I froze in the blinding brightness. We heard the cook’s strident cursing again. The others were murmuring softly ~ a mixed cacophony in the night. Leaping nervously to my feet, I turned tail and ran as fast as my fox legs would move.

Fear rules in young foxes especially when encountering humans, and once again we hastened in retreat. A mist covered the ground swirling between us and them ~ the humans.

Sanzi was ahead of me now. Through and among the tree stumps, the bents and sedges, in and out of the grey, sharp-edged stones piled in a long wall across the desert, we hastened. Everywhere lay the smell of dry lichen, dung, but most of all the lingering smell of the food tent on our whiskers.

When I was far away and everything was dark and quiet again, I stopped. Where was Sanzi? As my heart slowed, I made a vow - I would return some day when it was safe. I had to know more about the red-haired one.