The Whisperwood does not like to be hurried. Paths twist when travelers rush them. Branches catch cloaks. Roots rise beneath careless feet.

And anyone foolish enough to charge through a patch of sleeping puffcaps will spend the next several hours sneezing blue glitter.

The forest simply believes that if you are going to walk through something beautiful, you ought to have the manners to notice it.

Renn understood this better than most.

She was a Hunter. A tracker. A pathfinder. And, according to Renn, an exceptionally good one.

According to Emi, she was adequate.

Emi is a hedgehog.

She is approximately the size of Renn's paw, carries a backpack nearly as large as herself, and travels through the Whisperwood with the determined little stride of someone who packed an emergency biscuit and therefore fears nothing.

Renn can cross three valleys before midday. Emi can cross one meadow. Perhaps two, if there are no interesting mushrooms. There are, in fact, always interesting mushrooms.

"Emi." The hedgehog had stopped. Again.

Renn turned from farther along the trail. Emi was staring beneath a fern.

"We have a long way to go."

Emi pointed. Renn sighed and walked back. Beneath the fern grew a tiny blue mushroom with white spots.

"Yes. Very pretty."

Emi continued pointing. Beside the mushroom was a footprint. Renn's ears lifted. Small. Fresh. Almost completely hidden beneath the leaves. Renn studied it.

"Hmm."

Emi looked up at her. "I would have seen it."

Emi blinked. "Eventually."

The hedgehog reached into her backpack and produced a biscuit. Renn narrowed her eyes.

"That was judgmental."

Emi took a bite.

Renn and Emi lived near the eastern edge of the Whisperwood, where ancient trees grew around paths older than anyone remembered. Travelers sometimes came to Renn when those paths failed them.

She found lost children. Missing livestock. Caravans swallowed by fog. Once, she tracked a baker's escaped cart. Renn found it in a pond. The bread was unfortunately beyond saving.

Renn knew every sign the forest could leave behind. A snapped twig told her which direction someone had traveled. A pressed leaf told her how recently. A feather caught against bark told her what had passed beneath it. Even silence could become a trail if you knew how to listen. And Renn knew.

Then one morning, the forest went quiet. Not ordinary quiet. There were always quiet places in the Whisperwood.

This was different.

No finches called from the branches. No beetles hummed beneath the leaves. Even the little silver moths that usually floated between the trees had disappeared.

Renn stepped outside and immediately knew something was wrong. Emi emerged behind her, still fastening her backpack.

Renn crouched and pressed one paw against the earth. For a moment, nothing happened. Then faint golden tracks shimmered beneath her paw. They crossed the clearing and disappeared toward the northern woods.

Renn stood.

"Something large passed through here before dawn."

Emi looked toward the tracks.

Then toward the trees.

"We'll follow it."

The golden trail led deep into the Whisperwood. Renn moved quickly. Emi, not so much.

Renn stopped beside a broken branch so Emi could catch up.

"It’s moving north."

Emi examined the ground.

"Probably frightened."

Emi looked at her.

"The stride is uneven."

Emi tilted her head.

Renn smiled.

"See? You are learning."

Emi looked unconvinced. They continued forward. Farther ahead, Renn found claw marks against a tree.

"Large claws."

Emi arrived several moments later.

Renn touched one mark.

"Deep, too."

Emi examined the bark.

Renn's expression grew serious.

"Whatever we're following may be dangerous."

Emi tugged her cloak.

"Yes?"

The hedgehog pointed toward something caught in the bark. A tiny tuft of pale purple fur. Renn examined it.

"Interesting."

She tucked it carefully into her pouch.

"Come along."

By midday, Renn had assembled the trail in her mind. A large creature. Moving quickly. Possibly injured. Heading north.

The forest had grown increasingly silent around its path. Renn knew what that usually meant. Animals fled from predators. She tightened her grip on her bow.

Then Emi stopped.

Renn continued several steps before noticing.

"Emi?"

The hedgehog stood beside a cluster of flowers.

"We cannot investigate every mushroom and flower between here and the northern ridge."

Emi pointed.

One of the flowers had been crushed.

Renn glanced at it.

"Our creature stepped there."

Emi shook her head.

She crouched and touched one tiny leaf.

It was wet. Renn looked upward. The sky was clear. She touched it too.

Water. Then she noticed another droplet. And another. A faint trail of them led away from the golden tracks. Renn frowned.

"That's strange."

Emi began following the droplets.

"The tracks go north."

Emi continued east.

"Emi..."

The hedgehog disappeared beneath a fern. Renn looked at the golden trail. Then toward the fern. Then back at the trail. She sighed.

"Fine."

The droplets led them somewhere Renn rarely visited.

A quiet hollow beneath an enormous flowering tree.

Its branches spilled outward in great violet clouds, thousands of purple blossoms glowing softly beneath the afternoon sun.

Renn stopped. Even she forgot about the trail for a moment. Emi did not. She pointed beneath the tree. Something was lying among the roots.

Renn immediately raised her bow. The creature was enormous. Purple-gray fur covered its body. Long claws curled against the earth. Its shoulders rose and fell with heavy breaths.

Renn reached for an arrow.

Then Emi walked toward it.

"Emi."

The hedgehog continued.

"Emi!"

The creature moved. Renn drew the bowstring. Golden light gathered along the arrow.

"STOP!"

Emi stopped.

Not because Renn had spoken. Because the creature had made a sound. A tiny, trembling whimper. Renn's ears lowered. She loosened the bowstring.

The creature lifted its head. It was not snarling. It was crying. Water ran from enormous dark eyes and fell onto the leaves beneath it.

Droplets.

Renn looked back toward the trail they had followed. Then at the creature's paws. One was caught beneath a fallen root.

It had not been hunting. It had been running. Renn slowly lowered her bow.

"Oh."

Emi looked up at her. Renn knew that look.

"Do not say it."

Emi said nothing.

"Your face is saying it."