Wolf

"What exactly is a grandmother?" Nimby asked thoughtfully.

"They are older. And the mother to your mother. Don't you have a mother?" Ealga was lost in thought herself feeling as though the walk to her grandmothers was taking much longer than usual.

"No no, my goodness no. How strange that would be. How is it decided who your mother is?" Nimby turned to Ealga with a very serious expression.

Ealga went to answer and realized that the question was far more complicated than it sounded at first. She had some theories, but she honestly wasn't sure.

"I suppose they just find someone that they want to be with and with that person they make a family. I don't know for sure."

"Awfully strange way to handle something like that if you ask me." Nimby spoke as though a traveling scholar seeking new lessons from faraway places and people.

Ealga was thankful for the company though. Despite having been a very strange conversation she was more than happy to keep it ongoing as the woods had become even more chill and dark. The cloak that her mother gave her was doing a fine job of keeping her warm which she was thankful for. Nimby didn't seem to mind the chill in the air despite wearing nothing. Ealga was bewildered by this creature in so many ways.

"Aren't you cold?" Ealga asked.

"Hmm? No, why?"

"How do you manage it. Being," Ealga blushed slightly, "without anything to wear and not be freezing?"

"Easy!" Nimby retorted smiling.

Ealga waited for a short while for some kind of explanation that never came. So very odd.

"Goodness why is it so cold." Ealga adjusted her satchel strap while shifting the lantern to the other hand. Seemed like it weighed ten times as much compared to when she started.

"Night of the silver moon." Nimby seemed to be wistful.

"What does that mean?" Ealga wasn't sure if she was just spouting nonsense or answering her idle question.

"It's the night of the silver moon. A very powerful time."

"How do you mean? Do you mean something like magic?"

"Not just magic. We are between the place that keeps us separate. Why else do you think it is so cold? Hmm?" As though Ealga would know.

"I wasn't sure. I still don't understand." Ealga shifted again feeling the weight of the satchel strap biting into her shoulder.

"Silly Hat Seeker. It is when mortal and immortal realms are very close together. Well, not quite together, but no longer separate."

Ealga screwed up her face feeling like her head was hurting. This was strange in ways she could barely fathom. Magic was something that made her life easier. Yet it always felt like she shouldn't use it. It never made any sense. She wished that she knew more about magic than she did.

It was the reason she was on the Whisper Trail after all.

Nimby giggled at the expression Ealga made. "You're funny."

"I suppose." After a short pause, "Nimby?"

"What?" The little faery flittered into the air ahead of Ealga and facing her still keeping pace at eye level.

"Have you seen others do this? Walk this trail at night like this?"

"Mmmm. I have seen some mortals try this yes. They weren't so helpful though."

"You mean that they didn't help you find your hat?" Ealga was starting to think there was something odd about her companion. More than the fact that she was a naked proportionate woman barely taller than her hand.

"Well, no. I didn't need a hat for them to find Hat Seeker. Is that all you think about?" Nimby chuckled flying further on in a looping patterns humming melodiously.

Ealga let out a breath exasperated. She wasn't lonely, but Nimby was so strange that it was hard to be completely entertained by her at the same time. Fey, it would seem, could be very peculiar and not in very fun ways at times.

Nimby squeaked a terrified noise a moment later zipping straight back to Ealga. Ealga yelped at the sheer speed that Nimby flew at her. Nimby's expression was horrified and somehow more pale in the bluish light she always emitted.

"Run run run! We can't be seen. Go go go go!" Nimby dashed by hooking a tiny hand onto Ealga's hood pulling her away to the brush line the side of the road.

A growl that sounded like churning gravel in the heat of a fire cut through the night air up ahead. Her belly turned to ice nearly losing her footing as she stumbled to follow her tiny friend. Fear blooming at such a rapid rate made turning the lantern down nearly impossible. Nimby was making small terrified sounds while viciously pulling on Ealga's cloak.

Something moved nearby out of sight on the roadway. Something predatorial. Ealga dropped to the forest floor behind a tree trying to make no sound. As she did the cloak engulfed of her of its own accord becoming like a little tent just large enough for a small frightened child. The lantern hadn't completely extinguished. The light from the dimmed flame bounced of the blood red fabric inside with a subtle amber glow. A small slit where the cloth hadn't come together entirely showed Nimby outside flitting about madly. Panic creeped into a needle point sharpness in Eagla's stomach.

"Hurry!" Ealga whispered harshly.

"Quickly, inside." Eagla barely breathed the words before the faery darted into the odd makeshift tent. The seam of the fabric pulled shut like it was responding to an unspoken willful command. Ealga pulled the lantern close and curled her knees up to her chest waiting as Nimby clutched her arm shuddering with her face buried against Ealga's sleeve.

Whatever was stalking outside caused a shift of underbrush only a few feet away. It nearly made Ealga scream. Instead she clenched her jaw as she pressed her forehead to her knees trying to not even breathe. Blood rushed in her ears as whatever it was growled again making her ribs flutter and rumble. Ealga squeezed eyes shut, she couldn't fathom what made sounds like this. She kept her forehead pinned to her knees tears beginning to fall.

"Please don't find me." She whispered to herself over and over again in a desperate prayer.

Nimby put a hand to Ealga's lips making nearly silent cooing noises. The tiny hand was surprisingly warm to the touch. Ealga quieted listening to the forest around her. This monster hunted for her. She understood this implicitly. She was prey. Wordlessly she begged for the darkness of the forest to protect her.