My face!

Kitsune was a very unhappy girl. From the strange happenings under the full moon, her fright with the creature in the dark… and the mushrooms. She had meant only to lighten the mood, to tease her friend. What had come of it had been one of the most terrible things to happen in her entire life. Rivaled only by that poor dying wolf she had once cradled in her arms.

The mushrooms had acted quickly, and tragically, inside of her. Iho had heard, seen, and smelt the whole of it. She was horrified, and might have fled from his life forever had it not been for the gentle acts of kindness he had shown her. Despite her distress, he had been patient and understanding. It still didn’t make facing him any easier, she was horrified she would see it in face - the knowledge of what he had witnessed.

On top of everything else that had been happening in her life, Kitsune would wake and find mushrooms growing from healing cuts on her arms, and a weight in her ears. Scratching at her ear would find bits of mushroom falling loose. Horrified, and panicked, Kitsune jumped from her bed and ran from the den, to the ocean. Looking down and seeing for herself in the reflective water. Despite her weariness in seeing Iho, the first name on her lips at seeing herself was his.

She turned from the water, racing across the pack territory to where she knew she would find him. “Iho, Iho!” she said with great distress. Why oh why did she swallow that mushroom?

"Kitsune"