When it's already dragging me down

“Trust me!” Aster chirped. She sounded offended, as the idea of her giving deadly advice offended her to the core. “I have absolutely nothing to gain if you drown in quicksand, right?”

The hawk’s arrival, however, terrified the blue jay. She drifted out of her circular path and flew higher to stay away from the bird of prey—too far away to catch what the hawk said, though she heard the wolf—and though she remained overhead, she didn’t resume the circular flight, even though it took much more effort to evasively fly.

Aster softly cursed to herself. Of course she ran into a hawk in a place with absolutely no cover at all, not even a bush. If there were trees or scrubs to hide in or weave around, she’d have felt much better about the two’s arrival. Their presence might mean the wolf got saved, but Aster hoped that didn’t mean she’d end up on the menu.

“I’d offer to help with the braid—” Aster said to the horned horse. “—but, uh, I’m not convinced the hawk won’t eat me. I can watch for quicksand up here! But if that hawk attacks me, I’m out.”