Zélie knew she was early because the forest hadn’t started pretending yet.
Mist clung low to the ground, beading along fern-fronds and the jagged edges of stone, and every sound felt too honest - too close. Dew soaked into the thick fur of her legs as she moved, placing each step with exaggerated care. She did not want to disturb anything. Not the spiders stitching silver between branches, not the beetle inching its way across a fallen leaf, not the fragile quiet that made her chest feel too full.
The stream caught her reflection as she passed.
Too many teeth. A mouth split too wide. Her tongue slipped free as she concentrated, dark and ungraceful against pale water. Zélie flinched and turned her head away before the familiar ache could bloom behind her eyes. Today, she decided, was not for looking at herself.
A soft flutter of wings broke the silence.
Noralie dropped neatly onto the space between Zélie’s ears, chirring in a questioning trill. The tiny gryphon’s brown-and-tan feathers puffed against the chill, golden eyes sharp with interest. She hopped twice, talons clicking lightly, then leaned forward to peer down Zélie’s nose as if conducting a serious inspection.
“I’m fine,” Zélie murmured, her tongue betraying her immediately by curling wrong. She paused, tried again, slower. “We’re… fine.”
Satisfied, Noralie nuzzled into her mane before fluttering off, circling Zélie’s head in a loose loop and settling on her shoulder instead. Her tail flicked once, decisively.
Zélie exhaled and continued on.
The clearing ahead was not a destination, exactly - just a place where the forest loosened its grip. Sunlight filtered through the canopy in thin, uncertain bands, warming a patch of earth that looked as though it might remember being used. Zélie stepped into it cautiously, half-expecting the light to burn.
It didn’t.
Warmth sank into her hide, gentle and real. She stood there, still as stone, soaking it in while Noralie squeaked happily and spread her wings to catch the glow.
That was when Zélie heard it.
A sound that did not belong to the forest.
Her ears snapped forward. Her posture shifted, instinct drawing her weight back even as her heart began to pound. Someone was nearby - close enough to matter. Close enough to see her if they stepped into the clearing.
Zélie did not flee.
Instead, she stayed where she was, vast and unmistakable in the sunlight, tongue slipping out as she swallowed hard. Noralie tucked her wings, alert but unafraid.
If this was where fear found her again, then she would face it standing.
And if it was something else - someone else - Zélie waited, trying very hard to be gentle.
