The girl follows the fox follows the girl.
--
(Excerpt from a fox story of the Songlands 1000-1200 AD, author unknown.)

“Fox, I must go.”

“Don’t go,” the Fox pleaded, “Who will play with me in the streams? Who will hunt with me in the spring? Who will make dumplings with me and watch the sunrise?"

“I must go. The winds call to me.”

“Let me come with you. I shall be your companion. I will guard over at night when the road is long and dark and gather berries and hunt in the woods so that you will never be hungry.”

“What of your home, dear Fox? Are you not a fox of Ming Yue Mountain?”

He became shy from this question, unable to meet her eyes. He muttered something she could not hear. Then his usual bluster returned.

“These lands will not hold me.” They are not my home.

Abril smiled, “Then we shall go on a great adventure together.”

The Fox jumped into the air in delight and flipped around. When he touched the ground, he had grown a sleek dark red coat and proudly displayed his nine fluffy tails. Abril marvelled over them and scratched behind his ears.
--
She is the hunter, storm clouds in her eyes and lightening in her veins. She is no stranger to blood, to bloodlust, to holding death in her hands. She bares her fangs. The air cackles with ozone, fresh pine, and mulberries.

Where she runs, she leaves no trail. The winds whisper her name.

A fox runs with her. Sometimes a woman, sometimes a man. Sometimes neither.

She runs and the world turns –
Fall autumn winter spring,
She runs along the Tree of Worlds,
From one life to another.