They arrive home, a boisterous pack.
Their voices come to her in grunts and whuffs and barks. She stands amongst them as they cavort, unnaturally still, her eyes darting wildly. She is learning, trying to comprehend what they are saying to her. The biggest one, the mother, coos to the children with a dangerous gentleness but the precise meaning is lost. The girl studies her packmates. They are a variety of colors, with no particular identifying strain among them. Instinctively her own coat changes, taking on a splash of gold here and a stroke of sabino markings there. She is blending in without conscious thought, gathering pieces of each fox-creature's coloring to appease them. It is a garish sight, looking for all the world like she is made of the pieces of other animals, but it settles her.
Beastie's stomach aches to be filled. She snatches at the grass and the dirt and bugs. Her packmates suckle from the mother fox-creature but the girl senses that she would not be welcomed in that way. She will make do with what the earth provides.
The sabino kit feeds and then crumples to the ground, exhausted. The reddish kit barks, a demanding tone for his mother while the other male kit greets each pack member in turn. The girl is cautious. They are letting her stay, even welcoming her, but she feels out of place with her too tall legs and her hair of different lengths. She knows she is made differently as surely as she knows that in her heart, she is one of them.
With a satisfied grunt, Beastie flops to the ground near the sabino kit and settles in for sleep.
bEaStiE
all good things are wild and free