Young women shouldn't wander in dark forests all alone. Sunrise knew this, she just didn't care. She thought that the autumn leaves looked too pretty in the light of the dying sun to be viewed through the windows of her cottage. So she walked, a husky running out in front of her to sniff everything in sight and a reddish mutt padding sedately at her heels.
Sunrise was relaxed, calling out to the husky whenever she disappeared out of sight. At least, Sunrise was relaxed until she heard a yelp from her right and Dusk took off after his female counterpart.
"Dusk! Lupa! Get back here you two!" Sunrise called as she sprinted into the underbrush after the dogs.
Whatever Sunrise had been expecting, it most certainly wasn't what she saw. A man lay in a perfect circle of destroyed forest. If Sunrise hadn't been so distracted by the unconscious man, she may have noticed the designs gouged into the earth, but alas, she was, and so they went unnoticed. Sunrise pushed Lupa away from the man, kneeling next to him to touch his shoulder gently.
"Hello? Are you all right?"
The man gave no indication that he heard, or was even, in fact, alive. Sunrise pressed two fingers to his throat and breathed a sigh of relief when the pulse was strong and steady. Sunrise looked around, murmuring to herself as she searched for some way to carry him back with her. There were no roads for miles and no people for at least twice that. Normally, Sunrise liked her solitude, but times like this made her start to reconsider.
Eventually Sunrise merely shrugged, decided that he was unconscious anyway and picked him up under the arms. As she pulled him along she sent a meaningless prayer of thanks that she was so athletic, because this man was heavy.
Pushing the door of her cottage open, Sunrise lugged the man into her home and dumped him unceremoniously on the couch. Then, Sunrise watched him for a moment, wondering what had happened to this man to knock him so thoroughly unconscious. Loud mewing pulled her attention away and Sunrise bent down to pick up a mottled black cat.
"What do you think, Umbra? Do you think it's safe to leave him here, or should I call the cops or something?" 'Umbra' stared back balefully, mint green eyes small in a slightly squished face. "Yeah, I don't like cops either," Sunrise smiled as Umbra leapt out of her arms, settling onto the man next to another cat— her sister, Nox.
Sunrise walked into the kitchen, opening a tin of cat food as her last cat, Luna, walked in with her white-tipped tail high in the air. Sunrise filled up the dogs' food bowls at the same time and moved over to the fridge, grabbing a half-eaten sandwich and taking a bite.
Walking back to the living room she brushed her fingertips against the spines of books that filled one of the two massive bookshelves lining the far wall. Sunrise smiled as she pulled out a well-worn copy of old Greco-Roman mythology. She began to turn away before looking back at the bookshelf and selecting a different book instead— a slightly newer copy of Ancient Norse mythology.
Lupa settled on Sunrise's feet as she cracked open the book, glancing at the stranger one last time before relaxing into a chair across from her mysterious guest and getting lost in the world of Asgard and the antics of Thor and his chaotic brother, Loki. The moon was high in the sky by the time Sunrise drifted off, the book falling onto the floor next to Lupa as the husky jumped up, startled, and walked over to the other dog, who glanced up as Lupa curled up next to him.
AN: Look, I'm updating on time! I'm so proud of myself! :) I know that this chapter is short, but they are getting consistently longer, the next one is about four times as long! :) Please review, it really does make me write faster! :P