Iktomi was wholly unaware of whatever spiritual concerns there were that led the woman to the center of the forest, instead focused on chasing the various forest voles into their burrows while in his fox form. Their squeaks of terror pleased him, making him give foxy yips of joy as he bounced after them. Once he even managed to step on the tail of one and watched with amusement as it scrabbled at the ground with its tiny paws, held to by the mere pressure of his own larger paw.
As he was chasing a particularly large vole through the foliage, he caught wind of a smell that did not belong--a human--and his head perked up, ears forward, chase forgotten. That continual need to find a companion poked its head out in his consciousness, driving him toward the source of the smell before he knew what he was doing.
His light paws led him near to the center of the forest where a young woman sat on a rock, appearing to all the world alone, but a feeling in the air told him otherwise--a feeling that caressed his black fur like invisible fingers. It was an unworldly feeling, though not uncomfortable.
Lifting his nose to the air, Iktomi took a few good sniffs to understand more of what he was seeing--and not seeing. A woman, young in appearance but somehow held the smell of middle years, and . . . something else, not too unlike his own smell when in this form--his fox form. She had an ethereal smell to her, and she wasn't alone. Something, or someone, else was with her. A being he couldn't see.
After having had his fill of the scene, he decided to make his presence known. He stepped out of the trees into the clear, ears cocked forward in curiosity, tail lowered comfortably behind him. The fox was too curious to try and prank the woman. "Well, well!" he said. "What brings a human to the middle of the woods?"