Naovi ran as fast as her legs could carry her, heart pounding and sweat slicking her skin. Oh, these people were nasty and persistent! And all over nothing! Who knew that a simple magic trick in a tavern would cause such a ruckus. And then they had the nerve to call her such terrible names, like witch and monster and whore--and oh, that last word was especially hilarious, considering the man who'd wielded it had been very eager to go upstairs with her...until she'd decided to show off with a parlor trick. Funny how that worked!
Humans! They had such short memories for such an intelligent, sentient species.
Hollering up a storm, cries of fear and cries of anger, they'd come for her, calling for the guard for aid, and for some Morde-something to come help. She didn't know what they were talking about, and it didn't matter. Foxes never went into a den without knowing where all the exits were, and though they'd blocked the door, she knew there were others. With the help of her illusions, she "vanished" into a cloud of smoke and cloaked herself in the mundane disguise of a serving wench, and by the time they figured out her smokescreen was fake (and thus killed the illusion completely, for they were only as strong as one's belief in them), she was already upstairs, through a room, and climbing out a window.
By then, the guardsmen had come--and for some reason, her magic had ceased to work.
She'd had no choice but to escape the good old fashioned way.
Running.
Good thing foxes were good at that.
She didn't know where she was going, or where to go, but she was nothing if not fast and she had the stamina to match. It was only when she heard horses behind her that she began to truly worry; this town was small, which meant there were no good places to hide, and she wasn't as familiar with town spaces as she was with the wilderness. But the land wasn't very good for hiding, either. There were no large forests near, save for copses here and there, and the land was so flat. But after hiding in an alley for a bit, listening for signs of her pursuers, she took her chances when the coast was clear and made a break for it.
She had been running ever since, pausing here and there to hide among bushes or clumps of trees--until a juicier target presented itself.
A lonely farmhouse in the distance.
It would provide better cover than out here, where she felt far too exposed. And so, panting, she bolted for it. The moon was high in the sky by that point, and she was exhausted and hungry and sore. It had been a long time since she'd had to do anything like this.
By the time she reached the farm, her feet were dragging, steps heavy. She'd lost her shoes somehow, and her feet were cut and bloody, her dress dirty and torn from snagging on bushes, leaves sticking up in her hair. And her tails--she didn't even want to think of the state they were in. Covered in burrs, if her dress was any indication.
Eugh...
There was a barn on the property, and she went for that instead of the house proper. No need to alert anyone to her presence. She could stay there for the night, and leave before anyone was any wiser. It was beneath her, to be sleeping in a barn; by rights, the owners should let her into their home with open arms and lend her a bed! But she was too tired to barter or socialize, or deal with any potentially negative reactions, so barn it was.
Tiredly, Naovi circled the building, until she found that the owners had left one of the windows open, either intentionally or by mistake. Perfect. Jumping up, she grabbed the edge and hauled herself up and over, tumbling through the window and landing in a pile of hay with a grunt. Ow! "Roll in the hay", humans always said, referring to sexual acts. What a phrase! She certainly hoped no one actually mated in the hay, because it hurt, stabbing through her clothes and poking her bare skin. Grimacing, she rose from the hay and brushed herself off, then looked around for any spare blankets she could use to protect herself.
She found a few good, thick ones and laid them out over it, then crawled into her makeshift bed and curled up. Tired, achy, and thoroughly confused by the night's events, it wasn't long before she drifted off into a deep sleep, her three tails curled around her legs. They were, indeed, full of burrs, and she could feel them scratching against her skin, but right then she couldn't be assed to care.
She'd deal in the morning.
