On the path, a boy dressed in only a hat and jacket the color of fresh blood, squatted, scratching the puppy behind her ears. The pure white dog lying beside him cocked an ear the very same color of the boyâ€™s clothes, looking quite unamused with the pup. â€œWhatâ€™s your name, girly?â€ The pup yipped happily. â€œâ€¦No, no not the name the humans gave you. Your name, what you want to be called.â€ She did it again and he laughed. â€œWinter-cold food-box? Thatâ€™s a bit long, donâ€™t you think? How about I call you Box? How did you get here Box?â€<br/><br/>Just then, the white dog rose to its full height, its shoulder equal with the boys head, and stared straight at the female on the path. The bark it let loose was death and joy and camaraderie and well being all rolled into one, and the boy whipped his head around to regard her with a look nearly identical to the animalâ€™s. They could have been the same creature. He was nearly as white as the dog and it was often difficult to say with the Sidhe.<br/><br/>The boy rose and waved a hand at the woman. â€œHo! Is this your puppy? How did you both get here? You look a little lost. Can Girvan and I help you find something, or get somewhere?â€ On the other hand, the dog seemed beside itself with excitement and joy, trying hard to coax a few pats from Kala by rushing over to bump his head against her sides.<br/><br/><div style="text-align: center;">--------</div><br/><br/>When the supposed human that Kalab had caught flashed his serrated teeth in a snarl, Kalab had to rethink just what he was dealing with. It had smelled human, and felt humanâ€¦ it clearly was not. He plowed shoulder first into the odd thing, hoping to get it away before the path closed. If it closed, Nehmahati would be in Fae alone, among the unseelie sidhe. But they both went tumbling among the thick undergrowth and the opening slowly began to knit itself together.<br/><br/>Already they were too entwined for Kalab to even consider using a blade, so he struck blindly at his speedy opponent, thorny fingers reaching for them, hindering both in their movements.